Accessibility statement for Denbighshire Housing

This statement applies to the content published on the www.denbighshirehousing.co.uk domain.

This website is run by Denbighshire Housing. 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 300% without any problems 
• see clearly any colour contrast for easy reading
• 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, for example:

• the text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
• you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
• most older PDF documents and many other documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
• you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
• there’s a limit to how far you can magnify any maps
• some pages and document attachments are not clearly written
• some tables do not have row headers
• some pages have poor colour contrast
• some heading elements are not consistent
• some images and videos do not have good alternative text
• some buttons are not correctly identified
• some error messages are not clearly associated with form controls

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information in a different format, please contact us and tell us:

• the web address (URL) of the content
• your name and email address
• the format you need, for example large print, accessible PDF

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 us and tell us.

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 are 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

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

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Denbighshire Housing and Denbighshire 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

• Where it fails the success criteria
• Planned dates for when issues will be fixed

Disproportionate burden

Some documents/drawings/infographics, but not exclusive to the below list, will not meet the accessibility standards due to their size, resources, and estimated costs to meet the accessibility standards, taking into account the frequency and duration of use on the website. 

• Those provided to us by third parties
• Technical documents and drawings 
• Application forms
• Excel documents
• Word documents
• Design documents
• Tenant newsletters

Should you require these types of documents in an accessible format, please contact us.

Navigation and accessing information

There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option). This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (bypass blocks).

It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.4 (orientation).

It’s not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (resize text).

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.

Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (information and relationships).

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when the supplier modules are up for review, likely to be in 2023.

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

Error messages on some forms are unclear or lack clear association with particular form controls. This fails WCAG 2.1A 3.3.1 success criterion (Error Identification).

Guidance will be created to help content authors understand the requirements for captions and audio description for all new videos. This is related to WCAG 2.1A success criteria 1.2.2 (Captions (Pre-recorded)) and 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Pre-recorded).

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents are not accessible in a number of ways, including missing text alternatives and missing document structure.

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. For example, we do not plan to fix previous tenant newsletters. Most new PDFs or Word documents we produce will meet accessibility standards. Those provided to us by third parties and/or are technical documents and drawings will not always meet accessibility standards. Should you require these type of documents in an accessible format, please contact us.

Please note: we are aware that our November 2023 newsletter has some screen reader issues and we are addressing these. We should have this resolved by the18 December 2023. 

How we tested this website

This website was tested on 22 September 2021 for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The test was carried out by Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) and highlighted improvements that can be made to improve the accessibility. It was retested on 14 November 2022 for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The test was carried out by Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) and highlighted improvements that can be made to improve the accessibility. We are working to make these improvements and hope to complete the work by March 2024.

• The report highlighted the following areas improvement:
• Table layouts and navigation
• Unlabelled or incorrectly marked up elements 
• Coding for a better accessible user experience
• Review navigation and sitemap

If you would like to read the full design accessibility report, contact us.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We plan to identify and fix issues according to the timescales for each area above.

This statement was prepared on 27 February 2020. 

It was last updated on 29 November 2023.