Introduction
This is the accessibility statement for the West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board website. This website is run by West Sussex County Council.
This website should allow users to:
- Contrast levels and size of text.
- Modify the line height or spacing of text.
- Zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the page.
- Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard.
- Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software.
- Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver).
This website was launched on 15/04/2020 and is designed to be compliant with the international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG) – Level AA.
How accessible is this website?
We are aware that there are 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.
- Missing Alt Text on some images. We have tried to make sure that all images that have essential content have Alt Text.
- Older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
- Live video streams do not have captions.
- My favourites accessibility widget is not keyboard accessible.
This website features ‘Google Translate’ which enables users to translate HTML content into other languages. It is only available in certain browsers such as Google Chrome.
Accessible alternatives
Efforts have been made to create accessible alternatives for content that does not meet standards.
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
For information on this website in a different format such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:
Contact details for West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board
Email: safeguardingadultsboard@westsussex.gov.uk
Alternatively, you can contact:
Phone: 03302 227952
Write to: Safeguarding Adults Board, 1st Floor, County Hall North, Parkside, Chart Way, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 1XH
We aim to respond to your request within five days.
Purpose of links
The West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board website 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 explained by extra description within the link text. 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 are used for content that navigates a user away from our secure platform. The following items are considered external links:
- Non-HTML documentation from external sources (See ‘Issues with PDFs and other documents’).
- Redirection away from secure platforms.
- External websites that are not part of the West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board website.
Contact us and complaints procedure
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.
Contact details for West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board
Email: safeguardingadultsboard@westsussex.gov.uk
Alternatively, you can contact:
Phone: 03302 227952
Write to: Safeguarding Adults Board, 1st Floor, County Hall North, Parkside, Chart Way, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 1XH
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) (opens in a new window) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Services (EASS) (opens in a new window).
Technical information about this website's accessibility
The West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board is 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
Whilst the West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board strives to adhere to accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website.
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
This sub-section lists issues that fail the current accessibility regulations.
- This website uses JavaScript to deliver certain features. Please make sure you have JavaScript turned on within your browser to deliver full features.
- Missing Alt Text on some images. We have tried to make sure that all images that have essential content have Alt Text.
- Older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
- Live video streams do not have captions.
- Non-HTML documentation - some of these documents are inaccessible with certain accessibility technologies. These include the document heading structure, use of tables and insufficient alternate descriptions. We will implement these changes in future documentation where possible. Where these documents cannot be made fully accessible, we are committed to provide an HTML alternative.
- My favourites accessibility widget is not keyboard accessible.
Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
This sub-section lists issues that are exempt from the current accessibility regulations. For more information see following section, ‘Exemptions to the Accessibility Regulations’.
Issues with live video
Live video streams do not have captions. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions - live).
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations (opens in a new window).
Issues with PDFs and other documents
Older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they are accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role Value).
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. We are working to fix or replace them with accessible HTML pages. See ‘What are we doing to improve accessibility?’
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 (opens in a new window) if they are not essential to providing our services.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Exemptions to 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 the West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board 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 West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board or main website provider – Google Translate, social media links.
What are we doing to improve accessibility?
The West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board 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-compliant area. Areas of this website that fail to meet these standards will have fixes prioritised according to usage data.
West Sussex County Council and the West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board will make continuous assessments of this website’s content and update this statement when issues have been resolved.
Policy review
This statement was prepared on 17/09/2020. West Sussex County Council will review this policy every year in, or before, September. This policy was last reviewed on 11/07/2023 by the West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board.