Accessibility

Accessibility statement for Newham Families

This accessibility statement applies to Newham Families Advice and Support and this site has been built to comply with WCAG 2.1.

This website is run by London Borough of Newham Early Years education & childcare. The website is hosted by Idox/Open Objects.

This website has functions that make the content more accessible.

You can find out how to adjust your settings for accessibility from the drop-down accessibility menu in the website header available on every page.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser or device settings
• zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
• Skip to the main content when using a keyboard to navigate
• Use Google Translate to translate information into other languages

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

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

How accessible this website?

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
• live video streams do not have captions
• you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
• there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘contact us’ page

The website underwent collaborative production and development with input from parents, caregivers, and young individuals to determine its appearance and ambiance. Our commitment to enhancing web accessibility prompted modifications to certain elements of the site. However, we maintained ongoing collaboration with stakeholders, including parents, caregivers, and young people with special needs, to preserve the essence of our co-creation.

Feedback and contact information

This website has 2 channels which each focus on different sets of information.

If you need any information on this website in a different format please contact the relevant service.

SEND Local Offer

The SEND Local Offer Channel focuses on SEND-related service and process information for those aged 0-25 who live in Newham including a service directory, help and advice articles, opportunities and events, and related documents.

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: Family Information service via email: local.offer@newham.gov.uk

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, email: local.offer@newham.gov.uk

Family Information Service

The Family Information Service Channel focuses on childcare-related information and opportunities for parents and carers of children under 18 and up to 25 if they have SEND.

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: Family Information service via email: fis@Newham.gov.uk

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, email fis@Newham.gov.uk

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are 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, contact: fis@Newham.gov.uk

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 this website’s accessibility

London Borough of Newham Early Years education & childcare is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

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

Compliance status

The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard.

 This website it’s partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard due to the following:

Non-accessible content

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

We have undertaken a comprehensive refresh of the website including a move to a more accessible version on the website platform.

We endeavour undertake regular testing of individual pages and content and will update our practice or work with the provider if we are unable to solve the issue.

Disproportionate burden

N/A

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

• WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum): Elements must have sufficient colour contrast.
  • There is poor colour contrast when the links 'Family Information Service' and 'Newham Local Offer' receive focus. This is due to white text on a bright background
    • We are currently working on this and we hope to have a resolution by the 15^th April 2024
• WCAG 3.1.1 Language of Page
  • The language is missing within the settings of the PDF document
    • We are currently working on this and we hope to have a resolution by the 15^th April 2024
• WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships:
  • The Local offer document has tables that are not correctly tagged. For example, with the tags in a table, the first row should contain Table Header tags . This is not the case for the tables 'Page Views', 'Device used' and 'Local Offer development plan'. 
    • We are currently working on this and we hope to have a resolution by the 15^th April 2024
• WCAG 2.4.2 – Page title
• The title in the Local offer report pdf document settings is currently blank
• We are currently working on this and we hope to have a resolution by the 15^th April 2024
• WCAG 1.4.10  - Reflow
• Navigation and accessing information - It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.
• We are currently working on this and we hope to have a resolution by the 15^th April 2024

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

PDFs and other documents

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs and other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential in providing our services.

• Links to older PDF documents aren't fully accessible to screen reader software and may not have good text-to-colour contracts.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we are doing to improve accessibility?

The London Borough of Newham Early Years education & childcare have undertaken an accessibility audit of this website to identify and fix any issues.

We have selected a sample of pages on which to carry out our testing that reflect the full range of content and functionality across the site.

We have been working through identified issues in December 2023 including work with the developer to make the site more compliant and accessible.

We have and are continuing to take action where possible as detailed against the relevant heading above. This work will be ongoing throughout 2024.

During the work undertaken in 2023 the following improvements were made and issues were fixed.

• WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible - The keyboard focus is now amended with a black and white outline and can be seen on both black and white backgrounds
• WCAG 1.4.4 Resize Text - The 'Rate this page has now been fix at the bottom of the page and does not cover the 'An Idox solution'
• WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow - The 'Rate this page has now been fix at the bottom of the page and does not cover content across the webpages
• WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum): Elements must have sufficient colour contrast. - White text have been changed to black text
• WCAG 1.4.10  - Reflow There’s was no way to skip the repeated content in the page header -  ‘skip to main content’ option has been added.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 19^th December 2023, it was last reviewed on 20^th March 2024. This website was last tested on 18^th December 2023 against the WCAG 2.1 AA standard.

The test was carried out by IDOX development team and Family Information Service Manager. A further audit of the website was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.