This accessibility statement applies to www.newham.gov.uk.
We have consulted with residents with a range of accessibility needs in creating our website. Their help, in conjunction with best practice standards for web accessibility have helped us create a website which we hope can be accessed by more residents across the borough.
Additional accessibility features
You can use our accessibility settings to change fonts sizes and colours on our accessibility settings page
BSL Live: If you are a BSL user and would like support to access the information on the health and adult social care pages of this website, you can use BSL Live provided by SignVideo.
ReachDeck: Our site has browsealoud functionality which adds speech and reading for people with dyslexia, low literacy, English as a second language, and those with mild visual impairments. You can use browsealoud at any time by clicking on the link at the top of any page on our site, next to the 'My Account' button, find out more on our 'Listen to our website' page.
Text Relay service: The service provides a relay assistant who types and talks, as needed, to help a deaf or speech-impaired person and a hearing person communicate.
If you are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment, dial: 0870 240 9598
- Download and set up the free Relay UK app
- Use the app to call the phone number of the council department you need, or our general enquiries number: 020 8430 2000
- An operator at Relay UK will tell us whatever you type into the app and then type our responses back to you in real-time.
Relay UK assisted calls are charged at your telephone provider’s normal rates, plus an extra 1p per minute to use.
Help for website visitors with disabilities
- 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
- All images have a written description (alternative text). This gives an explanation of what the image is about if it fails to load or you are using a screen reader.
- We use headings to give structure to our pages so it is easier to navigate, especially if you are using a screen reader.
- We try to write in plain English in a style that is straightforward and easy to understand. We also avoid using jargon.
- We try to comply with Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines (WAIG). Our website meets an AA rating where HTML is used.
- We have increased the contrast where we use colour and text to aid readability.
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:
- Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- Some PDF documents are an image/screen grab and therefore has no text and a machine cannot read it
- Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Newham 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.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Some of the documents on the website fall within the scope of the regulation but may not be fully accessible. We have recently relaunched Newham.gov.uk and are working with our services to review documents and videos to make them compliant.
Navigation and accessing information
There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option).
Exemptions
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.
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 23 September 2020.
Feedback and contact information
If you need further information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, contact us by email.
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in ten working days.
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, please contact us by using the ‘Was this page useful?’ form at the bottom of this page.
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).
Feedback
We are always working on making our website more accessible and welcome feedback and suggestions. If you would like to contact us please use the Contact Us link in the footer.
