Website Accessibility Statement

Accessibility statement for Hartlepool Borough Council’s ‘Hartlepool Now’ Website

This accessibility statement applies to Hartlepool Council’s ‘Hartlepool Now’ Website https://www.hartlepoolnow.co.uk/  

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

• Find content in two or more ways 

• Control distracting flickering or movement 

• Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard 

• Access the content in a logical order even if styling is removed 

 

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.  

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 application are not fully accessible including:  

Third-party plugins (Google Maps, Google Recaptcha, Google Translate, YouTube embeds) which currently do not meet certain WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value). Also, you may come across older PDF documents that are not fully accessible to screen reader software. We are actively seeking solutions and alternatives. 

 

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:  

 Call: 01429 523652  

 Email: [email protected]   

 We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 7 working days.  

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

 

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). 

 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility 

Hartlepool 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 

The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard. 

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to ‘the non-compliances’ listed below. 

 

Non-accessible content 

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons. 

 

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations 

1.1.1 Non-text content - Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all images by October 2025. When we publish new content we’ll aim to make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards. 

 

1.4.5 Images of Text - Some images on our website contain text that is not accessible to screen readers. We are working on replacing these images with accessible alternatives. 

 

2.1.1 Keyboard - There are issues with keyboard accessibility for certain components, making it difficult for users who rely on keyboard navigation. 

 

2.4.2 Page Titles - Some pages do not have descriptive titles, which can make navigation difficult for users with assistive technologies. 

 

4.1.2 Name, role, value - We have done everything within our power to make our website comply but some content and functionality provided from third-parties does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value) thus potentially disabling compatibility with assistive technology, such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, and speech recognition software, used by people with disabilities. 
This must be resolved by said third parties. As such, we cannot be sure when these issues will be resolved. 

 

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

PDFs and other documents 

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 aim to meet accessibility standards. 

Live video 

We do not plan to add captions to informal live video streams because it is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. 

 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility 

We continuously monitor website and application accessibility trends and aim to resolve the third-party compliance issues as soon as possible. We are also committed to making all new platform content and features accessible.  

We have recently actioned several improvements to enhance our website’s accessibility by conducting a full WCAG 2.2 AA Accessibility Audit and actioning fixes identified as part of that audit.    

If you would like to provide feedback about the accessibility of the website then please contact us using our online form: https://www.hartlepoolnow.co.uk/enquiries/new

Developments to the website based on user feedback about accessibility will be evaluated based on their potential to create the greatest positive impact for users, while considering the cost of achieving these objectives. 

 

Preparation of this accessibility statement 

This statement was prepared on 19th October 2021. It was last reviewed on 26th March 2025. 

This website was last tested on 28th August 2024 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. 

The test was carried out by This is Focus Limited. They tested using a combination of manual and automated testing with tools such as the ARC Toolkit. They chose a representative sample of pages for testing the website’s accessibility to include different layouts, content structures, and functionalities across the website, ensuring they covered key areas such as the homepage, forms, search functionality and content-heavy pages. 

Please contact us if you need more information about accessibility.