Accessibility

This accessibility statement applies to the North Devon Council website: www.northdevon.gov.uk

This website is run by North Devon 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 400% 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’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

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:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact’ page, call or email us for directions.

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, contact: webmaster@northdevon.gov.uk or use the link at the bottom of each page to "Tell us how we can improve this page".

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

North Devon 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. The non-compliances and exemptions are listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Our newsletter subscription banner may be difficult to navigate for screen reader users on mobile devices. It can block content on the screen and can only be closed with the button in the top right of the popup. This fails WCAG 3.2.1 On Focus (A). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by liaising with the supplier to fix the problem.

Across the website we use heading structures and a layout that may cause navigational issues for screen reader users. When moving through the website with arrow keys, on plaintext content and some headings the focus is given to the entire main content block of the page. Users will find that if they tab to links after navigating through content with the arrow keys, they may be moved back to the first interactive element on the page, rather than the next link from where they are on the page. This fails WCAG 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence (A), 2.4.3 Focus Order (A), 2.4.7 Focus Visible (A) and 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation (AA). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company to understand and amend the html.

On some of our pages we use a graphic to identify alert messages. This is not read out correctly to screen reader users to let them know it is an alert message. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A) and 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics (A). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company to understand how the problem is occurring and amend the html.

Some of our forms on the website do not have permanent labels alongside user input fields and just use placeholder text as instructions. This occurs in places such as the Bin collection dates lookup and the login for reporting a noise nuisance. This fails WCAG 3.3.2 Labels and Instructions (A). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company to understand how the problem is occurring and amend the html.

When searching for a bin collection date for a postcode, the search results are not immediately read out to a user. Screen reader users will need to go to the main content of the results page to be notified if there were no results. This fails WCAG 3.3.1 Error Identification (A). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company to understand how the problem is occurring and amend the html.

Some of our charges information such as that for mooring vessels in Ilfracombe Harbour are displayed in tables that are not easy to navigate for some users. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company to understand how the problem is occurring and amend the html.

PPC register

We know the current register isn't accessible - we plan to resolve this by implementing a new solution (ASSURE register) and we expect to do this by May 2021 date (NPS plan to issue them in 1.10.3 in March 2021).

Democracy.northdevon.gov.uk

When looking for meeting information on the subsite democracy.northdevon.gov.uk, there are two small contrast issues with the search field and Committees heading. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast Minimum (A). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company to understand how the problem is occurring and amend the html.

When looking for meeting information on the subsite democracy.northdevon.gov.uk, we use links as headings which can make them difficult to differentiate from surrounding plaintext and cause confusion while navigating. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A) and 1.4.1 Use of Colour (A). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company to understand how the problem is occurring and amend the html.

Across the website some links may not have appropriate descriptive link text. This fails WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (A). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company to understand how the problem is occurring and amend the html.

my.northdevon

When registering a my.northdevon account, there are no audio cues to let a user know that they have completed registration or that their account has been successfully activated. Users can still get to this information, but it should be presented more immediately upon completion. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A) and 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence (A). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company and the supplier to understand how the problem is occurring and amend the html.

When in a my.northdevon account, there are navigation lists that a user can move through to fill in different account information. These do not always receive focus indication for the current page the user is on and when viewed with magnification change to a collapsible menu. This menu has no audio cues to let a user know when they collapse or expand the menu. This fails WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible (AA) and 3.2.2 On Input (A). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company and the supplier to understand how the problem is occurring and amend the html.

When trying to report a noise nuisance the skip to content link does not receive focus indication during this journey. This fails WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible (AA). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company and the supplier to understand how the problem is occurring and amend the html.

When trying to report a noise nuisance, if a user fills out the form incorrectly, errors are not suitably identified to screen reader users and can be read out incorrectly. This fails WCAG 3.3.1 Error identification (A) and 4.1.1 Parsing (A). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company and the supplier to understand how the problem is occurring and amend the html.

After completing many of our services users will be asked to rate their experience. These rating pickers and comments input are not correctly labelled for screen readers. This fails WCAG 1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose (AA). We are doing the following to resolve this issue by working with the auditing company and the supplier to understand how the problem is occurring and amend the html.

Disproportionate burden

A disproportionate burden refers to situations where cost, time and effort required to make our digital content fully accessible is excessively high relative to the benefits it would provide.

As of 09/2023 NDC migrated to a new website system. Due to the volume of content of work required, resources and timescales, there may be some issues until a new accessibility audit is conducted. We are anticipating completion of this within the next 6 months.

Due to this we have recently purchased and installed automatic scans on our website estate from a service called Silktide. We are anticipating changes to be actioned based on their severity and urgency to end users during this time.

If you see anything of an urgent matter to be addressed, please contact webmaster@northdevon.gov.uk.

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

Portable Document Format - PDF - and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. By September 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. For example, we do not plan to fix historical council meeting minute documents published before 23rd September 2018.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Online maps

Maps that are present on our website and are not used for navigational purposes are exempt under the regulations. We use several maps to show planning or other geographical information. If users require an accessible alternative to this information, please contact us.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 21 October 2021.

This website was last tested on 21 October 2021. The test was carried out internally.

Automatic testing and a selection of user journeys were tested that represent the breadth of content across the website along with some documents.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Statement

Read our Microsoft Dynamics 365 accessibility statement