Accessibility statements

Planning accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to publicaccess.rochdale.gov.uk.

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

  • Understand the page name as our web pages have page titles that clearly describe their topic or purpose.
  • Understand the page layout as our pages have consistent and clear headings including a semantic hierarchy (where possible).
  • Associate form controls with corresponding labels.
  • Easily use forms as they have a logical order that can be navigated using a keyboard, for example, using the ‘Tab’ key to move between fields.
  • Easily understand form error messages in proximity to corresponding erroneous form fields.
  • Associate all data cells in a data table with their headers.
  • Understand hyperlinks as they have meaningful text (and a title attribute, where applicable).
  • Easily read content as there is a sufficient foreground and background colour contrast combinations for clear readability.
  • Navigate the site using a keyboard, including for menus and calendar controls.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

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:

  • Some links have the same link text but go to different website addresses (URLs).

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:

When contacting us please tell us:

  1. The web address (URL) of the content.
  2. Your name and email address.
  3. The format you need, for example, audio CD, braille or large print.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 5 working days.

If you cannot view the map on our 'contact us' page, call or email us for directions.

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

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

If you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Call or email us to contact us.

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Rochdale Borough Council is committed to making its 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 2.2 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:

WCAG success criteria 1.1.1 – Non-Text Content (A) and 2.4.4 – Link Purpose (In Context) (A)

There are instances of non-unique HTML IDs, which is invalid mark-up, which affects how screen readers parse and announce the page content. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.1.1 – Non-Text Content and 2.4.4 – Link Purpose (In Context).

WCAG success criterion 1.3.1 – Info and Relationships (A)

On the Documents table, the action icons all have the same alternative text, which means screen-reader users will not be able to distinguish between individual items. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.

WCAG success criteria 1.3.1 – Info and Relationships (A), 2.1.1 – Keyboard (A) and 2.5.7 – Dragging Movements (AA)

Our third-party map component uses some tables for layout; its controls do not always receive focus and are not accessible by keyboard navigation. Some functions, for example, measuring distance and area, require a mouse or touch interface to achieve. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.3.1 – Info and Relationships, 2.1.1 – Keyboard and 2.5.7 –  Dragging Movements.

WCAG success criteria 1.4.3 – Contrast (Minimum) (AA) and 2.1.1 – Keyboard (A)

Our third-party reCAPTCHA widget does not use sufficient colour contrast for some elements and may be difficult to use with the keyboard. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.4.3 – Contrast (Minimum) and 2.1.1 – Keyboard.

WCAG success criteria 1.4.3 – Contrast (Minimum) (AA), 2.4.4 - Link Purpose (In Context) (A) and 3.3.2 - Labels or Instructions (A)

The integrated online measuring tool (OMT v5.0) has various issues (which will need to be addressed independently of Public Access) - these include missing form labels, heading levels and alternative text for images/icons; empty elements with no text content; and low colour contrast. This does not meet WCAG success criteria 3.3.2 - Labels or Instructions (A), 2.4.4 - Link Purpose (In Context) (A), 1.4.3 – Contrast (Minimum) (AA).

WCAG success criteria 1.4.10 – Reflow (AA) and 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) (AA)

The desktop version of pages will not reflow without content scrolling both vertically and horizontally. This will make it more difficult for some users to use the content when zoomed into a page at higher values, for example, 200%. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.4.10 – Reflow, 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum).

WCAG success criterion 2.4.6 – Headings and labels (AA)

Some page headings are not in a logical hierarchy order, which can affect how content is announced by screen reader technology and keyboard-only navigation. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 2.4.6 – Headings and Labels.

As we are currently in the process of implementing a new software system which we ensured at procurement stage accessibility was built into the product, we are not planning to fix the above issues as this time. The current live date for this system is late summer 2025.

Disproportionate burden

We've assessed the cost of fixing the following issues. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.  

  • There are no issues that are currently being listed as being assessed as a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

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

The following types of content do not need to be fixed on the website because they are exempt from the accessibility regulations.

  • PDFs and other documents - some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information from external agencies. We plan to either fix these or link to the pdf on the host website. 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.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

Idox Public Access:

We're using reports from accessibility software, WAVE and AXE, and following WCAG guidelines to work towards being fully compliant with WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria.

We will work to address any issues which are brought up by users, as well as reviewing the compliance as part of any future updates to Idox Public Access / Consultee Access.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on Friday, 18 September 2020. It was last reviewed on Wednesday, 4 December 2024.

This website was last tested on Thursday, 10 September 2020. The test was carried out by our supplier Idox.

Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website

You have a right to use (or 'access') online public sector information and services. This means that public sector websites and mobile apps should be easy to use.