Accessibility Statement

The City of York Council and partners are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. The Live Well York website is intended to be accessed by all adults in York who want information and advice about wellbeing and remaining independent. This website is run by the council’s Communities and Prevention team and partners.

This website should allow any user to:

• Change colours, contrast levels and size of text.
• Modify the line height or spacing of text.
• Zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the page.
• 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)

The website has been updated to be compliant with the international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 (WCAG) – Level AA.

Using this Website

Accessible Features

The Live Well York website contains several Accessible features that can be used by users with specific requirements. The widget, which is called Recite Me, is available on the top right-hand side of the header menu.

The features include: -

Voice Recognition

The Live Well York website has been tested using voice recognition software. All form elements on the website have been labelled correctly so that they can be accessed using the name shown.

For example, saying “select Enter Search Term” and “click Search Button” will allow you to access the main search functionality of the website.

Contrast & Font Size

Changing the contrast and font sizes of text can increase legibility for some users.

This website has two colour contrast settings, firstly, the “default colour scheme” which provides a suitable level of contrast for most users and satisfies the accessibility standards. However, if a user feels the colour contrast is too low in areas the website also contains a “high contrast scheme” which satisfies all accessibility standards for colour contrast.

A user can change the contrast settings by clicking on the icons at the top right of screen. For a user using voice recognition please say, “Switch to default colour scheme” and “Switch to high contrast scheme” respectively for the same result.

To increase the font size, click on the icons at the top right of the screen. For a user using voice recognition please say, “Switch to normal font size”, “Switch to big font size” and “Switch to biggest font size” respectively for the same result. The user can also use the browser’s own zoom facility. The website will work up to 200%

Translation

You can use the translate feature at the top right of the screen to translate the text to any of the available languages, including common community languages in York such as Bengali, Chinese, and Somali.  Please note that the translation is done automatically by the Recite Me software, not by the council.

Easy Read

A selection of pages are available in Easy Read format in the Information and Advice directory. Please contact livewellyork@york.gov.uk if you require additional Easy Read pages.

Further information on accessibility options

The RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind people) has a webpage with information on options that computers have which can make it easier for people with low or no vision to use them. - RNIB Computer Accessibility.

Accessible Alternatives

Efforts have been made to create accessible alternatives for content that does not meet standards where possible.

Where appropriate we may be able to deliver content to users in accordance with their needs.

For any additional accessible content please use the contact details below: 

Email:Livewellyork@york.gov.uk

Tel: 01904 551006

Address:

Live Well York, City of York Council, Customers and Communities Directorate, Communities and Prevention Team, West Offices, Station Rise, York, YO1 6GA.

We will consider your request and get back to you in 2 working days.

Purpose of Links

Live Well York will use links to navigate to content on the website. External links will open in a new window.

Where possible the action of an external link will be described by extra description within the link text, so all users can understand the link’s purpose. However, in certain areas of the website adding this extra description will become a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

How Accessible is this Website?

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

• This website uses JavaScript to deliver certain features. Please make sure you have JavaScript turned on within your browser to deliver full features.
• Live video streams do not have captions;

Accessibility Issues fixed since last review

Since the last review of this statement an update to this website on 4th September 2025. Our website provider has made fixes to the following accessibility issues found in Live Well York :-

• Voice Recognition issues;
• Landmark issues with forms;
• Landmark labeling of repeated navigation regions and pagination widgets;
• Heading Levels of Content Pages;
• Screen-Reader reading issues with Interactive Forms;

Contact us and Complaints Procedure

We are always looking for ways to improve the Live Well York website. If you find any problems that are not listed within this statement, or believe we are not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations please contact us at the contact details above. Complaints and Feedback (York.gov)

If this doesn't meet your requirements and you wish to make a formal complaint the process can be found on the City of York Council website.

Technical Information about this Website’s Accessibility

City of York 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 2.2 (WCAG) AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below. (See Non- Accessible Content, Issues With…)

Enforcement Procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Services (EASS)

Non-Accessible Content

Whilst City of York Council and partners strives to adhere to accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website.

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

Non-Compliance with the Accessibility Regulations

This sub-section lists issues that fail the current accessibility regulations.

• Some link text does not make sense when read on its own (for example, ‘click here’).
• Some alt text has been left empty on certain linked images. We are currently reviewing the content of this website.

Resolutions of Non-compliance with the Accessibility Regulations

A deployment to the website was made on the 4th September 2025.  Fixes for this included.

Resolved: Screen-Reader reading issues with Landmark regions

Some landmarks that appear on content and directory pages were not appropriately labelled. This included breadcrumbs, pagination landmarks and forms. This would cause issues for some screen reader users. Most landmarks that are used are correctly labelled and appear inside top-level landmarks. This failed Success Criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A)

Our web provider has updated our website templates to include appropriate labels for all content.

Resolved: Voice Recognition issues

Visible labels of form fields and buttons didn't always match the label given to screen-reader users. This sometimes caused issues for voice recognition users and failed WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.5.3 Label in Name (A).

Our website provider has updated all form controls and buttons so that these match the expected labelled control.

Resolved: Heading Level issues

Since our last review. We would made aware of missing top-level heading missing from our news templates. This potentially failed Success Criterion 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (AA).

Our website provider has updated our website templates always have a top-level heading. We  are constantly reviewing any new pages when they are published.

 

Content that is not within the scope of the Accessibility Regulations

This sub-section lists issues that are exempt from the current accessibility regulations. For more information see following section, “Exemptions to the Accessibility Regulations”.

Issues with live video

Live video streams do not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.2 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.

Issues with PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they are accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role Value).

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.

 

Disproportionate Burden

There are no issues that are considered a disproportionate burden.

Exemptions to the Accessibility Regulations

Web Content that is not subject to the standards referenced in this policy statement are as follows: -

• Content that is archived.
• Content on intranets and extranets published before 23/09/2019
• Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that were published before 23/09/2018.
• Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that are not essential to the services Live Well York provides.
• Live Audio and Video
• Pre-recorded Audio and Video published before 23/09/2020
• Online Maps and mapping services
• Third Party Content that is not under direct control of City of York main website provider – Google Translate, Social Media links

What are we doing to improve accessibility?

City of York Council and partners is fully committed to meeting all the accessibility criteria specified in the regulatory provisions. We plan to identify and fix issues in accordance with the timescales shown for each non-compliance area. Areas of this website that fail to meet these standards will have fixes prioritised according to usage data. City of York Council will make continuous assessments of this website’s content and update this statement when issues have been resolved.

The new version of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG 2.2 were published on 5th October 2023.

This has replaced WCAG 2.1 as the legally required accessibility standard in October 2024.

An annual accessibility statement test was carried out on 25th September 2025.

 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 18/09/2020. City of York Council review this policy every year on or before the 22nd September.

This website was last tested on 25th September 2025.

The statement was last updated on 25th September 2025.

To prepare this statement an accessibility test was carried out by People Places Lives QA Team. The most viewed pages were tested using automated testing tools by our website team. A further audit of the website was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.