Accessibility Statement

Accessibility statement for Thame Town Council

This accessibility statement applies to www.thametowncouncil.gov.uk. This website is run by Thame Town Council.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

1. change colours, contrast levels and fonts
2. zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen (note that long URLs do not reflow and may overhang)
3. navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
4. navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
5. listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
6. Change the size of the browser window and the text will automatically reflow
7. Modify line height and spacing of text (for example by using the Line Height Adjuster extension on Google Chrome)
8. Change the device orientation from horizontal/vertical without affecting the webpage content
9. Skip to main content using a screen reader

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

1. most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
2. live video streams do not have captions
3. some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
4. there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘contact us’ page
5. our online forms use ‘reCAPTCHa’, to filter spam and malicious traffic, which are inherently and widely recognised as inaccessible
6. handling of form controls on the Business Directory and Events due to third party plugins used to provide those features.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

1. email: info@thametowncouncil.gov.uk
2. call: 01844 212833
3. write: Thame Town Hall, High Street, Thame, Oxfordshire, OX9 3DP

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 working days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us for directions.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact the Town Council via:

1. email: info@thametowncouncil.gov.uk
2. call: 01844 212833
3. write: Thame Town Hall, High Street, Thame, Oxfordshire, OX9 3DP

Please give the nature of the problem and the page title / document if possible.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

The Town Hall Information Centre is wheelchair accessible but unfortunately does not provide a text relay service or audio induction loops. Please contact us before your visit if you require assistance. The Town Hall Upper Chamber, where Council meetings are usually held, has a hearing loop.

Find out how to contact us https://www.thametowncouncil.gov.uk/contact-us/.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Thame Town Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

We plan to add text alternatives for all non-decorative images by September 2020. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Disproportionate burden

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.

Our forms in the directory and events sections are built through third party software. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (information and relationships).

The accessibility issues with these forms have been raised with the respective developers to resolve.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Our essential services can be accessed via accessible HTML pages. Most of the PDFs and other documents on our website are our policies, procedures, financial information and reports.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix inaccessible PDFs or other documents:

• created by other organisations / authorities
• hosted on third party websites
• published before 23 September 2018
• where their content is available in another format which is accessible
• where their content qualifies as archives under the regulations

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

Live video streams do not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions – live). We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Our website only hosts a small number of videos and for pre-recorded videos uploaded after 23 September 2018 a transcript is provided. Pre-recorded time-based media published before 23 September 2020 is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Thame Town Council is committed to improving accessibility on this website and will do so by:

• Working with our website supplier, Connect Internet Solutions, to identify and resolve technical and coding-based accessibility issues.
• Using the WAVE tool to identify and resolve page-specific content-based accessibility issues, such as:
  • Replacing non-descriptive hyperlink text such as ‘click here’ with descriptive text
  • Adding alt-text to images where required
  • Aligning text to the left (not justified)
  • Rectifying poor / missing heading structure on pages. All council and committee agendas and minutes from March 2020 use correct heading structure.
  • Stating within the link text of a hyperlinked file whether it is a PDF / Word Document.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 28 August 2020. It was last reviewed on 28 August 2020.

This website was tested in March 2020 using SortSite, carried out by Connect Internet Solutions. Individual pages on the website have also been, and continue to be, manually tested by Thame Town Council using the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool.

SortSite is an automated testing method that spiders all discoverable pages. The WAVE tool is a suite of evaluation tools that helps authors make their web content more accessible.

We’ve assessed the cost of conducting a full accessibility audit of the site. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will review this in July 2021.