Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to the website www.lancsencounter.co.uk, which is managed by Preston City Council.

Our Accessibility Statement explains how we make our website more accessible for people with disabilities so that everyone is able to find, read and understand our content.

This means that you should be able to:

• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
• view the website on all new browsers and devices

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.

The Recite Me tool

We use Recite Me on our website, which helps you to personalise and customise your website experience with us, in a way that helps you.

You can find this tool bar at the top of the page using the 'Accessibility' button.

The Recite Me toolbar allows you to:

• navigate and listen to each web page read out in a natural voice
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• change the colours and contrast levels
• change the font styles
• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• translate the website into over 100 different languages
• change the websites margin sizes or use the ruler function to make it easier to read the text

For more information on how to use the accessibility and language features see our Recite Me user guide.

SignLive - Support for the deaf

We recognise and value all our customers, including those who use British Sign Language (BSL) and/or Speech to Text Translation (STTR).

We are part of the Community Directory where you can contact us via a British Sign Language interpreter using SignLive.

For more information visit Preston City Council - SignLive.

Compliance status

Preston City Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Our website is partially compliant with the W3C - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the issues highlighted in the section below.

We are working hard to achieve our goal of Level AA accessibility, but we are aware of some areas of our website that still need improving.

Non accessible content

We are aware that some parts of our website are not fully accessible, these include:

• WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow - some of our pages scroll in two dimensions on small screens.  Aiming to achieve a resolution by April 2024
• WCAG A 1.4.1 - links must appear visually distinct from regular text. A common mistake is to make links only differ subtly in colour. Users with visual impairments cannot see these links. Aiming to achieve a resolution by April 2024.
• WCAG A 4.1.2 - links must be defined in a specific way to be accessed by screen readers, which are used by blind and the partially-sighted.  Aiming to achieve a resolution by April 2024.
• Most of our older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• Online maps and mapping services are not accessible
• The readability of some pages is above the W3C - recommended reading level.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

Ongoing quality assurance checks

We use Monsido to monitor and improve our website. The software monitors content, accessibility, speed and legal compliance.

Web page audits 

We carry out regular web page audits to ensure:

•  Text is written in plain English using simple words, short sentences and avoiding jargon
• Page titles are descriptive
• Headings have the appropriate heading tags
• Links are accessible with descriptive link text
• PDF documents are accessible and the amount on the website are kept to a minimum
• Images have appropriate alt text
• Videos have captions or text transcript where necessary 

Regular community engagement

Through the Inclusion Reference Group, we work closely with a number of partners from the voluntary, community and faith sectors, to ensure we further improve our engagement and consultation with all communities.

Requesting information in a different format

If you need information on our website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please email webmanager@preston.gov.uk. 

Please make sure you provide the service area, document name and/or the web address (URL) of the page the content is on and a description of the format you need. For example; audio CD, braille, BSL or large print.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of our website.

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements contact the web team on webmanager@preston.gov.uk. 

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, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Links to other websites

To benefit our users we link to other useful websites and embed content provided by some external websites into some of our pages. This may include:

• news websites
• social media platforms
• official information sources

We are not responsible for the accessibility of these or any other websites that we do not manage. if you experience any accessibility issue with third-party content you should raise it with the provider.

We value your feedback

We value feedback from real website users and would love to hear from you and the experience you had with us.

We will continue to review and improve our website to provide the best possible level of customer service.

If you would like to make a suggestion on improving our website, especially from an accessibility point of view, please contact the web team on webmanager@preston.gov.uk. 

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has useful tips on contacting organisations about inaccessible websites.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 18 September 2018. It was last reviewed on 4 September 2023.