Accessibility statement

About this statement

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website and have designed it so that it lets you edit your preferred settings, with options to:

• zoom in up to 500% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate it using just a keyboard
• navigate most of it using speech recognition software
• listen to most of it using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We have also made the website text in most areas as simple as possible to understand. 

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

How accessible our website is

This site has been built to be as accessible as possible and tested against WCAG 2.1 AA. There are some areas which are not yet fully accessible:

• you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
• some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard

Feedback and requests

If you would like to comment on the accessibility of our website, or request any of the information in a different format, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording, or braille, please email ukraine@tunbridgewells.gov.uk.

We will aim to get back to you within five working days.

Reporting accessibility problems

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of our website. If you encounter any problems that aren’t already mentioned in this statement, or you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, email us at ukraine@tunbridgewells.gov.uk.

We will aim to get back to you within five 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 have made a formal complaint to us about our website's accessibility, and aren't happy with our response, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service.

Contacting us

Phoning or visiting us in person

Unfortunately, we do not provide a text relay service for people who are deaf, hearing impaired, or have a speech impediment. We can, however, use a mediated text relay service if one is provided by the person calling.

If you use a hearing aid and would prefer to visit us in person, the Amelia Scott in Tunbridge Wells town centre has hearing loops available in all its meeting rooms.

If you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter through Kent County Council Sensory Services, or you can call ahead and book them directly on 03000 418 100, or by email to sensoryandautism@kent.gov.uk.

The find and contact us page on the TWBC website includes details of how to email, telephone, or visit us in person.

Technical information

Technical information about our website’s accessibility

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Our 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

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Same link text for different destinations

Some of the pages on this website contain the same link text more than once, but each goes to a different URL. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context).

Focus visible

A small number of our online forms have link text, buttons or link images that do not have a visible focus when selected using a keyboard tab.  This fails WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible: No or barely visible focus.

Non-text content

Many of our online forms have email and social media icons in the footer that do not have alternative text that describe their function. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text content.

Colour contrast issues

Many of our online forms have 'Skip to content' text in the header that fails on colour contrast. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum): Colour contrast issues.

Links must have discernible text

Many of our online forms refer to 'tunbridgewells.gov.uk' in the header but this link does not take the user there. This fails WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) and WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value: Links must have discernible text.

IDs used in ARIA and labels must be unique

Some of our online forms have multiple elements referenced with ARIA with the same id attribute. This fails WCAG 4.1.1 Parsing: IDs used in ARIA and labels must be unique.

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents may not be structured so they are accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).

Disproportionate burden

Having made an assessment of the non-accessible documents on our website,  we have not identified any that are considered a disproportionate burden (within the meaning of the No. 2 Regulations) to be made accessible.

Out of scope content

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations.

Third-party content

Our site includes third-party content and documents.

We cannot guarantee that all third-party content is accessible. We are not responsible for any third-party content that is under someone else’s control, for example, social media ‘like’ buttons.

We often link to third-party websites or documents when there is useful information that relates to our services, for example, official information sources like GOV.UK and the Electoral Commission.

We often create content on third-party platforms. For example, we create video content on YouTube. We are responsible for making sure the content is accessible, but we are not responsible for YouTube's platform.