Alert Section

Accessibility Statement for flintshire.gov.uk


This statement applies to content published on the flintshire.gov.uk domain. 

This website is run by the Flintshire County Council. It is designed to be used by as many people as possible. The text should be clear and simple to understand. You should be able to:

  • zoom in up to 300% without problems
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • use most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

How accessible this website is

Parts of this website are not fully accessible. For example:

  • some pages and document attachments are not written in plain English
  • some tables do not have row headings
  • some documents have poor colour contrast
  • some heading elements are not consistent
  • some images do not have image descriptions
  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software

Each department which publishes content on flintshire.gov.uk is responsible for making sure it meets the accessibility regulations. We will update the statement when issues are fixed or when we expect them to be fixed.

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:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us for directions.

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, contact:

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).

Technical information about this website's accessibility

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 (external website).

Compliance status

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

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

  1. PDF colour contrast issues: Some PDF's may have some colour contrast issues, such as scanned in images. In some instances we may not have access to the original document to alter the colour contrast. Also we cannot change the colour contrast on certain PDF's such as scanned in images of documents. We are changing colour contrast issues where we can, and also trying to trace the original documents. Please contact us if you do encounter an issue.
  2. Images: Uploaded images may not have text alternatives because some images are used for decorative purposes only and do not provide any information to the website users.  We monitor emails and website feedback for any issues with the website.  Please contact us if you do encounter an issue.
  3. The following PDF's are currently not wcag 2.1 compliant due to templates out of our control.
    1. Welsh in Education Strategic Plan 2022-2032

Disproportionate burden

We have identified a limited number of PDF and MS Word documents published after September 2018 where the cost and/or time of publishing these documents in an accessible format would represent either:

  • a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations; or 
  • a temporary disproportionate burden that we aim to fix.

Documents we have currently identified as a disproportionate burden include:

  • Statement of accounts (PDF)
  • Council Constitution (PDF)
  • Houses in Multiple Occupation public register (PDF)
  • Bin collection date calendars (PDFs)
  • some spreadsheets (MS Excel documents)
  • Provisional Tree Preservation Order (TPO) documents

A number of application forms in PDF and MS Word format currently represent a disproportionate burden, however we aim to replace these forms with accessible, online versions of these.

Something which is a disproportionate burden now will not necessarily be a disproportionate burden forever. If circumstances change, we will re-assess whether we can provide our online information in an accessible format.

PDFs and other documents

New documents we publish to access our services should be fully accessible.

However, we know that some of our older documents (published before 23 September 2018) are not accessible. For example, some of them:

  • are not marked up in a way that allows screen reader users to understand them
  • are not tagged up properly, for example they do not contain proper headings
  • are not written in plain English

Some of these are historic documents and are not essential to providing our services. These types of documents are exempt from the regulations. We do not currently have any plans to make them accessible.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We have developed and implemented a new corporate website with the primary aim of improving access to our online information and services. 

We are working with all our third-party supplied systems to try to resolve any of their identified accessibility issues with their systems.

How we tested this website

We have tested our website for accessibility using a combination of automated tools, manual tests and assistive technologies.

We have used the following automated tools to test our website:

  • W3C validator
  • HTML 5 validator
  • SiteImprove
  • Wave toolbar
  • Axe
  • Web accessibility toolbar
  • Firefox browser (Accessibility checker)
  • Webaim Colour contrast checker

We have used the following assistive technologies to test our website:

  • Voiceover (A screen reader for Apple devices)
  • Narrator with Edge browser (Text to speech)
  • Speech recognition technologies including Siri and Windows 10 Speech Recognition
  • Screen magnification tools including Windows 10 Magnifier

Additional accessibility considerations

Although our goal is WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance, we have also applied some Level AAA Success Criteria: Images of text are only used for decorative purposes. Re-authentication after a session expires does not cause loss of data.

Compatibility with browsers and assistive technology

Flintshire.gov.uk is designed to be compatible with the following assistive technologies:

  • Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, Edge, IE11.
  • Tablet Accessible. Examples include Kindle (Silk Browser), Apple iPad, Android and Windows tablets.
  • Mobile Device Accessible.

Flintshire.gov.uk is not compatible with:

  • Browsers older than 3 major versions or Mobile operating systems older than 5 years.
  • Older versions of IE (IE10, 9, 8, 7) are not recommended for Security and Accessibility Reasons.

Technical specifications

Accessibility of Flintshire.gov.uk relies on the following technologies to work with the particular combination of web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer:

  • HTML
  • WAI-ARIA
  • CSS
  • JavaScript

These technologies are relied upon for conformance with the accessibility standards used.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 28th September 2020. It was last reviewed on 20th January 2022.

Current Accessibility Conformance Reports are available upon request.