Accessibility

Accessibility statement for South Tyneside Council

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

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 using browser or device settings 
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen 
  • navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition software 
  • 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

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

  • many documents are in PDF, Word, Excel or PowerPoint formats and are not accessible 
  • some pages and document attachments are not written in plain English 
  • live video streams do not have captions 

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements,  

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.

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

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 2.2 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

Navigation 

On the news page, text cannot be re-sized up to 200% without loss of content or functionality. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.4.4: Resize Text and 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum). 

On the search, news, events listings and service listings pages in mobile view, ARIA hidden elements are focusable or contain focusable elements. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value. 

On the events listing page, ARIA commands do not have accessible names. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value. 

On an event page, when tabbing using a keyboard you can't access the 'previous' and 'next' options. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard. 

Google Maps 

On the map view on events and services information, the keyboard focus is not fully visible. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 Focus Visible. 

Cookie pop-up 

On the cookie pop-up, elements with ARIA roles do not have all required ARIA attributes. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value. 

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 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value). 

Issues within documents include: 

  • 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 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content). 
  • Some tables are structured incorrectly, so screen readers cannot understand the relationships between information in the table. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). 
  • Some headings do not display correctly. They may look like normal text or a different type of heading. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). 
  • Some images use colour as the only way to convey meaning. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Color). 
  • Some images include text with poor colour contrast to its background. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum). 
  • Some pages use images of text instead of text. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.5 (Images of Text). 
  • Some images include elements with poor colour contrast to the background. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text Contrast). 
  • Some headings don't accurately describe the content underneath. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.6 (Headings and Labels). 

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

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 2.2 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

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.   

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 2.2 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 23 August 2024.

This website was last tested on 22 August 2024. 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.