Accessibility

Details of our last audit:

How we tested this website

This website regularly tested for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 level A and level AA, and these tests have been carried out internally.

We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test.

We audit our website compliance regularly. The last audit was carried out on 7th September 2020 using the following applications:
 

• WAVE - Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool
• AXE - The Standard in Accessibility Testing
• AChecker

Non-accessible content

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. 

All issues found in the most recent audit have been resolved except for the following:

Homepage – we are keen to incorporate usability improvements into this page as well as accessibility compliance and are therefore redesigning the page. This work will be completed in September 2020. The issues on this page are: missing alternative image text, form label, broken aria reference on the news carousel and an empty link. 

Other content pages – we have issues with the sliders on our service homepages. This will be fixed as part of the homepage redesign work mentioned above.

Eforms - are missing the alternative text on the council logo - this will be completed by Oct 2020

Digital maps - are missing alternative text on council logo, language attributes and menu attributes - this will be completed by Oct 2020


 

Subdomains

The following subdomains have been also been tested in our last audit:

online. (eForms) - missing alternative text on images. This item will be fixed in October 2020.


form. (eForms) - missing alternative text on images. This item will be fixed in October 2020.

myaccount. (customer account) - contrast issues - form elements not labelled correctly. These items will be fixed in September 2020.

parkingpcns. (parking ticket payment) - missing the alternative text on several images. We are currently working with the external supplier to see if a patch is possible. 

bulkywastess. (bulky waste booking service) - no issues.


gwaste. (garden waste service payment system) - missing form labels, missing alt text, document language missing, empty heading, empty link. 

pestcontrolss. (pest control booking system)  - we are in the process of replacing this system and will run an audit on the new site when it is launched in October 2020. 

committee. (committee management system) - we are in the process of replacing this system and will run an audit on the new site when it is launched in October 2020.

publicaccess. (planning system) - missing the alternative text on ‘on track’ button. We are currently working with the external supplier to see if a patch is possible. 

 

External domains

Northumberland.maps.arcgis.com (digital maps) - no issues.

Northumberland.spydus.co.uk (library catalogue) - empty heading, empty button, linked image missing, missing form label, empty link. Page refresh/redirect and contrast errors. We are currently working with the external supplier to see if a patch is possible. 

northumberland.erevenues.co.uk - (change of circumstances) - no issues.

 

PDFs and other documents

Many documents are not accessible in a number of ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure.

We are currently looking into systems that allow audio reading of these documents to make them accessible.



 

Cookie permissions

Cookies that are essential for our website to operate:

• ASP.Net_SessionID - Keeps the user session ID for security reasons.
• CMSCookieLevel - Specifies which cookies are allowed by the visitor.
• CMSCsrfCookie - Store's a security token that the system uses to validate all form data submitted via POST requests. Helps protect against Cross site request forgery.
• CMSPreferredCulture - Stores the visitor's preferred content culture.
• For more info see https://docs.kentico.com/k11/configuring-kentico/adding-cookie-law-consent-to-web-pages/reference-kentico-cookies 

Cookies that provide additional functionality or analytics:

• ASP.Net_SessionID - Keeps the user session ID for security reasons.
• CMSCookieLevel - Specifies which cookies are allowed by the visitor.
• CMSCsrfCookie - Store's a security token that the system uses to validate all form data submitted via POST requests. Helps protect against Cross site request forgery.
• CMSPreferredCulture - Stores the visitor's preferred content culture.
• For more info see https://docs.kentico.com/k11/configuring-kentico/adding-cookie-law-consent-to-web-pages/reference-kentico-cookies 

 

Cookie consent and control

We are currently in the process of installing a new cookie consent and control application that will allow visitors to our website to choose which non-essential cookies they wish to allow us to use while they visit our website. This will be completed by Oct 2020

 

How to request content in an accessible format

If you need information in a different format contact us here and tell us:

 

• the web address (URL) of the content / page
• your name and email address
• the format you need, for example, audio CD, braille, BSL or large print, accessible PDF

Enforcement procedure

If you contact us with a complaint and you’re not happy with our response please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

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’).