Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to www.sloughfamilyservices.org.uk.

This website is run by the Family Information Service, Slough Borough Council through our third-party supplier Idox Software Ltd. 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 400% 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.

You can find a full list of any issues we currently know about in the Non-accessible content section of this statement.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website.

If you find any problems not listed in the Non-accessible content section of this statement or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, email FIS@slough.gov.uk.

Find tips on contacting the organisation about inaccessible websites from the W3C WAI site.

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, compliance status

Slough Family Information Service, Slough Borough Council is committed to making Slough Information and Services Guide 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 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

  • Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing council services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access council services, and forms published as Word documents. We are currently reviewing PDFs and other content on the website, and we aim to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages/online forms. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
  • The editable content on some pages includes inconsistent heading levels, meaning that standard assistive technology navigation tools will fail to work properly for this page. We are reviewing content and aim to ensure that webpages have consistent heading levels by December 2024.
  • WCAG 2 level AA requires that context needed for understanding the purpose of a link should be either displayed as the link text or included via a title attribute. In some pages, there are links with title attributes that are exactly the same as their link text. Certain assistive technology announces links to them in full but may also announce the title, meaning the user hears the same text twice. We are reviewing link texts and aim to resolve these issues by December 2024.
  • Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We aim to add text alternatives for all images by December 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
  • When a provider signs up for an account on the website to add and update details of their service, the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), rich text editor boxes, in the form are not fully accessible using only a keyboard. Members of the public using this website will not be affected by this limitation as it applies specifically to registered service providers. Idox Software Ltd. uses a third-party plugin to provide this feature and are evaluating an alternative. There is currently no publishable timeline associated to this.

If you find an issue that we have yet to identify, please email FIS@slough.gov.uk.

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

PDFs and other documents

Some 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. 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. 

Third party content

Many of our PDFs, images, word documents and content are provided by third-party providers. While we encourage all our third-party providers to provide content and documents that are accessible to all, we do not have the rights to the content and will not be able to change or replace it. We will not refuse these submitted content for accessibility reasons. We aim to adjust this (for example: by adding alt tags to undescribed images) wherever possible to improve accessibility.

Video content

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. We also have some existing pre-recorded video content that was published before the 23 September 2020. This content is also exempt from the regulations.

Online maps

Our service includes the use of online maps to show certain geographical information. These are not used for navigational purposes and are exempt under the regulations. If you require the information presented in an online map in a different format, please contact us to discuss reasonable adjustments.

Links to other websites

We signpost to websites that we do not own or manage. We do this because they give more information than we offer. We are not responsible for the accessibility of these sites.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

To improve accessibility, we:

  • are reviewing all documents and forms relating to council services and where possible we aim to either fix or replace them with webpages/online forms
  • monitor new content to make sure it meets standards
  • review existing pages when making updates to ensure they are compliant
  • where possible, publish information as web pages rather than PDF documents.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 7 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 19 February 2024.

This website was tested in February 2023.

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