Accessibility statement

Accessibility statement for Midsomer Norton Town Council Website

This accessibility statement applies to Midsomer Norton Town Council’s website https://www.midsomernortontowncouncil.co.uk/

This website is run by Midsomer Norton 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:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

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 yet fully accessible:

  • The text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
  • Some older PDF documents might not be fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Some of our pages and links are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • Users cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader

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:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 28 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 us:

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Midsomer Norton 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.

Compliance status

Currently, this website is not compliant with the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.

Disproportionate burden

  • There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option).
  • It’s not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping.
  • Links in the navigation menu are not highlighted
  • Page text will not always reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
  • Pages will not display properly without the correct CSS file

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions.
We believe that doing so now would be a
disproportionate burden within
the meaning of the accessibility regulations.
We will make another assessment when the supplier contract is up for renewal, likely to be in the next twelve months.

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

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on
how users can access our services.
We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

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 historical:

  • Agendas
  • Minutes

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

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

  • We have assessed our website to see what improvements are necessary to become accessible
  • We are reviewing our published documents with a view to making all current publications accessible
  • We will review this document in twelve months to monitor our progress

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22-09-2020. It was last reviewed on 22-09-2020.

This website was last tested on 22-09-2020 by Cllr Gordon Mackay

Exemptions

  • Pre-recorded audio and Video
  • Live Audio and Video Streaming
  • PDFs published before 23-9-2018
  • Archived Websites

Pages Checked

A selection of pages have been used to assess the accessibility of the site.

  • Home Page – https://www.midsomernortontowncouncil.co.uk
  • Contact – https://www.midsomernortontowncouncil.co.uk/contact-us/
  • Policies – https://www.midsomernortontowncouncil.co.uk/council-policies-standing-orders-and-regulatory-framework/
  • News – https://www.midsomernortontowncouncil.co.uk/latest-news/

Common to most pages were the following observations

  • Pages display correctly on tablets and mobile devices in portrait and landscape mode
  • It is possible to increase the text size but some pages do not display properly
  • A style sheet is required for the pages to display properly
  • Links are not always highlighted when navigating using a keyboard
  • It is difficult to navigate pages and links using a keyboard
  • There is no option to skip past the menu bar using the keyboard
  • Incorrect use of H tags mean that some pages may not display properly or be able to be read aloud by assistive software
  • Text does not always correctly flow into columns when resizing the browser
  • Images do not always have alternative text descriptions
  • It is difficult to submit forms using just a keyboard