Accessibility

Wainfleet Saint Mary Parish Council  publishes documents in a range of formats, including html pages, images and web pages

We want as many people as possible to be able to use those documents. For example, when we produce a document we make sure to:

• provide an HTML option where possible
• tag headings and other parts of the document properly, so screen readers can understand the page structure
• make sure we include alt text alongside non-decorative images, so people who cannot see them understand what they’re there for
• avoid using tables, except when we’re presenting data
• write in plain English

New documents we publish and documents you need to download or fill in to access one of the services we provide should be fully accessible.

What to do if you cannot use one of our documents

If you need a document we’ve published in a different format:

• email wsmpclerk@btinternet.com
• call 07873 321590
• write to The Parish Clerk, WSM Community Hall, St Michael's Lane, WSM PE24 4HB

We’ll consider the request and get back to you in 7 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with one of our documents

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of our documents. If you find any problems not listed on this page or you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: 

• email wsmpclerk@btinternet.com
• call 07873 321590
• write to The Parish Clerk, WSM Community Hall, St Michael's Lane, WSM PE24 4HB

However, we know that some of our older documents (published before 23 September 2018) are not accessible. For example, some of them:

• are just photocopies and are not marked up in a way that allows screen reader users to understand them
• are not tagged up properly - for example, they do not contain proper headings
• are not written in plain English

This mostly applies to our, for example, transparency documents. These types of documents are exempt from the regulations, so we do not currently have any plans to make them accessible.

But if you need to access information in one of these document types, you can contact us and ask for an alternative format.

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 the accessibility of our documents

Non accessible content

A few of our documents may have diagrams. These images do not have a text alternative, so the information in them is not available to people using a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

We plan to add text alternatives for all diagrams by September 2020. When we publish new documents we’ll make sure our use of diagrams meets accessibility standards.

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

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. For example, we do not plan to fix pdf newsletters

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

How we tested our documents

We last tested a sample of our documents on November 16th 2020. The test was carried out by the Parish Clerk for Wainfleet Saint Mary Parish Council.We tested:

html documents - minutes and agendas

images - Steeping newsletter

converted pdfs - policy documents