Disproportionate burden assessments

Conducting a full audit and buying auditing tools used

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 2.1 AA accessibility standard.

This assessment relates to our accessibility audit for our main website (www.slough.gov.uk) and the tools used for it.

Benefits

To conduct a full accessibility audit and to have access to a paid for/full version of a web governance platform which, will run automated accessibility and quality assurance checks, would benefit our users with:

  • a more accessible website for all our users
  • easier access to council services
  • a more efficient and comprehensive automated check.

Burden

Full audit costs

According to the Department for Education's “Prepare for an audit” page, "The average cost of an external audit is around £8,000 to £10,000 but it can be more."

Web governance platform costs

Quotes we've received range from £12,100 to £18,000.

Burden due to costs

Historically, the council had no budget line for the Slough Borough Council website, www.slough.gov.uk aside from funding staff to support the development and maintenance of the it. Although some funding has since been provided to support development of the website, there remains a lack of technical expertise and funding to carry out a full accessibility audit. In addition, we are unable to currently invest in a web governance platform due to the council suffering from severe financial issues, though this has been considered in our future planning should funding become available.

Extra costs would impact negatively on the budget.

Our organisation's size and resources

Slough Borough Council is a unitary authority, going through some huge financial issues as described above, with the future of the council looking to be downsized over the next 5 years (2021-2026).

We currently do not have the technical expertise in-house, or the resources to get a third-party, to conduct a full accessibility audit.

We do not have the resources to pay for a web governance platform. We are relying on the free tools that are available:

  • Axe
  • Colour Contrast Analyser (CCA)
  • Silktide accessibility checker
  • WAVE

We frequently check for any accessibility issues that the Silktide Index picks up on from our website. We use WebFX to check for readibility.

In addition to the basic accessibility check, we also perform manual checks to:

  • search and fix raw urls
  • search and replace words such as 'click', 'see', 'view' with more inclusive terms, such as 'select', 'check' and 'find'
  • ensure meaningful link texts are used
  • check links lead to the right destination
  • check text is web friendly and in plain English.

We appreciate a basic audit may not pick up all issues however, accessibility is always of primary focus when building and developing the website.

Our Accessibility Statement (as per requirements) includes our webmanager@slough.gov.uk email address for anyone to get in touch if they have any issues with the Slough Borough Council website (www.slough.gov.uk). Although we cannot determine what issues would come up on a full audit or from using a full version of a web governance platform, we are open to being approached on any accessibility issue.

Raising staff awareness on accessibility

Within the council, staff awareness on the importance of accessibility is being incorporated into events and activities which include:

  • providing guidance and training to teams on creating accessible documents
  • supplying reminders and best practice tips through internal communication forums and newsletters
  • creating accessible content training courses within the council’s intranet and talent management system, Cornerstone for staff to access and learn from
  • engaging with services who have invested in third-party software to make sure documents produced by them and need to be posted on the Slough Borough Council website are accessible.

Assessment

We consider that the costs to conduct a full accessibility audit on this site and to invest in a web governance platform for our site will represent a disproportionate burden to the organisation in terms of cost.

We have, therefore, had to conduct a basic accessibility check as advised on GOV.UK, as part of our accessibility audit and used the free resources and tools that are available.

This disproportionate burden will apply until the council’s financial situation has been settled. Our Financial Recovery Plan is for 5 years, so we expect the disproportionate burden to apply until 2026.