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Accessibility statement for www.durham.police.uk

This accessibility statement applies to www.durham.police.uk

Durham Constabulary is committed to ensuring our services are as accessible as possible to the whole of the community that we serve. In particular, we recognise the need to take reasonable steps to enable access to our website for those with impaired sight or other disabilities.

We want everyone to be able to use this website. You might have a better experience if you change the settings on your computer to suit your needs. The site has been built so that 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 or 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.

 

How accessible this website is

While we strive to adhere to accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, it is not always possible to guarantee that this is the case for all areas of the website. We know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible. 

  • Most PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen readers; however, users can request accessible versions.
  •  At 400% zoom, the hamburger menu opens when using the keyboard, however the options within the menu are not accessible. The keyboard skips past any options within the menu, meaning users are unable to access these links.

 We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you experience any difficulty using the Durham Constabulary website please contact us.

 

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

If you can't access something you need on this site, please tell us about it and we will get you what you need in another way.

To help us understand the problem as quickly as we can, please tell us:

  • the web address or title of the page where you found the problem
  • what the problem is
  • what computer and software you use

Email - media@durham.police.uk

 

Feedback and Contact Information

If you need information on this website in a different format, like accessible PDF, or need a response please contact us at:

Email - media@durham.police.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, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)

 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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

Work on making this site accessible has been influenced by the Guidelines for UK Government Websites, which incorporate support for the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

Where possible, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are used to separate visual formatting from structural markup. All pages created should render in some usable form on a wide range of browsers and, if necessary, should be viewable in a very basic form on browsers which do not recognise CSS or where CSS has been switched off.

The site is valid as XHTML 1.0 and will work with all standard compliant browsers.

 

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.

 

Non-Compliance with the Accessibility Regulations

  • WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard (all pages)

At 400% zoom, the hamburger menu opens when using the keyboard, however the options within the menu are not accessible. The keyboard skips past any options within the menu, meaning users are unable to access these links.

This issue has been identified as a “very difficult fix” that would require “major redesign” of the site header by our third-party website provider. As resolving this issue would mean major redesign of the site header we have decided it is a disproportionate burden. This would require significant time, funding and resources to amend.

With intentions to migrate to a new Single Online Home website and decommission the current site in the near future, as per the Disproportionate Burden section later in this statement, it is felt these resources and any funding would be best placed in taking the Single Online Home implementation forward in as efficient manner as possible.  

  •  Most PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen readers; however, users can request accessible versions.

 

How we tested this website

This website was last tested via Government Digital Service audit in September 2022. This test was not a full audit but did cover a subset of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and pages.

This audit identified non-compliances against WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard and WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast items which have been rectified in partnership with our third-party website provider.

WCAG 2.4.2 Page Titled, WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships and WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text non-compliances were also identified through the audit in relation to a PDF document available through the website. As above, we are aware as to some accessibility issues around PDF documents. These can be requested via alternate means.

 Additional testing and auditing mechanisms for our own assessment of the accessibility of the site have been considered beyond the above, however we believe that doing so would impose a disproportionate burden.

No testing or auditing mechanisms are available to us through internal means or our website provider as standard. As such third party suppliers or tools would be required to be engaged or purchased to undertake this.

With intentions to decommission the current website and migrate to the Single Online Home offering in the near future we do not feel that purchasing further services against the current site would be justified as the most efficient use of limited resource and funding. With this to be aimed toward an efficient and smooth transition to Single Online Home for the benefit of our website users as soon as feasible. 

Disproportionate Burden

Durham Constabulary have made commitment to commence migration from this current website to the national Single Online Home offering across 2023.

In the interim we have worked with our third-party website provider to resolve all accessibility items identified as non-compliant from the Government Digital Service Audit in September 2022 - details included above.

However, with a commitment to Single Online Home our intentions are to focus all efforts and resources toward implementing the Single Online Home platform in the smoothest possible fashion and at the earliest available opportunity for the benefit of our website users.

Whilst we will continue to strive to adhere to accessibility and usability guidelines, including address of the noted non-compliance issues above, respond proactively to any accessibility issues identified or reported and remain mindful of any additional accessibility testing opportunities that are available to us against the existing Durham Constabulary website, our intention is to focus resources available to Durham Constabulary website provision to commencement of the Single Online Home implementation across 2023.

 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

As advised above Durham Constabulary have made commitment to migrate from this current website to the national Single Online Home offering across 2023. This utilising national templates and advantage of significant accessibility testing that has taken place at scale to produce the national Single Online Home solution in as compliant manner as possible and to provide the best possible experience for our website users going forward.

Durham Constabulary is committed to ensuring our services are as accessible as possible to the whole of the community that we serve. In particular, we recognise the need to take reasonable steps to enable access to our website for those with impaired sight or other disabilities.

 

Preparation of this accessibility Statement

This updated accessibility statement was originally prepared on 08 December 2022.

It was last reviewed and updated on 05 January 2023 considering additional feedback from Government Digital Services.

A Government Digital Service audit was completed against this website in September 2022.