Accessibility Statement for Bassetlaw District Council
This accessibility statement applies to Bassetlaw District Council's website and our Open Data website.
To ensure digital accessibility for people with disabilities, we are continually improving the user experience for everyone. This means you should be able to:
- change line height, spacing between paragraphs and fonts.
- zoom in up to 300 percent 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 (external link) has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible, for example:
- our Open Data website contains documents which are mainly in PDF format. This site is currently under review.
- most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
- some live video streams do not have captions.
- some forms for licensing are still in PDF format until our new online system is up and running.
- we might link to websites and software we do not own or manage and cannot guarantee their accessibility.
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:
- call 01909 533 533 and ask to speak to Customer Services.
We'll consider your request and get back to you within 10 working days.
If you cannot view any of our maps, please call customer services on 01909 533 533 or email customer.services@bassetlaw.gov.uk and they will refer your enquiry to our Information Governance Team.
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 by emailing accessability@bassetlaw.gov.uk or calling 01909 533 533 and ask to speak to the Digital Communications Officer.
Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
Our offices in Worksop, Retford and Harworth have audio induction loops.
Find out how to 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
Bassetlaw 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
These websites are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines versions 2.2 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
3rd party systems such as our payments engine and forms-based systems are partially compliant but have issues.
- Ensure PDFs are machine readable (WCAG 2.0 A 1.1.1)
- Ensure PDF headings follow a logical order (WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1)
- Ensure PDF content is in a meaningful sequence (WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.2)
- Improve weak PDF titles (WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.2)
- Ensure long PDFs use bookmarks to aid navigation (WCAG 2.0 AA 2.4.5)
Some areas where this applies:
Neighbourhood Plans - Our communities can now choose to produce a neighbourhood plan, which contain policies to help shape and delivery new development in their areas. Because these documents are a statutory (legal) document, they have to be produced in a certain way and are externally produced. If you require information contained in any of the documents contained in our neighbourhood plans, please contact will.wilson@bassetlaw.gov.uk.
Scanned Petitions - Petitions received at the council are often scanned PDFs. We are unable to make changes to these documents and fall under the scope of 'third party content that’s under someone else’s control'. If you wish to find out what is within these petitions, please contact customer.services@bassetlaw.gov.uk.
Finance and Budget - Our fees and charges and statement of accounts do not currently meet the accessibility legislation. We are currently exploring options on how to get these documents introduced to the website accessibly.
Disproportionate Burden
Bassetlaw Local Plan and Draft Worksop Central Development Plan
Our Bassetlaw Local Plan supporting documents (including the Draft Worksop Central Development Plan) and evidence base are large PDFs. These documents have been ongoing from the start of the process which began in 2016. As a result, these documents may have been altered to represent changes as a result of consultations, rather than created from new.
Lots of these documents have been produced externally and to ensure they are completely compliant, would incur extra costs and would not be viable.
The information is necessary to produce the Bassetlaw Local Plan.
If you require information contained with the plan or any documents associated with the plan (including the Draft Worksop Central Development Plan), please contact thebassetlawplan@bassetlaw.gov.uk or call 01909 533 533 and discuss with our planning policy team.
Open Data
Currently we are unable to assess the whole of our Open Data website, due to the volume of documents contained within it. This is currently being reviewed as part of a wider project to reduce the number of areas, and to bring the information back in line with the Local Government Transparency Code 2015.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be marked up so they’re accessible to a screen reader.
The accessibility regulations don’t 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 unless we determine that they represent a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. Ultimately, we plan to provide an accessible HTML version of the information as the primary source.
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
The Communications Team is engaging with all services in the Council to embed the principles of digital accessibility in our everyday work. Starting with accessibility in mind will mean fewer issues to fix and assist us to provide the right level of information on our website in the most appropriate way.
Services based on a different technical platform
Open Data - data.bassetlaw.gov.uk
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard.
This website is currently under review and will be updated or amalgamated with the Bassetlaw District Council website.
Third-party applications
We require that any new third-party systems we commission for the website are Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 AA compliant. However, third-party applications are partly or wholly out of our control and so may not conform to the same levels of accessibility as the rest of the website.
Third-party applications include:
- Capita online payments.
- ESB Forms.
- Idox planning applications search, building control regulations search, and licensing register.
- Esri mapping system.
- EntitledTo benefit calculator.
- Victoria form benefit applications.
- Granicus govdelivery subscription - accessibility statement.
- modern.gov Councillor information, meetings, agendas and minutes.
- Meritec – Internal Server Error page and Events pages.
Third-party applications coming soon
- Idox - Tascomi
We monitor the accessibility of these sites and ask suppliers to fix accessibility issues that arise.
Preparation
This statement was first prepared on 4 August 2020. It was last reviewed and updated on 3 December 2024.
This website is tested monthly against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard by our Communications Team using automated testing tools.
Last Updated on Tuesday, December 3, 2024