This accessibility statement applies to my.sandwell.gov.uk
This website is run by Sandwell Council. It has been developed using tools provided with the Granicus GovService platform. Granicus commit to developing products that are accessible to all customers. Wherever possible, govService products will meet the Accessibility guidelines recommended under WCAG 2.1 for AA compliance.
We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
- 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)
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 website are not fully accessible:
- the text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
- you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
- most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
- you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
- there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘contact us’ page
Feedback and contact information or 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 or have any other feedback you can contact Sandwell council:
Online at: https://www.sandwell.gov.uk/feedback
By telephone: 0121 569 7867
Or by writing to us:
Customer Feedback Team
Sandwell Council
Direct 2 Industrial Estate
Roway Ln
Oldbury
B69 3ES
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 working 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 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.
Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.
Find out how to contact us.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Sandwell 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 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances’ listed below.
Non-accessible content
All non-compliance has been addressed other than those recorded below as 'outstanding'.
Outstanding Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Resolutions for the following identified non-compliances are in development, or being progressed by third party technology suppliers:
In development
WCAG 1.3.1 Info & Relationships - Checkboxes not associated to questions
- On the Options - Report a missed bin service page of the service website, there are checkboxes with labels that say “Yes”. The checkboxes are not programmatically associated to the questions above them such as “Log blue lid recycling bin”.
WCAG 1.3.5 Identify input purpose - Postcode field with autocomplete off
- On the Address details - Report a missed bin service page of the service website, there is a form field for "Postcode / street search (min 6 characters)". The form field has autocomplete set to off.
WCAG 1.4.1 Use of Colour
Insufficient colour contrast on link text
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On the Options - Report a missed bin service page of the service website, as colour alone is being used to distinguish between link text and its surrounding non-link text the minimum contrast ratio should meet 3:1. There are instances of insufficient colour contrast. Examples include:
• The blue link text "Find out what to do if your bin is not emptied" and "Bins and recycling webpage" have a contrast ratio of 1.03 against the non-link text in the same paragraph.
• The red "Report a missed bin collection webpage" link text has a contrast ratio of 1.41 against the non-link text in the same paragraph. There are two instances of this text on the page.
Insufficient contrast between link text and standard text
- On the Information – Report a missed bin service page of the service website, there is a link that says “bin day finder”. The contrast ratio is 1.03 between the colour of the link text (#00e) and the non-link text in the same paragraph (#444444).
WCAG 1.4.12 Text Spacing - Cannot increase text spacing
- On all pages of the service website, it is not possible to increase line height, letter spacing, word spacing or spacing between paragraphs of the main body content. The header, navigation and footer increase okay.
WCAG 3.3.1 Error Indication - Error messages on form fields that cannot be edited
-
On the Address details - Report a missed bin service page of the service website, after submitting the page without entering a postcode errors appear against mandatory fields with an asterisk however it is not possible to edit those fields. The form fields are not visible on the screen but can still be interacted with using a screen reader.There also seems to be error messages that aren't near any labels or input fields.
WCAG 4.1.2 Name, role, value - Visually hidden form fields can be accessed by screen reader users
- On the Address details - Report a missed bin service page of the service website, there are hidden input fields for Business name, Flat, House name/number, Street, Town and Postcode. Although these input fields are visually hidden they are not programmatically hidden and can be accessed by screen reader users.
Being progressed by third party technology suppliers
WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text content - Logo with no alternative text
- On all pages of the service website, there is a logo at the top of the page that has no alternative text
WCAG 1.3.1 Info & Relationships
List items no longer contained in a list
- On the Login - Report a missed bin service page of the service website, the role of the "Register" and "Login" list items (<li>) has been changed to a menuitem but they are not contained inside a menubar
Links that look like tabs
- On all pages of the service website (except for the Login - Report a missed bin service page), there is a row of links near the top of the form. The links which say "Information, Address details, Bin collection and Options" look like buttons/tabs but are programmatically links. The links have no href
CAG 2.4.2 Page Titled - Title of Login page of service doesn’t reflect contents
- On the Login - Report a missed bin service page of the service website, the page title “Missed collection - My sandwell” doesn’t reflect the topic or purpose of the page.”
WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (in context) - Logo link with no accessible text
- On all pages of the service website, there is a logo at the top of the page. The logo is contained inside a link and has no accessible text
WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible
Focus styling issues on all pages of service website
- On all pages of the service website the links 'My Sandwell', 'My services' and 'How to guides' do not have any focus styling.
Skip to content link not visible when focused on
- On all pages of the service website the skip to content link does not become visible when focused on using a keyboard.
WCAG 4.1.2 Name, role, value - Link with no visible text and no accessible name
- On the Login - Report a missed bin service page of the service website, under the "Sign up for an account" link is another link with no visible text and no accessible name.
WCAG 4.1.3 Status Messages - Cog icon not alerted to screen reader users
- On all pages of the service website, when navigating through the form a cog icon appears whilst the new content is loading. Screen reader users are not alerted to the cog icon appearing and the successful completion.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
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. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.
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 meet accessibility standards.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 2nd February 2022. It was last reviewed on 24th February 2022.
This website was last tested 18th January 2022 against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21. The test was carried out by the Accessibility Monitoring Team of the Cabinet Office.