Accessibility

Accessibility statement for South Tyneside Council

This accessibility statement applies to content published on the www.southtyneside.gov.uk domain.

It does not apply to content on subdomains of southtyneside.gov.uk (for example, leisurebookings.southtyneside.gov.uk).

This website is run by South Tyneside Council. 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, 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)

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

How accessible this website is

Parts of this website are not fully accessible. For example:

  • many documents are in PDF or Word format and are not accessible
  • some pages and document attachments are not written in plain English
  • some images do not have image descriptions
  • live video streams do not have captions

Feedback and contact information

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

In your message, include:

  • the web address (URL) of the content
  • your email address and name
  • the format you need - for example, plain text, braille, BSL, large print or audio CD

We'll consider your request and get back to you in 14 working days.

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, email webteam@southtyneside.gov.uk or call 0191 427 7000. The Web and Digital Team are responsible for dealing with these reports.

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Find out how to contact us.

Technical information about this website's accessibility

South Tyneside 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, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Images

Images on some pages do not always have suitable image descriptions. Users of assistive technologies may not have access to information conveyed in images. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

Google Maps

We use Google Maps to display locations in South Tyneside.

The image of the map provided by Google does not have alternate text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). As content from Google Maps is not under the Council's control, we are unable to fix this, however, we provide the address of the location in text format.

Navigation

Some pages cannot be found through more than one type of navigation. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.5 (multiple ways).

PDFs and non-HTML documents

Many documents are in less accessible formats, for example PDF. Non-HTML documents published on or after 23 September 2018 must have an accessible format. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

We plan to replace PDF and Word documents on our website with accessible HTML pages.

We are prioritising:

  • documents which have essential information about how to access our services
  • forms which can't be submitted online
  • documents which are regularly downloaded

When we plan to fix these issues

We are urgently fixing content which fails to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. We will update this page when issues are fixed.

We are making sure any new content or digital services we build meet accessibility standards.

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

PDFs and non-HTML documents

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

Video

The accessibility regulations do not require us to provide a text only format for pre-recorded video published before 23 September 2020.

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 are urgently fixing content which fails to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. We will update this page when issues are fixed.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 23 September 2019. It was last reviewed on 15 February 2023.

This website was last tested on 1 September 2022. The test was carried out by South Tyneside Council.

We tested a sample of pages on our main website platform, including the following templates:

  • Homepage
  • Content pages
  • Search results page
  • News search page
  • News pages
  • Job listings page
  • Event listings pages
  • Event detail pages
  • Service directory pages
  • Service detail pages
  • Online forms

We carried out both manual checks, and automated tests using the axe accessibility checker.