Accessibility statement

Accessibility statement

Accessibility statement for the Chesterfield Borough Council website. 

This accessibility statement applies to www.chesterfield.gov.uk. 

This website is run by Chesterfield Borough Council.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website. For example you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • 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 are also working to make the text on this website as easy to understand as possible.

Make your device easier to use

Most devices and web browsers have their own built in accessibility aids or assistive technology to help you to access the internet. 

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

This includes advice on how to:

  • make text larger 
  • magnify the screen
  • change fonts and colours
  • make your mouse pointer easier to see 
  • use your keyboard instead of a mouse
  • make your device talk to you

You can also translate this website to your preferred language by using the language tool at the top of each page. 

How accessible this website is

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

  • you can’t skip to the main content when using a screen reader
  • you can't modify the line height or spacing of text
  • you can't change colours, contrast levels and fonts - but you may be able to do this in your browser
  • map based content is not fully accessible – we have provided text alternatives for information they contain
  • older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software - there is an option to request accessible formats on each page with PDFs or other attachments
  • some of our older videos may not have captions or may rely on auto-generated captions which may not be completely accurate
  • video content doesn’t contain audio descriptions or full transcripts
  • our secure online forms are not currently accessible

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

On pages that contain PDFs or other attachments there is a link to request a different format. Otherwise, if you need information on this website in a different format (such as accessible PDF, large print, audio or Braille) please contact us:

We will need to know:

  • the address (URL) of the web page
  • your name and email address
  • the format you need, for example, audio, braille, large print or accessible PDF

We will consider your request and get back to you within five working days.

If you can’t use a location map on our website please call or email us to ask for directions.

We can also provide a telephone-based interpretation service if English is not your first language.

Find alternative ways to contact us.

Feedback and 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, please contact us:

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

Chesterfield Borough 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 non-compliance and exemptions, see below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations:

Website pages

Some of our web pages don’t conform to the regulations for the following reasons:

We will correct these errors within the page content or HTML to ensure compliance.

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and other document types may not be suitable for users of assistive technology. For example:

We will remove non-essential PDFs. Where a PDF or other document is essential to providing our services we will fix it or replace it with an accessible HTML page. In the meantime, pages that contain PDFs include an option to request accessible alternatives

Video
Our pre-recorded videos are published to YouTube with captions enabled. Older videos may rely on auto-generated captions which may not be completely accurate. We don’t provide audio description or full transcripts for our videos. We will ensure that videos that we publish in the future contain appropriate captions. 

Disproportionate burden

We haven't categorised any of the accessibility issues on www.chesterfield.gov.uk as a disproportionate burden to fix within the meaning of the regulations.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Pre-recorded videos
Some of our older videos do not have captions and do not meet accessibility standards. The accessibility regulations do not require us to add captions to videos produced before 23 September 2020 if they are not essential to providing our services. 

Live video
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting 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 are not essential to providing our services. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

External links
This website links to third-party, external websites or services that may not be fully accessible.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We use Sitemorse® ContentQA to identify accessibility issues on www.chesterfield.gov.uk.

The website was moved to a new content management system and hosting platform on 04/06/2024. We carried out a full site audit and are working to remediate the issues identified above.

A sample of 125 pages is also tested and reviewed on a weekly basis to enable continued improvement.

Our website accessibility history can be found on the Sitemorse® INDEX for local government.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 17/06/2024 and will be reviewed on or before 31/03/2025. 

The full website was last tested on 12/06/2024 using Sitemorse® ContentQA prior to preparation of this statement.

We test this website internally, in the following ways:

  • WCAG 2.1 compliance using Sitemorse® ContentQA automated service (scanned and reviewed every seven days)
  • colour contrast checkers

We carry out our testing based on a sample of pages that includes a variety of layouts, styles and functionality.

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Last updated on 07/08/2024