This accessibility statement applies to www.havering.gov.uk
Using this website
This Council's website, havering.gov.uk, has been developed for and is managed by The London Borough of Havering.
We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website.
That means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels, and fonts
- zoom in up to 300 percent 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
We have 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 is this website?
We know some parts of our website are not fully accessible.
- Some documents we link to aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software.
- Some form controls do not have labels.
- Some images contain text and we have tried to explain that text as best we can in the alt text.
- We try to make sure all videos produced by us have subtitles added.
If you need information from this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording, or braille, please see some of the options to talk to our services on our contact us page.
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 7 days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website.
Before you report anything to us, please only use the accessibility enquiry form for issues around accessibility such as the tabbing order or screen reader compatibility.
If you have an issue like an account access issue, please use our My Account page and look for the help link for the account you are trying to access.
If you think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please use our accessibility enquiry form.
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 use a text relay system for users who want to call us. The number is: 18001 01708 434343
Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter or someone to translate a language other than English.
We offer braille copies of documents, bills, web pages, and other resources upon request.
We will also discuss with the customer when arranging to find the best solution.
Technical information about the accessibility of havering.gov.uk
We are committed to making this website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Havering.gov.uk is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
Third-party applications
We require that any new third-party systems we commission for the website are Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA compliant.
However, third-party applications are partly or wholly out of our control and so may not conform to the same levels of accessibility as the rest of the website.
List of third-party applications
- Microsoft D365 forms and customer account portal
- Mipermit
- Openaccess Housing application and rent accounts
- Council Tax, Benefits and Business rate portal
- Fusion - Apply for a council job vacancy
- Granicus Achieve Forms
- Ocella planning applications search and building control regulations search
- Modern.gov Councillor information, meetings, agendas, and minutes
- Cookiebot consent control
Non-accessible content
Non-compliance with regulations
This website is compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.
Issues with third-party applications
If we know of an issue with a third-part application we will list it here.
- The Cookiebot consent tool has undefined lists. - Currently unknown when this will be fixed because the third party support can't provide any timescales.
- Language and parsing in some of our 3rd party forms packages that link from this website are non-compliant. These are being reviewed with ongoing fixes during 2024.
Issues with PDFs and other documents
Some PDFs and Word documents we link to don’t meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be marked up so they’re accessible to a screen reader.
Some PDFs and Word Documents are essential to providing our services and we intend to ensure that all of these are fixed or replaced with accessible HTML pages or online forms.
That means that as they get replaced as a result of circumstances such as an update because it is a policy document, we’ll be replacing them with ones that better meet expected standards.
Some of our documents are in the .xlxs or .csv format. This is because they are held exclusively to be used for data extracting purposes by central government or other data collecting bodies.
Examples of documents in the .xlxs and .csv format include data on what the council spends and the assets we hold and as a result, these may not be fully accessible.
The accessibility regulations don’t 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 unless we determine that they represent a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.
Ultimately we plan to provide an accessible HTML version of the information as the primary source.
There are a number of PDFs and other documents we link to hosted outside of this website and we are continually working with those hosts to fix or replace the documents.
Live video
Video streams may not have subtitles. Live video is exempt from having to meet the regulations.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was first prepared in November 2016. It was last reviewed on 4 July 2024.
Havering.gov.uk is tested every week as we regularly run reports using Siteimprove.
You can contact us using our accessibility enquiry form to get a copy of the reports and to ask for further details on the reports.