Accessibility statement for Falkirk.gov.uk
This website is run by Falkirk Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- zoom in up to 200%
- 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
Readability
We have made every effort to ensure this web site is easily readable using 'plain
English'.
Text size
The text size for this site can be changed using your browser.
Access keys for keyboard navigation
We support the use of access keys to help you to navigate the site using keyboard
shortcuts.
The following access keys can be used:
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
- our older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- video streams do not have captions
- some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
- our interactive maps may be difficult to use
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, contact us using our enquiry form
We'll consider your request and get back to you in 14 days.
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 using our enquiry form. You can also make a complaint.
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
Find out how to contact us.
Technical information about this website's accessibility
Falkirk 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 (WCAG) 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
falkirk.gov.uk
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. Some of these documents are not fully accessible. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages where possible.
Document accessibility issues include:
- Some PDF documents do not provide information on the structure or the roles of components to help you navigate, such as headings. This fails success criterion 1.3.1 info and relationships.
- Some PDFS don't have accessibility tags for images and photos. This fails success criterion 1.1.1 non-text content.
- The reading order of some PDF documents is not correct, making it difficult to access these using a screen reader. This fails success criterion 1.3.2 meaningful sequence.
my.falkirk.gov.uk
We are aware of the following acessibility issues with My Falkirk and have requested them to be fixed by our software supplier:
- WCAG 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships: My Falkirk sign in button
- WCAG 4.1.2 - Name, Role, Value: Indicator for mandatory fields
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
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.
Maps
Our maps are mostly accessible however they are exempt from the accessibility regulations (we do not provide maps for navigational purposes).
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 10th August 2021.
This website is tested on a weekly basis. The tests are carried out using SiteImprove, a software system that crawls websites and reports back on quality assurance issues such as broken links, potential misspellings and accessibility issues measured by the Web Content and Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 (levels A, AA, and AAA).