Accessibility Statement

We’re constantly working to make Connect to Support Hampshire as accessible and usable as possible. We are currently compliant with level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

If you find that you cannot access any of our content, please let us know by using the ‘Feedback’ button at the bottom of each page or by emailing us. We will make every reasonable effort to either remove the barrier or provide the information in a format that you find acceptable.

AbilityNet provides guides on how to increase text size on different devices.

The site is set up to be used by screen reading software. If you have any problems with this please let us know by using the ‘Feeback’ button or by emailing us.

You can change the colour of the text and background colour by clicking on the letter symbols at the top of the page.

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There are four options: black text on a white background, yellow text on a black background, black text on a yellow background and dark blue text on a light blue background.

Looking for something? Every page is in the Sitemap and, with less clutter on the page, it may be easier for you to see the section or page you are looking for here.

Click on 'Sitemap' at the top of the page.

Because different parts of this website can be searched in different ways, we do not have one search bar for the whole website.

We tell you where to look and how to search for information on our ‘About this site / FAQs’ page. You can access this page at any time by clicking on the ‘Help’ button at the top of each page.

To translate any web page into a different language:

• Open a web browser and go to translate.google.com. You don’t need a Google account to access it, because it’s free to all.

• In the text box on the left, type in the entire URL (including the http://) of the website you want to view.

• On the right, choose the language you want to see the website in.

• In the right box, click on the small symbol of an arrow in a box.  This will open the website in a new window in the language you have selected.

Please note that when web pages are translated into other languages this may impact on the effectiveness of a screen reader set to read English.

This website gives links to many other websites. Words in blue are the link you click on.

Some websites do not let you use a back button to get back to Connect to Support Hampshire. So we have decided to open all of these links in a new window or tab. This symbol at the end of the words in blue tells you that the link will open in a new window or tab.

On computers or laptops, the new tab, with the website you have clicked on, will open on the right and Connect to Support Hampshire will stay open. To go back to Connect to Support Hampshire, just click on the tab to the left.

On your phone, the new website will also open a new tab or window. Just open your ‘tabs’ to tap on the Connect to Support Hampshire tab to get back to this website.

We have tried to keep most of the information on this website as web pages. We do include some Portable Document Format (PDF) files. To view and print PDF files, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader (or an equivalent PDF viewer) installed. You can download a free pdf reader.

All downloadable documents, such as PDFs, which have been published on this website have been checked with the PAVE accessibility checker.

We cannot guarantee that documents on other websites we link to have been checked.

AbilityNet provides guidance about how to:

• make your mouse easier to use
• use your keyboard instead of a mouse
• talk to your device
• make your device talk to you
• make text larger
• change your colours
• magnify the screen

This is the accessibility statement for the Connect to Support Hampshire website. This website is owned by Hampshire County Council. The council is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability.  

How Accessible is this Website?

We are aware that there are many parts of this website that are not fully accessible :-

• This website uses JavaScript to deliver certain features. Please make sure you have JavaScript turned on within your browser to deliver full features;
• Interactive forms for the registration process that are provided to us by our website provider are inaccessible to a wide-range of technologies;
• Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software;
• Live video streams do not have captions;

 

Using this Website

Accessible Features

This website uses a widget that contains several Accessible features that can be used by users with specific requirements. The widget is available on the top right-hand side of the header menu.

These features include: 

Contrast & Font Size

Changing the contrast and font sizes of text can increase legibility for some users.

This website has two colour contrast settings, firstly, the “default colour scheme” which provides a suitable level of contrast for most users and satisfies the accessibility standards. However, if a user feels the colour contrast is too low in areas the website also contains a “high contrast scheme” which satisfies all accessibility standards for colour contrast.

A user can change the contrast settings by clicking on the icons at the top right of screen. For a user using voice recognition please say, “Switch to default colour scheme” and “Switch to high contrast scheme” respectively for the same result.

To increase the font size, click on the icons at the top right of the screen. For a user using voice recognition please say, “Switch to normal font size”, “Switch to big font size” and “Switch to biggest font size” respectively for the same result. The user can also use the browser’s own zoom facility. The website will work up to 200%

 

Keyboard Navigation of Search Directory Categories

The Search Directory allows users to filter results using category facets. There are two Categories a user can search against: - “I live in”, and “I am looking for”.

These will open a drop-down of a list of checkboxes. For keyboard-only users these can be navigated by tabbing down the list of checkboxes and selecting options by pressing the SPACEBAR key.

The "I am looking for” category is the only category to have multiple lists of checkboxes. The different filter groups are on the left-hand side of the screen, and the checkboxes are on the right-hand side of the screen. By default, the focus is applied to the right-hand screen checkboxes. The TAB key can navigate these options.

 Navigating the different filter groups (on the left-hand side) a keyboard user must use the UP and DOWN arrow keys. A screen-reader user will have to switch their screen-reader to BROWSE mode from Forms Focus Mode to be able to read the different filter groups.

 

Further information on accessibility options

The RNIB has a webpage with information on options that computers have which can make it easier for people with low or no vision to use them. - RNB Accessibility Options

Accessible Alternatives

Efforts have been made to create accessible alternatives for content that does not meet standards where possible.

Where appropriate we may be able to deliver content to users in accordance with their needs.

Please see “Make a request for Accessible Content” section for further details.

Make a request for Accessible Content

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille; Please fill out details in Contact us form or use the appropriate details, below.

Contact Details for Hampshire County Council

connectsupport@hants.gov.uk

 

Purpose of Links

Hampshire County Council will use links to navigate to content on the website. External links will open in a new window.

Where possible the action of an external link will be described by extra description within the link text, so all users can understand the link’s purpose.  However, in certain areas of the website adding this extra description will become a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

We have provided the following definition for external links: -

External Links will be used for any content that has known limitations with assistive technologies OR navigates a user away from secure platforms. In summary, this means the following items are considered External links –

• Non-HTML Documentation (See “Issues with PDFs and other documents”)
• Redirection away from secure platforms
• External websites that are not part of Hampshire County Council.

 

How Accessible is this Website?

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• This website uses JavaScript to deliver certain features. Please make sure you have JavaScript turned on within your browser to deliver full features.
• The Community Directory
• Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software;
• Live video streams do not have captions;
• Pages that contain the words “/s4s/” within the URL do not currently work with High Contrast St;

  

Contact us and Complaints Procedure

We are always looking for ways to improve the Connect to Support Hampshire website. If you find any problems that are not listed within this statement, or believe we are not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations please contact us on the details above.

Enforcement Procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Services (EASS)

Technical Information about this Website’s Accessibility

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

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG) AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed in the following section, “Non-Accessible Content”.

 

Non-Accessible Content

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

During our last review of this website it has come to our attention that there are some areas of the website that do not meet WCAG 2.1: -

Issues with Text

Some link text does not make sense when read on its own (for example, ‘click here’).

We plan to fix the existing links, see ‘What are we doing to improve accessibility?’ section. When we publish new content, we will make sure link text meets accessibility standards.

Issues with PDFs and other documents

Some of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up to be accessible for a screen reader.

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with Easy Read Information on how users can access our services. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Issues with images, video and audio

Live video streams have captions auto added by YouTube, not all videos are currently checked for the accuracy of their captioning.

Disproportionate Burden

There are no issues that are considered a disproportionate burden.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Web Content that is not subject to the standards referenced in this policy statement are as follows: -

• Content that is archived.
• Content on intranets and extranets published before 23/09/2019
• Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that were published before 23/09/2018.
• Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that are not essential to the services Hampshire provides.
• Live Audio and Video
• Pre-recorded Audio and Video published before 23/09/2020
• Online Maps and mapping services
• Third Party Content that is not under direct control of Hampshire County Council or main website provider – Google Translate, Social Media links.

 

What are we doing to improve accessibility?

Hampshire County Council is fully committed to meeting all the accessibility criteria specified in the regulatory provisions. We plan to identify and fix issues in accordance with the timescales shown for each non-compliance area. Areas of this website that fail to meet these standards will have fixes prioritised according to usage data. Due to the amount and complexity of certain issues fixes may be applied shortly after the September 2020 deadline. Hampshire County Council will make continuous assessments of this website’s content and update this statement when issues have been resolved.  

Our current estimation for full accessibility fixes from our website provider is no later than 31^st December 2021.

 

Policy Review

This statement was prepared on 14/08/2020. Hampshire County Council will review this policy every year on or before the 22/09.