Accessibility Statement

Lincolnshire County Council, hereby known as Lincolnshire Council, is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. The Lincolnshire Connect to Support website is intended to be accessed by anyone who needs help to continue living independently for longer. This website is owned and managed by PPL UK on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council.

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
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)

This website was launched in December 2018 and is designed to be compliant with the international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG) – Level AA.

Using this Website

Accessibility Widget and Accessible Features

The Lincolnshire Connect to Support website contains several Accessible features that can be used by users with specific requirements.

The features include:

Voice Recognition

The Lincolnshire Connect to Support website has been tested using voice recognition software. All form elements on the website have been labelled correctly so that they can be accessed using the name shown.

For example, saying “select Enter Search Term” and “click Search Button” will allow you to access the main search functionality of the website.

Marketplace pages that are linked to the website with a URL suffix starting /s4s do not have this feature. See Non-Accessible Content for more details.

Contrast and Font Size

Changing the contrast and font sizes of text can increase legibility for some users.

A user can change the contrast settings.

To increase the font size, click on the icons at the top right of the screen. The user can also use the browser’s own zoom facility. The website will work up to 200%.

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 Lincolnshire such as Bengali, Chinese and Somali. Please note that the translation is done automatically by the Google software, not by the Council.

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: RNIB 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:

email CTSL@ageuklsl.org.uk
call 0300 303 8789

We’ll consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.

Purpose of Links

Lincolnshire Connect to Support 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 –

Non-HTML Documentation (See “Issues with PDFs and other documents”)
Redirection away from secure platforms
External websites that are not owned by Lincolnshire

Contact Us and Complaints Procedure

We are always looking for ways to improve the Lincolnshire Connect to Support (CTS) website. If you find any problems not listed within this statement, or believe we are not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, please contact us at AdultCareOnline@lincolnshire.gov.uk.

Technical Information about this Website’s Accessibility

Lincolnshire 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 2.1 (WCAG) AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below. (See Non- Accessible Content, Issues With…)

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, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Services (EASS).

Non-Accessible Content

Whilst Lincolnshire Council strives to adhere to accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website.

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:

Non-Compliance with the Accessibility Regulations

This sub-section lists issues that fail the current accessibility regulations.

Shop4Support Directories and Forms

The Shop4Support directories are inaccessible to users using keyboards and our accessibility features. Our website provider is committed to ensuring these sections reach WCAG 2.1, please see ‘What we are doing to improve accessibility’ section.
Images/Alternative text
Label in Name – Voice Recognition devices
Some link text doesn’t make sense when read on its own (for example, ‘click here’).
We plan to fix the existing links, please see ‘What we are doing to improve accessibility’ section. When we publish new content, we will make sure link text meets accessibility standards.
Non-HTML documentation - it has come to our attention that several of these documents are inaccessible with a few accessibility technologies. These include the document heading structure, use of tables and insufficient alternate descriptions. We have begun to implement these changes in future documents. Where these documents cannot be improved, we are committed to provide an HTML document alternative.

Content that’s not within the scope of the Accessibility Regulations

This sub-section lists issues that are exempt from the current accessibility regulations. For more information see following section, “Exemptions to the Accessibility Regulations”.

Issues with Live Video

Live video streams do not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions - live).

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

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 structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role Value).

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By March 2021, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

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.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Disproportionate Burden

This sub-section is N/A.

Exemptions to the Accessibility Regulations

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

Content that is archived
Content on intranets and extranets published before 23/09/2019
Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that were published before 23/09/2018
Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that are not essential to the service Lincolnshire Connect to Support (CTS) provides
Live Audio and Video
Pre-recorded Audio and Video published before 23/09/2020
Online Maps and mapping services
Third Party Content that is not under direct control of Lincolnshire or main website provider – Google Translate, Social Media links

What are we doing to improve accessibility?

Lincolnshire Council is fully committed to meeting all the accessibility criteria specified in the regulatory provisions. We plan to identify and fix issues in accordance with the timescales shown for each non-compliance area. Areas of this website that fail to meet these standards will have fixes prioritised according to usage data. Due to the amount and complexity of certain issues, fixes may be applied shortly after the September 2020 deadline. Lincolnshire Council will make continuous assessments of this website’s content and update this statement when issues have been resolved.

Our current estimation for full accessibility fixes from our website provider is no later than 31^st December 2023.

Policy Review

This statement was prepared on 14/09/2020. Lincolnshire will review this policy every year on or before the 22/09. This policy was last reviewed on 26/06/2023, by PPL and Lincolnshire Council.