Accessibility

Accessibility statement for Hart District Council

This website is run by Hart District Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. This means you should be able to:

  • Change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • 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

You can find accessibility settings by going to the Ease of Access section in Windows Settings on your computer.

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

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

Our website accessibility

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

  • Most older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
  • You cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
  • You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

Email: communications@hart.gov.uk

Phone: 01252 774460

We aim to respond within five working days but we’ll do our best to respond as quickly as possible.   

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please let us know via the above contact details.  

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service.    

Technical information

Hart District 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 version 2.1 AA standard. However, we are working to improve both compliance and the experience of our users.

Non-accessible content

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

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDF and non-HTML documents post 23 September 2018 are inaccessible. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

We cannot always guarantee that documents produced by external organisations published on our website are fully accessible. We host a number of documents in relation to the local plan and neighbourhood plans. It is not always possible to get different organisations to adhere to our accessibility requirements.

If this is the case and you need a document in an accessible format, please contact us using the contact details above.

As of August 2023, 33% of the 644 PDFs on our website are inaccessible but are unsuitable for remediation. Of the remainder:

  • 43% are accessible
  • 18% are scheduled for remediation
  • 6% are in development as HTML pages or webforms

Finance and budget

Our fees and charges and statement of accounts do not currently meet the accessibility legislation. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).

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

Documents published before 23 September 2018

Non-HTML documents published before September 2018 do not need to be accessible, unless users need them to use a service.

Third party content

Where we choose to feature third party content or functionality on our website, we are responsible for ensuring it meets accessibility standards. However, we are not responsible for the accessibility of third-party platforms or content that is neither funded nor developed by us, or under our control. This includes:

  • third party websites that we link to from this website and any of our other digital channels
  • social media platforms
  • data we supply to national databases
  • third party content we are legally required to publish but is not in the control of Hart District Council

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We will continue working towards meeting WCAG level AA, including:

  • maintaining and creating accessible content in line with best practice guidance
  • working with developers and editors to fix code and content issues with our website
  • training and guidance to help all document creators to develop accessible documents. Our plan is to ensure that all essential PDFs are converted into an accessible format.

How we test this website 

We monitor accessibility using automated checks via Silktide and manual checks.

We use Adobe Acrobat Pro to test PDF documents for accessibility.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 20 March 2023 and updated on 17 August 2023.