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Accessibility statement

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Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to camden.gov.uk and its subdomains.

Please be aware this is a live website and is constantly being updated. We are in the process of redesigning the website to improve accessibility and usability and achieve WCAG AA compliance over the next 24 months.

Many of the issues described in this statement exist on our subdomains, rather than camden.gov.uk. We strive for inclusivity and accessibility across all our platforms and understand the importance of improving accessibility across our entire digital estate.

We are working with our external partners to improve accessibility and usability across all sites.

Using this website

This website is run by the London Borough of Camden.

It is designed to be used by as many people as possible.

You should be able to:

  • 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)

How accessible this website is

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

  • Many documents are in PDF format and are not accessible
  • Not all text is simple
  • Some content is not in plain English
  • Some documents have poor colour contrast
  • Some videos we have been asked to broadcast on our site were produced without subtitles, captions, audio descriptions and transcripts.

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 us on 020 7974 4444.

If you are D/deaf or hard of hearing you can call us for free, 24 hours a day using SignVideo.

For additional contact details, visit our contact us page. 

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, contact: webaccessibility@camden.gov.uk

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

The London Borough of Camden is committed to making this 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 2.1 (WCAG) AA standard, due to ‘the non-compliances’ listed below:

  • PDFs do not meet accessibility standards and therefore are not accessible to screen reader users. Some of our PDFs are essential to providing our services. We plan to fix this by March 2025
  • Elements inaccessible by keyboard
  • Keyboard trap
  • Elements behind modal dialogues focusable
  • Changes in content not conveyed to assistive technology
  • Interactive elements with incorrect semantics
  • Missing form labels
  • Form errors not conveyed to assistive technology
  • Linked images missing alt text
  • Non-descriptive page titles
  • Role and state of accordion components not conveyed to assistive technology
  • Missing skip links (on some of the pages)
  • Headings incorrectly marked up for screen reader users
  • Elements that visually convey heading meaning do not match semantic heading markup
  • Illogical focus order (on Start to apply for visitor parking permit journey)
  • Empty links
  • Unlabelled buttons
  • Tabular data not structured correctly for screen reader users and missing headers
  • Table containing tabular data missing header markup
  • Carousel content and navigation state is not conveyed to assistive technology
  • Moving content plays automatically and cannot be controlled
  • Video missing text alternative
  • Complex images missing text alternative
  • Text bleeds out of container using text spacing feature
  • Content missing when magnified at 300% or greater
  • Low or missing focus indicator
  • Low text colour contrast
  • Low graphic colour contrast
  • Table containing tabular data missing header markup
  • Hidden elements receive focus
  • Some elements inaccessible with orientation
  • Zooming disabled

Non-accessible content

The content listed is non-accessible for the following reasons:

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The following are the High priority issues. Further details and the Medium and Low priority issues can be found in the RNIB accessibility test report. 

To read the full report please email us at web.support@camden.gov.uk for a copy.

High Priority issues

Elements inaccessible by keyboard

There are several instances where elements cannot be accessed by only the keyboard.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 2.1.1 (A) - We plan to fix this by March 2025

Occurrences: Apply for visitor parking permits, Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey, Provide PCN details, News, Media Library and News article.

Keyboard trap

There is an area where keyboard only users will find themselves unable to navigate beyond this area, causing them to be trapped.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 2.1.2 (A)

Occurrences: News, Media Library galleries

Elements behind modal dialogs focusable

When opening a modal dialog, there are several issues of focus for keyboard and screen reader users.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 2.4.3 (A), 4.1.3 (AA)

Occurrence(s): Pay PCN (Search PCN), Provide PCN details, Media library, News.

Changes in content not conveyed to assistive technology

There are instances where content changes dynamically, but this change is not conveyed to assistive technology.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 3.2.2 (A), 4.1.3 (AA)

Occurrences: Search for Planning Application, Online Standard Details, Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey, Provide PCN details, Check bin collection, Media Library and Account Dashboard.

Interactive elements with incorrect semantics

There are several interactive elements that do not have the correct semantic mark-up to convey their purpose to assistive technology.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A), 4.1.2 (A)

Occurrences: Search for Planning Application, Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey, Check bin collection and Media Library

Missing form labels

A number of forms do not have associated labels for form controls.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.6 (AA), 3.3.2 (A), 4.1.2 (A), 3.2.4 (AA)

Occurrences: Search for Planning Application, Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey, Provide PCN details, Pay PCN and Check bin collection.

Form errors not conveyed to assistive technology

There are instances where errors on the form are not conveyed to assistive technology.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 3.3.1 (A)

Occurrences: Login, Pay PCN (Search PCN), Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey, Provide PCN details, Pay PCN, Check bin collection, Complaints form

Linked image missing alternative text

There are a number of instances where an image is nested in a link and does not have alternative text (alt attribute). For example, this happens for tooltips, previous and next buttons and navigation thumbnails. 

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.1.1 (A), 2.4.4 (AA)

Occurrences: Pay PCN (Search PCN), Search for Planning Application, Online Standard Details, Provide PCN details, Media Library, News article

Non-descriptive page titles

Some page titles do not provide a clear description of the purpose of the page.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 2.4.2 (A)

Occurrences: Search for Planning Application, Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey, Pay PCN, Check bin collection, Media Library, Complaints form

Role and state of accordion component not conveyed to screen readers

The role and the current state of the accordion component is not programmatically conveyed to assistive technology, including screen readers. There are no attributes to convey the state of the disclosure component (collapsed/expanded).

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 4.1.2 (A)

Occurrences: Search for Planning Application, Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey

Missing skip link

A skip link is not present on the Online Standard Details page.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 2.4.1 (A)

Occurrences: Online Standard Details, Provide PCN details (View Map)

Headings incorrectly marked up for screen readers

There is an instance where a heading has been marked up incorrectly for screen reader users.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.1 (A), 2.4.6 (AA)

Occurrences: Online Standard Details

Elements that visually convey heading meaning do not match semantic heading markup

There are numerous text elements that appear to be a heading but are not using the semantic heading markup.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.1 (A), 2.4.6 (AA)

Occurrences: Search for Planning Application, Online Standard Details, Account Dashboard, Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey, Provide PCN details, Account Dashboard

Illogical focus order

There are a number of instances where the focus does not follow a logical order (left to right, top to bottom).

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.3.2 (A), 2.4.3 (A)

Occurrences: Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey

Empty Links (unlabelled links)

There are several links which do not contain content (empty).

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 2.4.4 (AA)

Occurrences: Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey

Empty buttons (unlabelled buttons)

There are instances where buttons do not contain content (empty). Buttons that do not contain content cannot be understood by assistive technology.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.1.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A)

Occurrences: Pay PCN (Challenge), Check bin collection, Complaints form, Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey

Low/missing focus indicator

There are several instances where the visual indicator for keyboard focus is difficult to perceive or is missing.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 2.4.7 (AA)

Occurrences: Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey, News and Having your say.

Tabular data not structured correctly for screen reader users

On the Provide PCN details journey pages, there is tabular data that has table markup but is incorrectly structured. The controls to sort the table data are not accessible to screen reader users.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A), 2.1.1 (A)

Occurrences: Provide PCN details

Table containing tabular data missing header markup

There is an instance where a table is used to present tabular data without column/row header markup.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A)

Occurrences: Pay PCN (Make a payment)

Carousel content and navigation state is not conveyed to assistive technology

Carousels have a number of issues for screen reader users. Some controls do not receive focus, order is illogical when navigating with previous and next buttons and content is inaccessible.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A), 4.1.2 (A)

Occurrences: Provide PCN details, News, News article, Media Library

Moving content plays automatically and cannot be controlled

The carousel on the News page plays automatically on a loop on page load and there’s no mechanism provided to pause it.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 2.2.2 (A)

Occurrences: News

Videos missing text alternative

There are several embedded Vimeo and YouTube videos that do not have a text alternative such as a transcript, captions, or audio description.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.2.1 (A), 1.2.2 (A), 1.2.3 (A)

Occurrences: News, Media Library

Complex image missing text alternative

There are instances where complex images (containing graphics and text) do not have a text alternative.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.1.1 (A), 1.4.5 (AA)

Occurrences: Media Library

Text content bleeds out of container when using text spacing

There are instances where text content bleeds out of its container when the user overrides text spacing in their browser or the text element does not respond to text spacing.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.4.12 (AA)

Occurrences: Check bin collection and News.

Content missing when magnified to 300%

Page content is missing when the page is magnified to 300% or greater using browser zoom functionality. The modal’s content is absent when zooming to 300% or greater.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.4.10 (AA)

Occurrences: Online Standard Details.

Low text colour contrast

There are several instances where there is not enough contrast between foreground text and background colours. These colour combinations fall below the minimum ratio.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.4.3 (AA)

Occurrences: Account dashboard, Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey, Provide PCN details, Online Standard Details, Check bin collection, Complaints form and Having your say.

Low graphics contrast

There are instances where user interface graphic components fall below the minimum ratio (3:1).

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.4.11 (AA)

Occurrences: Login, Pay PCN (Search PCN), Search for Planning Application, Online Standard Details, Start of Apply for Visitor Parking Permit journey, Provide PCN details, Check bin collection, News article and Complaints form.

Document structure may be confusing

On some pages, the heading structure may be confusing for screen reader users. Some sections/regions do not have headings, some heading levels are skipped, some headings are erroneously repeated.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 2.4.10 Section Headings, 2.4.6 Headings & Labels

Occurrences: homepage, category pages, article pages

Misuse of landmarks

The banner ARIA landmark role, specified for identifying a single header landmark, is erroneously used to identify status messages. Some content is not accessible via landmark navigation.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.3.1 Info & Relationships

Occurrences: All pages where status messages appear (pink boxes for misuse of role)

Dropdown menus poorly labelled

The page header’s dropdown navigation menu options have two bugs:

  • The accessible label/name differs from the visible one and is not adequately descriptive of the menu option
  • The expressed state does not change from expanded to collapsed, for screen reader users, when the menu option is toggled

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 2.4.6 Headings & Labels, 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

Occurrences: Header on all camden.gov.uk  pages

Some font metrics cannot be adjusted

Some fonts and line-heights are set using the px (pixel) unit and therefore cannot be resized via browser settings. Where fonts can be resized but not their line-height, this can result in overlapping text.

WCAG 2.1 violation(s): 1.4.4 Resize Text, 1.4.12 Text Spacing

Occurrences: Header and footer on all camden.gov.uk  pages, search pages, category pages

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

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs are essential to providing our services. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages by March 2025.

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. However, if there is a specific document that you would like to request in HTML format, we will do our best to provide it where possible and practicable. Any new PDFs we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Maps

Maps and mapping solutions are exempt as long as essential information is provided in accessible digital manner for maps intended for navigational use.

We aim to meet the needs of all visitors to our site, but we don’t yet have a way of presenting geographical information (maps and site plans etc.) in a fully achievable and accessible format. Currently all accessible map solutions would be impossible to implement for all residents due to both resource and installation issues. As new technologies emerge, we will revaluate this topic.

How we tested this website

We use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 level A and level AA to test how accessible camden.gov.uk and its subdomains is.

The last tests were carried out by RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) in September 2022 and we have been working to resolve as many issues highlighted with many improvements made.

To read the full report please email us at web.support.camden.gov.uk for a copy.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

  • We are in the process of redesigning the website to improve accessibility and usability and achieve WCAG AA compliance over the next 24 months.
  • We are in the process of reviewing all content on the website to make text as simple as possible to understand.
  • We are rewriting and restructuring the information on our site to simplify language and make information easier to understand.
  • We have developed a design system and will be reviewing colour contrast across camden.gov.uk and will be replacing as much as we can and communicating with partners where change is necessary.
  • We are carrying out remedial work on inaccessible PDFs and any new PDFs will meet accessibility standards
  • By May 2024, we plan to have updated written content on our most popular pages on the site.
  • Some videos on our site have been produced without subtitles, captions, audio description, or transcripts. We are working to ensure all future videos contain one or more of the listed criteria.
  • We are continually working to make improvements to this website and plan to work with residents and external agencies for testing in the future.
  • We are also communicating with our partners and suppliers where change is necessary to third party hand-offs.
  • We use a subscription tool that reviews the Camden Council site based on the WCAG 2.1 accessibility standard. The tool highlights errors and provides actions (fix broken links, include page headings, create accessible PDFs) to ensure content meets the accessibility criteria.
  • For new websites supplied by third parties, it is a contractual requirement that they meet the WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
  • Our site is reviewed with manual audits by our digital teams assisted by external accessibility consultants and by scans with automated testing tools.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 16/04/2024. It was last reviewed on 16/04/2024. 

This website was last tested on 28/02/2024.