Accessibility statement

Overview

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours and contrast levels
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • 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)

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

We know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible:

  • you can’t modify the line height or spacing of text on our homepage, search page and navigation page
  • most older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some embedded videos and live video streams don’t have captions
  • there’s no option to skip to main content

Testing our website

This website was last tested 2 October 2020. The test was carried out in-house.

We used sample pages that included all the different types of functionality on the website.

We tested our main website platform: https://hackney.gov.uk.

Read the full accessibility test report.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

We are committed to making our 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 version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The following issues are rated as high in terms of the severity of impact:

  • missing form labels. This fails WCAG2.1 guideline: 1.1.1 non-text content. We plan to fix this by February 2022
  • on some pages, layout tables are being used when a data table would format the text correctly when the page is linearised or read by a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 1.3.1 info and relationships. We plan to change the layout table style to a data table style by February 2022
  • some external links open a new tab without warning. This fails WCAG2.1 guideline: 3.2.4 consistent identification. We plan to fix this problem by February 2022
  • links to PDFs, Word documents, Google docs etc don’t indicate what type of document they are. We plan to ensure that all document links display which type of document they are by February 2022
  • no headings on the menu page. This fails WCAG2.1 guideline: 1.3.1 info and relationships and 2.4.10 section headings. We plan to fix this problem by February 2022
  • infographics on the coronavirus data page are missing a text alternative. This fails WCAG 2.1: 1.1.1 non-text content. We plan to fix this by February 2022
  • infographics on the coronavirus data page do not have a logical reading order. This fails WCAG 2.1: 1.3.2 meaningful sequence. We plan to fix this by February 2022

See our accessibility audit to view all the issues that are rated as medium or low.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we don’t plan to fix evidence base PDFs in the planning section.

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

Live video

Live video streams don’t have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions – live).

We don’t plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Report website accessibility problems

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: website@hackney.gov.uk.

What to do if you can’t access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille contact: website@hackney.gov.uk.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

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).

Page updated on: 15 June 2023