Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Accessibility statement

Contents

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Norwich City Council is committed to making its 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 2.2 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 accessibility regulations

  1. Some pages viewed on small screens do not reflow correctly and require horizontal scrolling. This makes content difficult or impossible to read and navigate for people relying on zoom or assistive technology. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion1.4.10 (Reflow).
  2. The registers do not have a skip to content link to allow users to jump straight to the main content to bypass repeated content. This means users must tab through the navigation and header content each time. (ie Skin piercing, business merits, HMO licences, licenced premises, food hygiene ratings). This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks).
  3. The Show map / Hide map toggle in the directories does not have an accessible name. The control is missing an appropriate aria-label or programmatic association, meaning screen readers cannot determine its purpose. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).
  4. Some components in the directories, such as lists and maps, do not have an accessible name. Although they may appear visually labelled, the label is not programmatically exposed, meaning screen readers cannot identify the purpose of the content. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).
  5. Some menu and content links are positioned too close together, increasing the likelihood that users may accidentally activate the wrong link. This creates difficulties for users with motor impairments or reduced pointer accuracy. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion  2.5.8 (Target Size (Minimum)).
  6. The purpose of the postcode/address search field in the directories is not identified programmatically so assistive technology can’t reliably detect what the field is for. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.5 (Identify Input Purpose).
  7. Some pages have duplicate IDs making it difficult for assistive technology to interpret the structure. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.1 (Parsing).
  8. Some links in the registers do not meet the minimum colour contrast requirements. Users with low vision may find links difficult to read. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum)).
  9. Form controls represented by interactive map marker icons do not have accessible labels. As a result, screen reader users cannot identify or understand the purpose of these controls. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).
  10. The home page does not contain a top level heading (h1), making the page structure unclear for assistive technology. THis fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships) and WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.6 (Headings and Labels).
  11. On some registers pages, the home link in the breadcrumb trail is not clearly shown as a link and relies only on colour to distinguish it from other text. This may make it difficult for some users to identify that it is clickable. This fails success criterion WCAG 2.2 A 1.4.1 (Use of colour).
  12. Some tables do not have table row or column headers. This means assistive technologies will not read the tables correctly. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
  13. Some pages contain multiple links with the same link text that navigate to different destinations. This makes it difficult for users to determine the purpose of each link.
    This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose (In Context)).
  14. The Norwich City Council logo link on the registers has no accessible text or image alternative. As a result, screen reader users cannot determine the purpose of the link.
    This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).
  15. The iframe on the HMO register does not have a meaningful title describing the interactive map within the frame. Screen reader users cannot determine what the frame contains and whether to interact with it. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).
  16. The filter check boxes used for searching the directories are not programmatically grouped. As a result, screen readers do not announce the checkboxes as part of the same set, making their purpose and relationship unclear. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
  17. Some images do not always have suitable descriptions (alternative text). Users of assistive technologies may not have access to information conveyed in images. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).
  18. Some interactive elements, including links and checkboxes, do not display a visible focus indicator when they receive keyboard focus. Makes it difficult for keyboard users to identify their current position on the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus Visible).
  19. Some text in directories appears to display as section headings but are not marked up using appropriate heading elements (<h2>, <h3>, etc.). Assistive technologies can miss this out making the page structure harder to navigate. This fails WCAG 2.0 Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).

Disproportionate burden

We have committed to redesigning our entire digital service by April 2026. This will include producing a delivery plan to resolve non-compliant issues ahead of the deadline.

We have previously published that it would be a disproportionate burden to fix all inaccessible documents published since September 2018. This included many PDFs and other documents that are not compliant for the following reasons:

  • PDFs are not machine readable (WCAG A 1.3.1)
  • tagging hasn't been carried out correctly (WCAG A 1.3.1)
  • headings have not been specified (WCAG A 1.3.1)
  • the first heading is not H1 (WCAG A 1.3.1)
  • headings don't follow a logical order (WCAG A  1.3.1)
  • default language is not specified (WCAG A 3.1.1)
  • titles are not defined (WCAG A 2.4.2)
  • titles are weak (WCAG A 2.4.2)
  • long pdfs may not have bookmarks (WCAG AA 2.4.5)
  • documents have been photocopied and converted to pdfs
  • forms are in PDF or Word format
  • documents have been provided by third parties

However, these will now be reviewed as part of our website redesign.

In the meantime, we will aim for any new PDFs or other documents we publish to meet accessibility standards. Where possible we provide an accessible HTML version of the information. Where it is necessary to publish a document for customers to print that cannot be made fully accessible, it will be published alongside accessible HTML web pages.

Pdfs and documents can be made available in an alternative format on request

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

You can find the complete list of content exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations on legislation.gov.uk.

PDFs and other documents

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 unless they are essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix the Air Quality Progress Report published in 2015. However, we will aim to provide alternative versions on request.

We are also not required by the regulations to fix documents provided by third-parties that are neither funded nor developed by, nor under the control of the council eg Government leaflets and documents supporting planning applications.

Live video

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

Embedded maps

Our website makes use of embedded maps. We are not required to make these accessible as long as essential information is always provided in an accessible format like an address.

Power BI

Our interactive housing performance reports (Housing Highlights on Get Talking Norwich) are displayed using Microsoft Power BI. Due to limitations in the software, these reports cannot be made fully accessible and may not work well on mobile devices.

We’re reviewing how we present this information to make it easier for everyone to access and understand.

If you have difficulty accessing the reports, please contact us to request the information in another format.

Archived content

Some of our content, such as news articles and minutes of meetings is archived and not within scope of the accessibility regulations.

Third party applications

Some of our online services are provided by third-party applications which are platforms and websites developed by external suppliers and ‘skinned to look like our website. The development of these websites is partly, or wholly out of our control, so they may not conform to the same levels of accessibility of the main website. 

We are requesting compliance statements from our suppliers and where these are found to be unsuitable, we will engage with each supplier to agree measures to achieve compliance:

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