This accessibility statement applies to content published on the www.thelocationfor.uk domain.

This website is run by West Suffolk Council. It is designed to be used by as many people as possible. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader.

We are always working to make the website text as simple as possible to understand.

In accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, we regularly monitor the accessibility standards of our website. To do this, we use a tool called Siteimprove which monitors and tests the website and sends reports to us.

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:

  • Some pages scroll in two dimensions on small screens
  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

In your message, include:

  • the web address (URL) of the content
  • your email address and name
  • the format you need - for example, plain text, braille, BSL, large print or audio CD

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in seven 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, contact the Communications team by email: communications@westsuffolk.gov.uk.

Please include:

  • ‘Website accessibility’ in the subject line
  • the web address (URL) of the page with the issue
  • details of the issue.

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Find out how to contact us

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

West Suffolk 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 version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions’ listed below.

Non-accessible content

Role with implied hidden content has keyboard focus. This does not comply with Success criterion 4.1.2 - An element with a role that makes its children presentational should not contain focusable elements.

Colour contrast does not meet minimum requirement. Is there enough colour contrast This does not comply with Success criterion 1.4.3 - The highlighted breadcrumb text does nto quite have enought colour contrast with the background 4.16:1 - it needs to be increased to 4.5:1 or higher.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are continually working to improve accessibility. We regularly receive reports form Siteimprove, the automated system we use to check accessibility, quality assurance and search engine optimisation (SEO) and look to resolve issues on a weekly basis. We also respond to any issues identified by visitors to the websites and regularly review pages.

We have an active programme of searching out documents and other issues that do not meet the accessibility guidance. Where we find such issues, we resolve them or replace documents with HTML pages. We expect all these to be changed by December 2024.

We work with our third party suppliers to make sure their systems are as accessible as possible, and to resolve issues as quickly as possible.

We are working to move all our forms online so you can complete them on screen. Some of our forms are PDF (Portable Document Format) documents which you will then have to print and post to us, and a few are in MS Word format which you can complete electronically and email to us. If you experience any problems with the forms, please contact economic.development@westsuffolk.gov.uk

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 14 October 2022.

Please note: the regular accessibility report run by Siteimprove also includes warnings. These are not errors but things that we need to review. We do this as soon as we can when a warning appears.

This website was last tested on 27 December 2023.

The test was carried out internally by West Suffolk Council, using Siteimprove for automated testing. The regular accessibility report run by Siteimprove shows that the site is:

  • 99.57% compliant with the A standard
  • 94.01% compliant with AA standard, and
  • 88.85% compliant with AAA (AAA is above the required standard). 

It also includes 100% complaint with best practice scores which bring the overall rating to 91.9%. This means that we are not quite meeting the standards. We are working to resolve these issues as soon as possible and we will continue to review the website and review any issues as soon as we can when a warning appears.

Read the full Siteimprove Accessibility score breakdown – The location for website 27 December 2023

This statement was prepared on 14 October 2022. It was last updated on 27 December 2023.