The New North Yorkshire Council
On 1 April the single new council for North Yorkshire launches. Over the weekend, there may be times when some of our systems are not available as we work to bring them together.
Find out how we ensure our 'My account' website can be used by people of all abilities and disabilities.
What to do if you need help to use this website
If you need more help to use any of our services or information on the website, or need the information in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or Braille, please contact us by email or call 0300 131 2 131
Accessibility statement
This statement is in relation to our 'My account' website. It allows customers to apply, book, report and pay for services online and is run by North Yorkshire Council. Any reference to 'this website' within this statement will be in relation to 'My account'.
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; and
- 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 cannot modify the line height or spacing of text; and
- some headings are not organised in a hierarchical layout.
What to do if you cannot access parts of this website
You can contact us if you would like information in another language or different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or Braille.
We’ll consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. You can contact us if you find any accessibility problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements.
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
There are a range of ways you can contact us.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
North Yorkshire 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.
Non accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non compliance with the accessibility regulations
| Content | Detail |
|---|---|
| Headings |
On some pages there are headings that have not been nested correctly, which can make content difficult to read. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Information and Relationships). We plan to correct our use of headings on pages by September 2020. When we publish new content we'll make sure our headings meet accessibility standards. |
| Colour contrast |
Some of our online maps include icons that use colour to differentiate between the statuses, some of which do not have sufficient contrast against the map. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 contrast (minimum). We plan to correct our use of colour and introduce shapes on our online maps by September 2020. When we publish new online forms we'll make sure our online maps meet accessibility standards. |
Other technical and web development issues
We plan to correct the following additional technical issues that affect some of our pages by September 2020:
| Detail | WCAG 2.1 success criterion |
|---|---|
| HTML is used to format content rather than CSS |
1.3.1 (Information and Relationships) |
| HTML tags have been closed without being opened. For example, closing an unopened tag 'p' | 4.1.1 (Parsing) |
| HTML does not validate | 4.1.1 (Parsing) |
| HTML does not fully conform to specification | 4.1.1 (Parsing) |
| Ensuring that web pages are well-formed | 4.1.1 (Parsing) |
How we tested this website
This website was last tested on 10 September 2019 by Sitemorse. They provide automated testing of websites to highlight usability and accessibility issues.
We tested:
- 'My account' which allows customers to apply, book, report and pay for services online
- You can view the accessibility statement for our main website platform here.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We understand that maintaining an accessible website is an ongoing project and are working to resolve all identified accessibility issues which are within our control. Over the next 12 months we plan to perform a manual accessibility audit of our site. This will highlight issues that currently can’t be replicated automatically by a computer.
We will regularly monitor the accessibility of the website and ensure our content editors and web developers keep up to date with the latest accessibility best practice.
Date of statement
This statement was published on 20 September 2019.