Information

We want everyone who visits our website to be able to access the full range of services available, regardless of their skill or technology.
This website was launched in 2021

How accessible the site is

We know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible:

What to do if you have problems or queries

If you have any accessibility problems or feedback, please use our contact us page.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you're not happy with how we respond, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Visit County Durham is committed to making our website accessible, in accordance with The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Under the Equality Act 2010 we must ensure we do not unlawfully discriminate in our service delivery and make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities where necessary. We are constantly working to improve the accessibility and usability of our site.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

Information about which areas of the website fail.

• help: help is not presented consistently, failing success criteria WCAG 2.2 A 3.2.6
• lists: lists are not marked up correctly, failing success criteria WCAG 2.0 A 4.1.1
• links: links are not distinguished by more than just color, failing success criteria WCAG 2.0 A 1.4.1
• labels: labels in the document do not point to valid IDs, failing success criteria WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1
• frames and iframes: titles are not specified for all frames, failing success criteria WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.1
• components: interactive components are not far enough apart, failing success criteria WCAG 2.2 AA 2.5.8
• focus: focus is not fully obscured, failing success criteria WCAG 2.2 AA 2.4.11
• forms and fields: the purpose of fields are not identified programmatically, failing success criteria WCAG 2.1 AA 1.3.5
• text: text does not have sufficient contrast (AA), failing success criteria WCAG 2.0 AA 1.4.3
• forms and fields: form controls contrast are not sufficiently with their surroundings, failing success criteria WCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.11

Accessibility Roadmap

As stated in the non-compliance section, the known issues are listed below:

• HTML – the underlying code used to create this website.
• CSS – used to describe how HTML elements are displayed on this website.
• JavaScript – a development language used to program behaviours on this website.
• 3rd Party Functionality
• Content - this could include web page content or associated PDFs on this website.

A program of work is now underway to address these issues and involves working with Durham County Council’s in-house developers/designers as well as third party functionality providers.
We aim to resolve the above items by September 2025.

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

• PDFs/documents (pre September 2018): PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 or documents that are not essential to providing our services
• pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020
• live audio and video
• interactive maps unless they provide core information

How we test the site

We re-assess a website or system for accessibility whenever it undergoes a major modification.
We check all new content we add.