Accessibility statement

The current version of this website was launched in 2017, but individual elements of it may have been updated since then.

How accessible the site is

We know some parts of this website aren't fully accessible.

What to do if you have problems or queries

If you have any accessibility problems or feedback, please email us at webadmin@durham.gov.uk.

If you need to contact us about any other issues, please use our contact us page.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you're not happy with how we respond, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Durham County Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Under the Equality Act 2010 we must ensure we do not unlawfully discriminate in our service delivery and make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities where necessary. We are constantly working to improve the accessibility and usability of our site.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

• headings: some headings don't cascade inside some features on some web pages
• link text: some pages contain the same link text going to different pages
• images: some images have duplicate alt text 
• YouTube: auto-generated YouTube code is not HTML5 compliant
• form fields: the contact us and search form fields are difficult to navigate using a keyboard because they are missing onkey options
• tables: generated table code is not HTML5 compliant

We intend to resolve these issues by September 2020.

Disproportionate burden

• councillors, minutes and papers: documents that are supplied to us by other organisations will not be edited to make them accessible
• County Durham and Darlington Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC): this is hosted on an external website (Archaeology Data Service) which is not responsive, headings don't cascade, PDFs don't have unique link titles and aren't compliant and some images are missing alt tags. We can't edit the site code, and do not intend to fix any issues as we expect the audience to be limited.
• planning portal: documents that are supplied to us by other organisations or members of the public will not be edited to make them accessible
• Shildon-Sunnydale leisure centre virtual tour: the walk through relies on the user being able to see the tour and use a mouse to navigate it. It is a 3rd party product that was free. We do not intend to use further tours as there would be a cost associated and it is not an accessible product.
• Durham City bus station consultation virtual tour: the walk through relies on the user being able to see the tour and use a mouse to navigate it. It is a 3rd party product that was free. We do not intend to use further tours as there would be a cost associated and it is not an accessible product.

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

• PDFs/documents: many of our older PDF documents don't meet accessibility standards and 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.
• video transcripts: many of our older transcripts before July 2019 may not be fully marked up

We intend to have a rolling programme to update our PDFs.

Systems to be reviewed for September 2020

• benefits calculator
• births, deaths and marriages certificates
• Children's Services feedback forms
• children's social care (provider) portal
• community grants
• Consett/Louisa Centre membership form
• council tax/business rates/housing benefit repayments
• councillors, minutes and papers
• customer account (Do It Online/online forms)
• DLI collections
• Durham Record
• ebooks
• election documents
• job applications
• learn2swim
• leisure bookings
• leisure registration
• Library Online
• mapping
• mapping for roadworks
• My Durham
• MyView
• non-residential payments
• occupancy
• parent portal
• parent portal (providers)
• parking fine portal
• payments portal
• pensions portal (employers)
• planning consultations
• planning portal
• property services
• Public Rights of Way register
• public transport mapping
• residential payments
• skip permits
• technical services
• volunteering portal
• welfare assistance form

How we test the site

We re-assess a website or system for accessibility whenever it undergoes a major modification.

Most page content is checked every time it is updated.