Website accessibility statement

Accessibility statement – Essex Outdoors

Using this website

Essex Outdoors, part of Essex County Council, runs this website.  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 300% 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

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • When the keyboard is used to navigate:
    • the order for elements at the top of pages is not as logical as it should be
    • the focus highlight style is not consistent across all page elements
    • The ‘skip to main content’ function is missing from blog posts
  • Some images, such as our logos and some photos of activities and equipment, contain text
  • The code for our navigation menus:
    • includes duplicated element id tags
  • Although not required for AA compliance, on some pages the heading tags are not nested in the correct order, which could confuse some screen readers.
  • On our contact form;
    • some of the related form elements are not grouped together in fieldsets, so it takes longer to navigate through content.
  • The site contains links to some pdfs which are not tagged or do not contain headings
  • Our ‘supporting statement’ Word document for use in applying for a job with us, is not fully accessible.

We are working to resolve these issues and will have released them to the website by 31st March 2020

What to do if you can’t access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille email hello@essexoutdoors.com

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 20 working days.

How we tested this website

We have tested this website using automated test tools including SiteImprove, Powermapper and WAVE.

Essex County Council is working with an accessibility partner to build our capability so that we can run assessments with users.

We are aiming to test this website shortly.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Essex 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.

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

Issues with technology

Some 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.

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are important to providing our services and we are working through these to create accessible HTML pages and forms. This work will be completed by 23 September 2020.

We understand that the 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. However, if you need information in an alternative format, email us on hello@essexoutdoors.com

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish from 1 September 2019 onwards will meet accessibility standards.

Other accessibility issues

We may use a pop-up poll to capture user feedback on the website. The Shaw Trust has identified the following accessibility issues:

  • the survey page has a missing heading 2 and 3
  • the poll pop-up has ambiguous form fields where the Yes No radio buttons are not related to the question
  • the default language has not been set

We use an external e-newsletter provider to manage our e-newsletter delivery. The Shaw Trust has identified the following accessibility issues:

  • the e-newsletter selection has unlabelled form fields

In all cases we are working with suppliers to resolve the issues.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

This statement was prepared on 7th January 2020

We are working to resolve all accessibility issues which are within our control by 31st March and will be working with our accessibility partner to assess the site with users shortly.

We are working with suppliers to resolve any identified accessibility issues where we do not have direct control over their product.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations,  please email us on hello@essexoutdoors.com

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing 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

General enquiries

Telephone: 0345 200 4220
Email: hello@essexoutdoors.com
 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:00pm