Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to KCC Media Hub, run by Kent County Council.

The content on this website is designed for everyone to find, read, and understand. It is compatible with assistive technologies and developed to meet the accessibility standards outlined in this statement.

View the site your way

There are a number of customisation options for your browser and device that could help you use this website and other websites more effectively.

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

Feedback and contact information

Please contact us if you have an accessibility query including:

  • if you are experiencing issues with accessing information or using the website
  • if you find an accessibility problem not listed on this statement
  • if you have positive feedback on the accessibility considerations made.

When you contact us there is a process in place that will acknowledge your contact, tell you who is dealing with it and give you a timescale by which you can expect a reply.

Alternative formats

If you need information in an alternative format, such as braille or a language other than English:

An English-speaker will take details of what you need and arrange a translation or interpreting service for you. You may need an English-speaking friend or a family member to help you with this.

We may not be able to meet your requirements immediately, but we will try to provide an interpreter (or translation service) to help you as quickly as possible.

Complaints process

If you have reported a problem with our website or asked for an alternative format, but you are not happy with our response, you can use our complaints process to register your difficulty. This helps us improve our processes.

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

Kent County Council 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 (WCAG) version  2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

We formally test the accessibility of key user journeys that represent the breadth of content across our website on a regular basis against WCAG 2.1 AA standards.

Some parts of the website may not work for everyone. Below are known issues that we either need to fix, cannot fix, or do not need to fix right now. We are currently working on a new Hub which is due to go live in Autumn 2020 which will mitigate our listed errors.

If you find something that does not work that we missed, remember to contact us.

Website wide issues

Insufficient contrast

Text

Some text does not meet minimum colour contrast requirements.

Text with insufficient colour contrast are not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.4.3.

Non-text

Some non-text content does meet minimum colour contrast requirements. These include buttons such as ‘Share this story’ and form inputs.

Non-text elements with insufficient colour contrast are not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.4.11.

Focus indicator

The focus indicator is not easily seen and does not meet colour contrast requirements.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.4.11 and WCAG guideline 2.4.7.

Skip to content

The hidden ‘skip to content’ link, which is useful for users of assistive technology, does not appear when using Google Chrome.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.3.2, WCAG guideline 2.4.1 and WCAG guideline 2.4.3.

ID values are not unique

Across the website, ID values within the website’s coding are not unique, which can cause issues for users customising their experience or using assistive technology.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 4.1.1 and WCAG guideline 4.1.2.

Bulleted lists

Our latest news element uses invalid coding practices which can make it difficult for assistive technology to interpret the content.

This is not complaint with WCAG guideline 1.3.1, WCAG guideline 4.1.1, and WCAG guideline 4.1.2.

Auto-scrolling content

Our latest news element auto-scrolls through links without allowing the user to pause, stop, or hide the content.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 2.2.2.

Menu items cannot be accessed with keyboard inputs

Our site menu contains sub-categories which are in accessible when using keyboard inputs.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.3.2, WCAG guideline 2.1.1, and WCAG guideline 2.4.3.

Content hidden on smaller screens

When viewing the website on a device or viewport 320 pixels wide (which includes smartphones such as the iPhone SE) content runs off the right hand edge of the screen.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.4.10.

Viewing the website with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) disabled

Disabling CSS will show a disappearing list of links from the news ticker.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.3.2 and WCAG guideline 4.1.2.

Additionally, a colour contrast issue with the KCC logo becomes apparent.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.4.3.

Unclear links

Images used as links

Images are used as links without associated alt-text to describe the link purpose.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.3.1, WCAG guideline 2.4.4, and WCAG guideline 4.1.2.

The links are also duplicated by the heading of the article. Assistive technology would interpret this as two separate links with the same outcome; this would be confusing.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.3.2 and WCAG guideline 2.4.3.

Ambiguous link descriptions

Additionally, many text links do not describe their target page or function. Instead they use ambiguous text such as ‘Continue reading’, ‘5 days ago’ or use a URL.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 2.4.4.

Keyboard focus

When viewport width is reduced to mobile view, the menu button does not receive keyboard focus.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.3.2 and WCAG guideline 2.4.3.

Full size images

Clicking images opens a new tab with a full-size version of the image presented. This full-size view is a media asset, not a webpage, and as such does not contain alt-text, a title or have a language assigned.

This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.1.1, WCAG guideline 1.3.3, WCAG guideline 1.3.1, WCAG guideline 3.1.1, and WCAG guideline 4.1.2

Disproportionate burden

Not applicable.

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

This section covers issues that we do not need to fix right now. The law calls these exemptions.

Archived content

News articles published before September 2019 are designated as archived content and are except from the accessibility regulations.

PDFs and documents

Some of our PDFs that are not essential to providing our services were published before 23 September 2018. Any new PDFs or documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Video

Video content embedded on our website before August 2019 may not meet accessibility standards: They may not feature subtitles, audio-description or offer a written transcript.

Any video added to our site since August 2019 meets accessibility regulations.

We use YouTube and Vimeo to embed videos onto our webpages. We are not responsible for the accessibility of the YouTube or Vimeo platforms.

Third Party content

Our website contains third-party content. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we make best endeavours to work with the third party to improve its accessibility. This may include:

  • Links to non-KCC websites
  • Content/functionality on our website
  • Content hosted on other websites, such as social media sites.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 8 September 2020.

This website was last tested in June 2020. The test was carried out by Kent County Council.