Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Scottish Borders Council website, its sub domains and forms for our core services.

This website is run by us. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader

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:

  • Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software and provide no information on the structure of the document for assistive technologies
  • Some forms accessed on our website have a strict timeout limit that cannot be turned off or extended. For example payment of Parking Fines which has a timeout limit of 15 minutes
  • Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • GIS map information remains inaccessible for some users but we aim to provide text alternatives of map information, in cases where we are able to do so

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, please contact us.

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, please contact us.

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

We are committed to making our 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

We plan to fix these issues as soon as possible. When we publish new content, we will make every effort to ensure accessibility standards are met.

Some PDF documents do not provide information on the structure or the roles of components to help you navigate, such as headings. This fails success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).

The reading order of some PDF documents is not correct, making it difficult to access these using a screen reader. This fails success criterion 1.3.2 (meaningful sequence).

Our online forms do not allow you to use autocomplete accurately to help you fill in your details. This fails success criterion 1.3.5 (identify input purpose).

Our online forms have a timeout that you cannot turn off or extend. This fails success criterion 2.2.1 (timing adjustable).

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

Navigation and accessing information

There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option).

It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.

It’s not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping.

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.

Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website.

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when the supplier contract is up for renewal, likely to be in [rough timing].

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

We do not plan to fix the following issues as the fall outside of the scope of the accessibility regulations. Where this is due to a certain deadline, we will provide accessible content from that deadline:

PDFs and other documents

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.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

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

Time based media

Videos published before 23 September 2020 may not have accurate captions or a text transcript and do not have audio descriptions, therefore fail success criteria

  • 1.2.1 Audio-only and video-only (Prerecorded)
  • 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded)
  • 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)
  • 1.2.5 Audio Description

Videos and audio published from 23 September 2020 onward will have accurate captions or transcripts and audio descriptions.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

As an organisation we explore options to improve accessibility, including:

  • engaging with third-party providers to ensure the platforms we use are accessible
  • provision of creating accessible content training to everyone that publishes content to the web
  • providing guidance to services on creating accessible multimedia content
  • moving away from PDF documents to web pages wherever possible

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22 September, 2020.

This website was last tested on 22 September 2020.

We carried out the test for content at the scotborders.gov.uk domain. We conducted manual testing, aided by automated tools and a screen reader.