Accessibility statement for Hillingdon Council

This website is run by Hillingdon Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. You should be able to: 

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts using your own browser extensions 
• 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 your speech recognition software 
• listen to most of the website using your screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver).  

We've also made the website text clear and simple to understand. 

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

You can find out how to:  

• make your mouse easier to use  
• use your keyboard instead of a mouse  
• talk to your device  
• make your device talk to you  
• make text larger  
• change your colours; and  
• magnify the screen.  

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible. This website was audited by the Government Digital Services in January 2022 and non-accessible content is outlined below.  

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
• most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• most older video streams do not have captions

The council is currently arranging an audit of the website to ensure it is accessible as possible and in line with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. Once this work is completed, this statement will be updated to outline any improvements that are required and the council will work with services and third parties to fix them.   

Feedback and contact information 

If you need information on this website in a different format, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please email web@hillingdon.gov.uk.

We'll consider your request and get back to you in 20 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, let us know using the 'Report an issue with this page' form at the end of a web page.  

When you contact us, please include the following information:

• the web address of the page(s) you're having difficulty with 
• how you're accessing the site, for example on a mobile phone, laptop or tablet device 
• which browser you're using, for example Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari. Edge or Firefox 
• a description of the problem.  

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). 

Visiting us in person 

If you are visiting us in person and are in need of an interpretation service, please contact the department or team beforehand, so this can be arranged.  

To contact us, please call 01895 250111 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Hillingdon Council is committed to making its websites 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 (WCAG) 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

Some of our third-party websites and applications do not meet the necessary WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards.  

These have been developed by external suppliers to provide some of the online services we offer.  

Where we use third-party websites or applications, we cannot always guarantee that these will conform to the same levels of accessibility as the main website because they are partly or wholly out of the council's control.  

We will review the accessibility of sites in our audit and where it is within our control, we will make every reasonable effort to work with suppliers towards meeting accessibility requirements.  

Any new third-party systems we commission will be required to meet the WCAG 2.1 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. We also plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages following our audit.  

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. 

What we're doing to improve accessibility

The council is arranging an audit of the website to ensure the website is accessible as possible. 

We will work to resolve all identified accessibility issues that are within our control. 

We will provide accessibility training to staff.  

Preparation of this accessibility statement 

This statement was prepared on Friday 29 April 2022. It was last reviewed on Monday 14 Ocotber 2024.