Accessibility statement for Hackney Council

This accessibility statement applies to the Hackney Council website.

This website is run by Hackney Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website.

You should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser or device settings
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • 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. 

If you have a disability, search AbilityNet for “how to guides” to make your device easier to use.

How accessible this website is

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

  • there are documents, maps and forms that cannot be easily accessed by all users
  • some pages have poor colour contrast between the text and the background
  • it is hard for some users to get around the website, for example because some pages can’t be easily accessed using a keyboard or speech recognition software
  • some links don’t have useful text explaining where the link will take the user

Give feedback and request content in an accessible format

If you have any feedback about the accessibility of this website, contact website@hackney.gov.uk.

Alternative formats

If you need information from the website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or Braille, email us and tell us:

  • the web address (URL) of the page
  • the format you need the information provided in

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Hackney 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 has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2 AA.

This website is partially compliant with the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. The non-compliances and exemptions are listed below. 

Non-accessible content

The content that is not accessible is listed below together with an explanation and reference to the relevant WCAG section. We plan to fix most of the issues by the end of 2025.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Images

Some images on the website are not accessible to everyone. This is because:

  • some images do not have a text alternative, which means there is nothing for a screen reader to read out
  • images that are only for decoration are not marked as decorative, which means screen readers may read out unnecessary descriptions

This fails guideline 1.1.1 Non-text content of the WCAG 2.2 standard.

Videos

Videos do not have captions, text transcripts or audio descriptions.

This fails guidelines 1.2.2 Captions (pre-recorded) and 1.2.3 Audio description or media alternative of the WCAG 2.2 standard.

PDFs

PDFs on this website are not accessible in a number of ways. For example, the structure of the content is not accessible to assistive technologies. 

The reasons for this include:

  • they are not always correctly tagged, which means assistive technology will not be able to read them
  • the language has not been set, which means that screen readers may read out certain words differently
  • they don’t have correct titles, which means that users cannot tell the difference between PDFs by the tab name alone

This fails guidelines 1.3.1 Info and relationships, 3.1.1 Language of page and 2.4.2 Page titled of the WCAG 2.2 standard.

Tables

Some tables are not accessible to screen reader users.

This fails guideline 1.3.1 Info and relationships of the WCAG 2.2 standard.

Colour

Use of colour on the website is not always accessible. For example:

  • some information is communicated only by colour, which may be difficult for users with visual impairments or colour blindness
  • some pages have poor colour contrast between the text and the background

This fails guidelines 1.4.1 Use of colour and 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum) of the WCAG 2.2 standard.

Speech recognition software

Some areas of the website are not accessible for users of speech recognition software. For example you cannot use the maps on the ‘Cycling’ and ‘Air Quality in Hackney’ pages if you use Dragon Naturally Speaking.

This fails guideline 4.1.2 Name, role, value of the WCAG 2.2 standard.

Links

Some links on the website are not accessible. This is because:

  • there is not always descriptive link text, which means screen reader users may not know where the link will take them
  • on several pages, multiple links on the same page share the same link text and surrounding context, but take the user to different destinations
  • the difference between links and buttons is not always made clear to screen readers

This fails guidelines 2.4.4 Link purpose (in context) and 4.1.2 Name, role, value of the WCAG 2.2 standard.

Keyboard access

Parts of the website are not accessible for users who use a keyboard to navigate. For example:

  • the tabbing order of the page is not always logical
  • some parts of some pages are hidden when you tab through the page using a keyboard
  • some pages do not allow you to tab through to the end using a keyboard
  • you have to use a mouse to dismiss hover text

This fails guidelines 2.4.3 Focus order, 2.4.11 Focus not obscured (minimum), 1.4.13 Content on hover or focus and 2.1.1 Keyboard of the WCAG 2.2 standard.

Forms

Somel forms on the website are not accessible. This is because:

  • there is no autocomplete on form fields, which means users have to repeat information each time they complete the same form
  • the grouping of questions on some forms may be confusing for screen reader users  
  • the text explaining that a user has missed a form field, or needs to use a different format to complete the field, is not descriptive enough 

This fails guidelines 1.3.5 Identify input purpose, 1.3.1 Info and relationships, 3.3.2 Labels or instruction and 3.3.1 Error identification of the WCAG 2.2 standard.

Getting around the website 

It is not easy for all users to get around the website. For example, some content may be missed by a screen reader. 

Other issues with navigation are:

  • it may be difficult for screen readers to know where they are on a page, because headings are used incorrectly or there are no accessible labels on different content blocks
  • it may be difficult for screen reader users to skip to the content they want to read
  • some page titles are not descriptive enough which may cause navigation issues between tabs
  • users are sometimes forced to do lots of tabbing to get through a page
  • users must click on or tab into the search text box to be able to enter a search term
  • parts of the website are not accessible to some mobile screen readers such as Android TalkBack

This fails guidelines 1.3.1 Info and relationships, 2.4.1 Bypass block, 2.4.2 Page titled, 2.1.1 Keyboard, 1.1.1 Non-text content and 4.1.2 Name, role, value of the WCAG 2.2 standard.

Text spacing

The spacing between letters, words, lines and paragraphs cannot be changed using custom styling in some parts of the website. 

This fails guideline 1.4.12 Text spacing of the WCAG 2.2 standard.

Disproportionate burden

Fixing some of the accessibility issues would cause a disproportionate burden for the council. These issues are:

  • it’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content
  • many of our forms are difficult to navigate using assistive technology

We are not planning to fix these now because:

  • we are limited by what our current content management system allows us to do
  • many of our forms are built using third party software, which we have limited control over

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.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

To make the Hackney Council website more accessible, we are working to fix the issues on this accessibility statement.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was published on Monday 18 November 2024.

This website was last tested on 26 June 2024 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. The test was carried out by Zoonou.

Zoonou used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) to decide which pages to test and how to test them.

Page updated on: 2 December 2024