Accessibility Statement

This website is run by Essex County Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, this means you should be able to:

• Zoom in up to 400% without losing content or information
• Increase font-size to 200% without text spilling off the screen
• Listen to most of the website using a screen reader

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:

• Some images have no alt text, alt text that is not clear or alt text that repeats page content
• The footer has a group of related links that are not marked as a list
• Most of the content is missing landmarks so could be difficult for some users to identify the purpose of sections
• On the homepage some heading levels are skipped and some headings are not marked as headings
• On the contact form, fields that are required are not marked as required
• The homepage instructs users to click links ‘below’ rather than identify they ‘explore our services button’
• The contact us form has no autocomplete attributes
• The contact us form error messages have low contrast
• When increasing font-size the storm creative logo overflows the browser window
• Carousel logos have low contrast until they are hovered over or focused on
• When increasing font-size on any of the sectors pages some job roles are obscured
• There is not skip to main content link on any page
• The focus order is illogical when you expand the sectors tab section
• Some links do not convey the link purpose
• The homepage heading 1 does not clearly describe the page
• The carousel is marked as a listbox rather than a list which would cause confusion to assistive technology users
• Some social media share links used in news articles have no labels or text

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:

• email els.enquiries@essex.gov.uk
• call 0333 013 2305

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

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email els.enquiries@essex.gov.uk 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, please contact: els.enquiries@essex.gov.uk or katie.bray@essex.gov.uk.  Or alternatively please call us on 0333 013 2305.

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
We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Find out how to contact us: https://www.elslegal.org.uk/contact

Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Essex County 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
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 the correct alt text. People who rely on screen readers may not be able to access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text contrast).
• Lists, landmarks and headings are not marked up correctly and could confuse some users that rely on assistive technology. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• Some parts of the site force the users to rely on sensory characteristics by giving the user the location of components instead of identifying the component by its label. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.3 (Sensory Characteristics).
• Input fields for forms have no autocomplete attributes. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.5 (Identify Input purpose).
• Form errors have low contrast making them difficult to see. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum)).
• When resizing text some text overflows the buttons. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (Resize Text).
• Carousel logos have low contrast making it difficult to see for some users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text contrast).
• When adjusting the spacing between letters and words some text overflows its components or is obscured. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.12 (Text-spacing).
• There is no option to skip repeated content on any of the pages. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass blocks).
• When selecting different sectors on the tab section the focus order forces you to tab through all the options before getting to the content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3 (Focus Order).
• Some links have text or labels that do not clearly depict the purpose of the link or have any context of where the link goes. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link purpose (In context)).
• Some page headings do not clearly identify the purpose of the page. This fails success criterion 2.4.6 (Headings and labels).
• There are no focus styles on any elements on the website making it impossible for keyboard only users to navigate the website. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus visible).
• Elements such as iFrames, carousels, buttons and share links have incorrect or missing attributes, roles or labels. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).

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, and forms published as Word documents. By September 2020, 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.

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

Live Video
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 28 April 2022. It was last reviewed on 28 April 2022.
This website was last tested on 27 April 2022. The test was carried out by Essex County Council.