Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council website.

This website is run by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council. 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 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)

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:

  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • most older PDFs documents and some current PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some of our forms are currently in a PDF or Word format
  • live video streams do not have captions
  • 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

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 7 days.

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 us by:

Third party content

Links to other websites and platforms

We link to other websites that may offer benefit to our users, as well as embedding content provided by some external websites into some of our pages. This may include:

  • social media platforms
  • official information sources, such as GOV.UK or NHS.UK.
  • Capita
  • Planning portal
  • Licensing register
  • Modern.gov

We are not responsible for the accessibility of these or any other websites we do not manage; if you experience any accessibility issue with third-party content then please do inform us to make us aware of the problem, but please also raise it with the third-party content provider for resolution as we will be unable to act ourselves.

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

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

Newcastle-under-Lyme 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

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some forms are only available as PDF or Word forms, so people using a screen reader or people without suitable software or a printer may not be able to complete the form easily. We plan to replace all forms with accessible online forms by December 2022.

Disproportionate burden

Navigation and accessing information

We are legally required to publish planning policy documents and most of these documents are PDFs and maps set to a certain required format and may not be fully accessible.

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

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Our new website launched in October 2021 where we undertook a full content restructure. Doing this has highlighted some areas of improvement where information and processes need to be made fully accessible.

We will be doing a full audit of PDFs that remain on the website and aim to replace or fix these by December 2022.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 27 October 2021. It was last reviewed on 22 April 2022.

This website was last tested on 27 October 2021. The test was carried out by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.

We tested the homepage, a section landing page, an information page and an online form.

This website has also been scanned by Sitemorse.