Accessibility Statement

This is the Accessibility Statement for the People First website. This website is run by the London Borough Councils of Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster, hereby known as "the Council” or “we”.

This website should allow any user to:

• Change colours, contrast levels and size of text.
• Modify the line height or spacing of text.
• Zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the page.

We have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

How Accessible is this Website?

We are aware that there are many parts of this website that are not fully accessible :-

• This website uses JavaScript to deliver certain features. Please make sure you have JavaScript turned on within your browser to deliver full features;
• Older Content Pages are not fully accessible with Assistive Technologies such as screen-readers and voice recognition software.
• Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software;
• Live video streams do not have captions;

Using this Website

Accessible Features

This website uses a widget that contains several Accessible features that can be used by users with specific requirements. The widget is available on the top right-hand side of the header menu.

These features include: -

• Translation
  You can use the Google Translate feature at the top right of the screen to translate the text to any of the available languages, including common community languages in London such as Bengali, Chinese, and Somali.  Please note that the translation is done automatically by the Google software, not by the councils.
  
  
• Contrast & Font Size
  Changing the contrast and font sizes of text can increase legibility for some users.
  
  The “default colour scheme” which was decided as the branding colour schema for this website. It has been discovered that this schema does not satisfy current accessibility standards. Therefore, this website also contains a “high contrast scheme” which satisfies all accessibility standards for colour contrast.
  
  
• Further information on accessibility options
  The RNIB has a webpage with information on options that computers have which can make it easier for people with low or no vision to use them. - RNB Accessibility Options

Accessible Alternatives

Efforts have been made to create accessible alternatives for content that does not meet standards where possible.

Where appropriate we may be able to deliver content to users in accordance with their needs.

Please see “Make a request for Accessible Content” section for further details.

Make a request for Accessible Content

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille; Please email us on mail@peoplefirstinfo.org.uk

Purpose of Links

We will use links to navigate to content on the website. External links will open in a new window.

Where possible the action of an external link will be described by extra description within the link text, so all users can understand the link’s purpose.  However, in certain areas of the website adding this extra description will become a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

We have provided the following definition for external links: -

External Links will be used for any content that has known limitations with assistive technologies OR navigates a user away from secure platforms. In summary, this means the following items are considered External links –

1. Non-HTML Documentation (See “Issues with PDFs and other documents”)
2. Redirection away from secure platforms
3. External websites that are not part of the two councils.

Contact us and Complaints Procedure

We are always looking for ways to improve the People First website. If you find any problems that are not listed within this statement, or believe we are not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations please email us on mail@peoplefirstinfo.org.uk

Enforcement Procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Services (EASS)

Technical Information about this Website’s Accessibility

The Councils are 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 2.1 (WCAG) AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed in the following section, “Non-Accessible Content”.

Non-Accessible Content

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

During our last review of this website it has come to our attention that there are areas of the website that fail to meet WCAG 2.1: -

Issues with Content – Link Text and General Content

It has come to our attention that not all Content pages have been written using the correct semantic elements. Heading Levels have been mistakenly skipped. We are currently reviewing our written process and updating issues when they have been discovered.

Some link text does not make sense when read on its own (for example, ‘click here’). When we publish new content, we will make sure link text meets accessibility standards.

Issues with PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up to be accessible for a screen reader.

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with Easy Read Information on how users can access our services. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages when we publish new content.

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.

Issues with images, video and audio

Live video streams have captions auto added by YouTube, not all videos are currently checked for the accuracy of their captioning.

Certain images do not have descriptive enough alternative text. We are reviewing all images that are used to describe essential content to the user, for example the PeopleFirst Logo.

Disproportionate Burden

There are no issues that are considered a disproportionate burden.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Web Content that is not subject to the standards referenced in this policy statement are as follows: -

1. Content that is archived.
2. Content on intranets and extranets published before 23/09/2019
3. Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that were published before 23/09/2018.
4.  Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that are not essential to the services the councils provide.
5. Live Audio and Video
6. Pre-recorded Audio and Video published before 23/09/2020
7. Online Maps and mapping services
8. Third Party Content that is not under direct control of the councils or main website provider – Google Translate, Social Media links

Policy Review

This statement was prepared on 05/08/2020. The councils will review this policy every year on or before September. This policy was last reviewed on 29/11/2021