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Accessibility statement

Accessibility statement for Southampton City Council

This accessibility statement applies to content published on the www.southampton.gov.uk domain.

It does not apply to content on www.southampton.gov.uk subdomains unless specified.

This website is run by Southampton City Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • 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

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.

There are also options available for you to translate our webpages into other languages.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • the web chat button can get cut off at 400% magnification

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, please call our switchboard on 023 8083 3000.

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

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact the digital experience team by emailing webfeedback@southampton.gov.uk or using the feedback button at the bottom of each page on the website.

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. Textphone and Minicom users can dial 18001 in front of any of our full telephone numbers to contact a council service via the British Telecom Text Relay service.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

If you do not have access to the internet at home, you can use our website at one of our self-serve terminals in Gateway. You can also visit Gateway to speak with an advisor if you require assistance with certain enquiries and requests.

Find out how to contact us or find out more about Gateway.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Southampton 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 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Failures of the following success criteria occur on 20 web pages or fewer:

  • Mark navigation as lists (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)
  • Identify the purpose of fields programmatically (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.5)
  • Ensure form controls have labels (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)
  • Ensure every page contains a heading (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)

Failures of the following success criteria occur on 21 web pages or greater:

Ensure controls change appearance when they are selected (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7). This issue primarily occurs when the website search box is selected but we are reviewing and correcting each instance of it.

Ensure functionality provided by mouse events is available through the keyboard (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1). Our webchat (a third party tool) currently can’t be selected using the keyboard. We are investigating this and will get it fixed as soon as possible.

Content can be presented without loss of information or functionality, and without requiring scrolling in two dimensions. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.10). Our webchat button can get cut off at over 200% magnification. We are working with the third party provider to fix this.

PDFs and other documents

We have a number of PDFs and other documents that are not compliant for the following reasons:

  • Ensure the first heading in a PDF is a H1 (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)
  • Ensure PDFs are machine readable (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1)
  • Ensure PDFs specify a default language (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.1)
  • Improve weak PDF titles (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2)
  • Define a title for all PDFs (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2)
  • Fix untagged PDFs (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)
  • Specify headings for every PDF (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)
  • Ensure PDF headings follow a logical order (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)
  • Ensure long PDFs use bookmarks to aid navigation (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.5)

We are reviewing all of our PDFs to ensure that they are either replaced with an accessible web page or updated to meet these criteria. We plan to complete this by end of April 2021. Any new PDFs or other documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

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

Older PDFs and other documents

Our website contains older PDFs that are not fully accessible. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 unless our website users need them to use a service.

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

Pre-recorded audio and video

Our website may contain a small amount of pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020 that is not fully accessible. We are not required to make these accessible but it is our policy to do so where possible.

Maps

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

Third-party integrations and content

We require that any new third-party systems we procure for the website are compliant with the WCAG 2.1 AA standard. Third-party systems are partly or wholly under the control of the suppliers who provide them. We are currently reviewing all third-party integrations and content on our website so we can continue to ask our suppliers to fix any accessibility issues that occur.

Third-party integrations include:

  • Idox Open Objects directory platform
  • Curtis Fitch eProcurement portal
  • Civica Spydus library management, cookie preference centre, online payments, Modern.Gov governance and meeting management
  • Cylix eLearning Carer Aware training
  • Click4assistance webchat
  • ICS AI chatbot
  • Accessibility controls that change colour and font size
  • Verint forms
  • Unit4 recruitment

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 21 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 9 December 2022.

This website was last tested on 15 April 2024 and an updated accessibility statement is currently being prepared. The testing was carried out internally using the Silktide automated tool as well as manual testing and review of results.