Accessibility

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

  • zoom in up to 400% 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 try to make the website text as simple as possible to understand. As we update our pages we are reviewing the text and re-writing it to simplify it.

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

  • many PDF documents are not fully accessible
  • you can’t skip to the main content when using a screen reader
  • some links may not make sense out of context
  • some parts of the website do not have sufficient contrast between the text and background colours
  • some content is hard to understand
  • some pages have headings which skip levels.
  • some form fields are not labelled
  • some images are missing alt text
  • field labels are missing
  • there is an empty link in the footer

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, contact the Bradford Council Complaints Unit.

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, email websitefeedback@bradford.gov.uk.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in five days.

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. 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

Bradford 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.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • you can’t skip to the main content when using a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks)
  • some links may not make sense out of context. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link purpose (in context))
  • some parts of the website do not have sufficient contrast between the text and background colours. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.4.3 (contrast (minimum)) and 1.4.11 (non-text contrast)
  • some parts of the website do not have the minimum required target size. This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.5.8 (Target Size (Minimum)
  • some pages have headings which skip levels. This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships),
  • some images are missing alt text. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non text content).
  • some form fields are not labelled. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.1.1 (Non-text Content), 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships), 2.4.6 (Headings and Labels), 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions)
  • there is an empty link in the footer. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.2.1 (Name, Role, Value)

PDFs and other documents

Many of our documents do not meet accessibility standards:

  • some documents are not marked up correctly, so are not readable by a screenreader
  • some documents so not have sufficient contrast between the text and background colours.
  • some documents have no headings or incorrect heading structure (for example, the first heading isn't H1)
  • some table do not have headings
  • some images are missing alt text
  • some documents do not have a document title
  • some documents do not have a language definition
  • some PDFs do not have bookmarks

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

PDFs and other documents

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.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish should 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.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We are also developing training materials and guidance for our content authors, developer and suppliers on the relevant standards that need to be met for our site and online services to be accessible. We are considering alternative ways to publish documents so that we are not relying on PDF.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 8 July 2022. It was last reviewed on 30 September 2024.

This website was last tested on 30 September 2024 by Bradford Council using Silktide automated testing. We tested the following templates:

  1. the home page
  2. a content page
  3. a menu page
  4. an online form