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Important Information

Accessibility Statement

Accessibility

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)

This website has been redesigned to be compliant with the international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (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 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 Google 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 Google 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.
Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software;
Live video streams do not have captions;

Accessibility Issues fixed since last review

Since the last review of this document, our website provider has made fixes to the following accessibility issues found in Live Well York :-

Voice Recognition issues;
High Contrast issues;
Keyboard navigation issues;
Keyboard focus issues;
Screen-Reader reading issues with Status Messages;
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 2.1 (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’).
Non-HTML documentation - it has come to our attention that several of these documents are inaccessible with a few accessibility technologies. These include the document heading structure, use of tables and insufficient alternate descriptions. We have implemented a process for ensuring any new non-HTML documentation meets accessibility standards, and any existing non-HTML documentation is reviewed as part of our standard information review process.

Fixed Issues

Screen-Reader reading issues with Landmark regions

Since the last review fixes have been made to landmark regions all of our accessibility features are now correctly contained within landmarks. This means it should be easier for screen-reader users to find content using landmarks.

A user can still navigate through content on a webpage using heading levels and link text.

We will check pages when written and during our annual review of this website to ensure we conform to the relevant success criteria.

The following issues were fixed since the last review of this document:-

Voice-recognition issues

All voice recognition issues have been fixed. All input controls, search bar and accessibility widget have be correctly labelled and can be accessed by voice-recognition software.

We will check pages when written and during our annual review of this website to ensure we conform to the relevant success criteria.

High Contrast issues

All known issues with our content being displayed incorrectly with our high-contrast design have been fixed.

This means it will be easier for visually impaired users who may require this alternative design to see all content. This should pass WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.6 Contrast (Advanced) a Level AAA requirement.

This website passes 1.4.3 Colour Contrast (Minimum) which is the standard Level AA requirement.

We will check pages when written and during our annual review of this website to ensure we continue to conform to the relevant success criteria.

Keyboard navigation issues

All known issues with keyboard navigation have been fixed. A user should now be able to bypass repeated content on the website. Keyboard focus has been set to use a web-browser’s default focus indicator.

We will check pages when written and during our annual review of this website to ensure we continue to conform to the relevant success criteria.

Keyboard focus issues

All known keyboard focus issues have been fixed. Keyboard focus has been set to use a web-browser’s default focus indicator.

We will check pages when written and during our annual review of this website to ensure we continue to conform to the relevant success criteria.

Screen-Reader reading issues with Status Messages

All known status messages whether it be error messages or number of search results can now be automatically read by a screen-reader.

If a user's screen-reader doesn't read the search result counter initially, this information is available on the first line of the result section.

The search result counter status message will always be read when using search facets.

All future forms and search written for Live Well York will be tested to ensure they conform to the relevant success criteria. This functionality will be tested during our annual review of this website.

Screen-Reader reading issues with Interactive Forms

Accessibility form fixes have been applied to the interactive forms owned by Live Well York.

All forms in current use have been tested using a screen-reader and conform to guidelines.

All future forms written for Live Well York will be tested to ensure they conform to the relevant success criteria.

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 2.1 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 2.1 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 website was updated with accessibility fixes from our website provider on 1^st November 2022.