Accessibility Statement

This website has been built by the team at Granicus on behalf of Aberdeenshire Council. Aberdeenshire Council is responsible for updating the content of this website.

At Granicus we're keen to give everyone a voice, regardless of their ability or technical knowhow. We have incorporated expert advice to make sure that EngagementHQ , the software platform this website is built on, is designed to follow Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines and standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

We also provide guidance to each of our clients to ensure their site's content also meets these standards.

Accessibility Tips

In addition to the steps we have taken to make the software accessible to everyone; many people are likely to get the most accessible experience of using this site by customising their computer to suit their individual needs. For example: to get the site read to them, to change its colour scheme, or increase the size of its fonts.

How accessible this website is

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

  • some pages might have incorrect heading structure
  • some of our links might not be worded properly to be accessible
  • some of our documents might not be fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some images might not provide a meaningful alternative text

Request information in an accessible format

If you can't access information on this website and need it in an alternative format such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please let us know by emailing engage@aberdeenshire.gov.uk .

Report accessibility problems with this website

Whilst we have spent a lot of time making sure our software is accessible, we are not perfect! If you find anything on the site difficult to use please let us know by emailing engage@aberdeenshire.gov.uk .

To help us get to the bottom of your difficulty, it would help us if you provide the information advised in ' Contacting Organisations about Inaccessible Websites ' in your request (especially as outlined in the section 'Describe the Problem' ).

At a minimum, please try to include the following information in your email to us:

  • The URL for the page you are having problems accessing.
  • Details about what you were trying to do, and why it was difficult or impossible to do it.
  • Details about your computer and software. If you don't know, maybe a friend, relative, or colleague can help you. If not, you can skip this part. Include:
    • the operating system you are using, and the version; for example, Windows Vista, Mac OS X, or Linux Ubuntu 9.10
    • the browser software you use to view the Web, and the version; for example, Internet Explorer 6 (IE 6), Firefox 3.5, Chrome 3.0.195.38, Opera 10, Safari 4.0.4, etc.
  • If it is related to the problem you are experiencing, also include:
    • any settings you have customized; for example, I set the Font Size to Largest in my browser
    • any assistive technology that you use; for example, screen reader, screen magnification software, voice recognition software for input

All constructive feedback regarding the accessibility or usability of this website is very welcome and will be carefully considered.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the 'accessibility regulations'). If you are 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 this 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 version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Links

On some pages the link text might not be as per WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (link purpose - in context).

Headings

On some pages the heading structure might not be as per WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (information and relationships).

Documents

Some of our PDF and Word documents might not meet accessibility standards. For example, some may be scanned PDFs or they may not be marked up so they are accessible. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 4.1.2 (name, role value), 1.4.5 (images of text) and 1.4.9 (images of text - no exception).

Images

Some images might not have a meaningful text alternative so people using a screen reader can't access the information conveyed within those images. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

How we tested this website

This website was fully tested by Bang the Table (now Granicus) in November 2020. In addition, Aberdeenshire Council performs a weekly test (using Silktide) to identify accessibility barriers across the platform. Both automatic and manual tests are included in the process.

Date of statement

This statement was prepared on 14th November 2020. It was last updated on 13 December 2023.