Accessibility

Slough Borough 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

The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard.

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 the accessibility regulations

• Many of our 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 fails WCAG 4.1.2: Name, role value. Documents created for print distribution, which are now available on this site may not be accessible due to font sizing and layout. This fails WCAG 1.4.12: Text Spacing. We have made sure that documents, which between July 2023 and June 2024 had 2000 or more users (which represents less than 1% of our active users in the same duration) are accessible. We will strive to meet accessibility standards on any new PDFs or other documents we publish. We provide internal guidance to staff across the council that need documents posted on the site as well as seek appropriate external resources to assist us to comply.
• There’s a 15-minute time limit set up within our online forms if there is 15-minutes of inactivity. The user cannot turn off, adjust or extend this expiry time. This fails WCAG 2.2.1: Timing adjustable. A warning has been added to all our forms to alert users of the time limit. It also advises they can register to MyAccount and start a form while logged in, where there is a 24-minute time limit and users can save their incomplete form and return to it at a later time or date.
• When zooming into any page which has the Chatbot, the content presented within the Chatbot loses information and functionality. This fails WCAG 1.4.10: Reflow. We hope to have this fixed by end of April 2025.
• Without an email address a user will not be able to use the live chat feature within the Chatbot. If a user does not have an email address and wants to speak to our customer services they can call 01753 475111.
• The “Back to top” link appears before the Chatbot, even though the Chatbot is at the bottom of the page. This fails WCAG 2.4.3: Focus order issue. We hope to have this fixed by end of April 2025.
• Our directory search error text is generic and doesn’t point to any relevant input. This prevents users from addressing the error faster and with reduced effort. This fails on WCAG 3.3.3: Error Suggestion. We hope to have this fixed by end of April 2025.
• The headings on the “Form time limit” page within our online forms does not follow the correct heading ranks. This can cause confusion to the navigation structure of the content for screen reader users. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships. We hope to have this fixed by end of April 2025.
• The postcode field within our directories does not programmatically identify what its purpose is. This then prevents browsers to help users fill in forms with known information. This fails on WCAG 1.3.5: Identify Input Purpose. We hope to have this fixed by end of April 2025.
• The form controls within directories do not appear sufficiently distinct from their surroundings. This makes it difficult for people with visual impairments to clearly see them. This fails on WCAG 1.4.11: Non-text contrast. We hope to have this fixed by end of April 2025.
• When logged into My Account the interactive component distance isn’t far apart enough. This fails on WCAG 2.5.8: Target Size (Minimum). We hope to have this fixed by end of April 2025.
• When logged into My Account some of the text contrast is not sufficient against its background. People with moderate visual impairment may not be able to read it. This fails on WCAG 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum). We hope to have this fixed by end of April 2025.
• The forms within the Google maps we use does not define explicit text labels for each form control. This means people using screen readers are not able to access the layout of the form. This fails on WCAG 1.3.1: Info and Relationships. These maps are provided by a third-party, Google maps, which we are able to host for free within our site. When we next review the use of maps we will consider other more accessible options.
• The tables used within the Google maps we use, does not have clear headers defined. This means screen reader users may not understand the context of the data within the table. This fails on WCAG 1.3.1: Info and Relationships. These maps are provided by a third-party, Google maps, which we are able to host for free within our site. When we next review the use of maps we will consider other more accessible options.
• The red pin within the Google maps we use does not give an alternative text, which means it will be ignored by assistive technology, which in turn means users of assistive technology will not be able to access this information presented by the red pin. This fails on WCAG 1.1.1: Non-text Content. These maps are provided by a third-party, Google maps, which we are able to host for free within our site. When we next review the use of maps we will consider other more accessible options.

Disproportionate burden

We are required by law to carry out disproportionate burden assessments where we are not able to meet our legal obligation to reach the WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standard. 

Conducting a full audit and buying auditing tools

We do not have the:

• in-house expertise to carry out a full accessibility audit
• funds to contract a third-party accessibility auditor to carry out a full audit
• funds to invest in a web governance platform.

Further to our disproportionate burden assessment for conducting a full audit and buying auditing tools, we consider this would be a disproportionate burden on the council. We have therefore, conducted a basic audit check as advised on the GOV site.

We have used free tools, as listed in our disproportionate burden assessment on buying auditing tools, to conduct our basic accessibility check.

PDFs and other documents on this site

Documents that already exist on this site are not all accessible. Effort has been made to ensure documents, which between July 2023 and June 2024 had 2000 or more users (which represents less than 1% of our active users in the same duration) are accessible. We will strive to meet accessibility standards on any new PDFs or other documents we publish. However, further to our disproportionate burden assessment for PDFs and other documents on this site the council believes that making all existing documents on the Slough Borough Council website accessible would be an inefficient use of limited staff resources. This would impose a disproportionate burden in terms of cost and time - especially with the low demand on many of the documents.

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

PDFs and other documents

Many of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have forms in Word or PDF, which users need to complete to request or apply for something. A third party, such as residents, may provide documents that we have a duty to post up on our site. These documents may not be accessible, but we do not have the rights to amend or replace them.

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. Our disproportionate burden assessment for PDFs and other documents on this site covers both the essential and non-essential documents.

CSV files can be found on this site. These raw data files are not accessible, we include them on the site for users to use for any analysis they may wish to do. We do include the same data in accessible Excel documents.

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.

For all our videos posted here after 23 September 2020, captions and transcripts are included.

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 on an online map in a different format, please contact us to discuss reasonable adjustments.

Links to other websites

We do 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.

Find a list of third-party sites funded, developed by or under our control.