Accessibility statement for the Peterborough Information Network website

This website is run by Peterborough City 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: 

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts 
• zoom in up to 300% 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 
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver) 

How accessible is this website?

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

• some pages and document attachments need general improvements 
• some tables need row headers 
• some images need improved alternative text
• some documents are not fully accessible 
• some URL links may be broken (caused by an external link URL being changed by a third party).

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

• We have some third party documents uploaded on our website, these are often not part of our service delivery and often promotional materials, signposting and further information materials.

From September 2021 we have introduced a stricter inclusion policy for third party materials; we seek to link to the third party website rather than having their documents on our website.

• 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 policy documents.

Accessible documents policy

This policy explains how accessible the documents on the Peterborough Information Network website are. It covers PDFs, spreadsheets, presentations and other types of document.

Using our documents

The council publishes documents in a range of formats, including PDFs and spreadsheets.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use those documents. For example, when we produce a document we make sure to:

• provide an HTML option where possible
• tag headings and other parts of the document properly, so screen readers can understand the page structure
• make sure we include alt text alongside non-decorative images, so people who cannot see them understand what they’re there for
• avoid using tables, except when we’re presenting data
• write in plain English

How accessible are our documents?

New documents we publish and documents you need to download or fill in to access one of the services we provide should be fully accessible. However, we know that some of our older documents are not accessible. For example, some of them:

• are just photocopies and 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

This mostly applies to our policy documents. These types of documents are exempt from the regulations, so we do not currently have any plans to make them accessible. But if you need to access information in one of these document types, you can contact us and ask for an alternative format.

How to request content in an accessible format 

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

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

Making documents available in other languages

For the most part we do not provide documents translated into other languages on our website. 

If you would like request a document in another language, please contact us and a translated version of a document may be provided where possible.

We do have the facility to enable all our HTML web pages to be translated into over 130 different languages.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website 

If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or you think we’re not meeting the accessibility requirements, contact us. 

Enforcement procedure 

If you contact us with a complaint and you’re not happy with our response contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). 

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’). 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility 

The council is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. 

This website is now significantly compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard

How we tested this website 

This website has been tested for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 level A and level AA, through an external audit by IDOX  

What we're doing to improve accessibility 

Significant changes to the technical web design 

We have already made significant changes to the technical web design of our Peterborough Information Network website. This work was undertaken by the web developer IDOX. We are improving areas where we fail compliance and this is laid out in our section above headed ‘How accessible this website is ’. 

Idox Directory Wireframe latest version 

We have launched the latest V4.0 wireframe as part of our website redesign that went live on 17 April 2023. This version has been improved to better meet WCAG AA standards. The update includes keyboard-navigable pages and accessible designs for the visually impaired.

We have also worked hard to use the Hemingway app to improve the reading age of our pages and write in plain English.

We now have improved touchscreen technology.  This is especially useful as we know a lot of our readers view the website using their phones.

Last statement update

This statement was last prepared on 16 December 2021. It was updated 17 May 2023