This is the accessibility statement for localofferwirral.org, the Local Offer website for Wirral, Merseyside. This website is run by Wirral Council. We are working hard to ensure that our website is accessible and easy to use for everyone. Our audience are children and young people from the birth to age 25 who have additional needs/and or a disability and their Parent/Carers. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website.
Website features
These are clearly set out on the homepage via a blue button which opens up a menu of adaptations to assist the user with accessibility.
- option to increase text size
- option to decrease text size
- zoom facility
- screen reader
- grayscale
- high contrast
- negative contrast
- light background
- links underline
- readable font
- reset
Navigation
Previously users reported navigation as poor. Subsequently we have invested time and effort into making significant improvements. We now provide:
- consistent site navigation and structure
- search box on top right of every page
Feedback and contact information
We invite feedback from our users and have a designated Leave Feedback facility https://localofferwirral.org/leave-feedback/Feedback from users and the Local Offer Development group is used to improve the site.
For questions about this website please contact the team at [email protected]
Compliance status
Wirral Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Pleasingly, this website is fully compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 Following an audit on 1st October 2020 the website scored 86%, was categorised as ‘Great’ and placed in the top 30 Local Offer websites for accessibility in the country.
Compliance is required across three categories as follows:
| Category | Current Scores | Scores need to comply |
| A | 90.9% | 72.6% |
| AA | 85.6% | 49.6% |
| AAA | 73 | 49.6% |
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Interactive tools and transactions can be refined further.
Some content providers will benefit from instruction on how to format documentation
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
We still have more work to do around:
- Ensuring pages don’t scroll in two dimensions on small screens
- Ensuring pinch-to-zoom is enabled
- Specifying alternative text for images inside links
- Ensuring text has sufficient contrast
- Ensuring links explain their purpose
- Ensuring PDFs are machine readable
- Compliance of some videos and maps
These will be highlighted when we receive our next monthly accessibility test report on 1st November. We aim to rectify these by the end of November 2020.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Below is a list of accessibility problems that fall outside the scope of the accessibility regulations.
PDFs and other documents – Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By November 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages. 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.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Accessibility queries
We are continuously seeking to improve this website; if you encounter an accessibility issue please email us at [email protected]
Alternatively, please visit a Wirral One Stop shop to report the issue in person and staff will contact the Local Offer team.
Please note that One Stop shops will remain closed until further notice due to government advice regarding COVID 19. https://www.wirral.gov.uk/about-council/contact-us/one-stop-shops
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).
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
- We use Siteimprove to help us comply with legislative requirements and website best practice guidance
- We are making good progress and have identified areas requiring further focus and resolution. This is facilitated by monthly reports highlighting specific issues. In turn these are discussed and referred to the web management company
- We have attended on-line webinars to help us consider the full range of adjustments and learn from examples of best practice
- We have asked representatives from our SEND Youth Voice Group to test drive the site and report encountered accessibility issues
- We ensure information within the site is of maximum value to the customer
- We favour plain English and content that is jargon and acronym free
We work to fulfil these aims through specific website features, navigation facilities and continuous content management.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 5 October 2020 and replaces the previous statement prepared on 22 September 2020.
This website was last tested on 1st October 2020. The test was carried out by SOCITM
A purely random sampling exercise was conducted on the first day of each calendar month and covered a cross section of pages and PDF documents.
We have arranged to receive monthly reports on the first day of each month as an on-going process to enable our accessibility statement to be updated.
Date published 5 October 2020
Review date 5 November 2020