Accessibility

Using This Website

The East Sussex Local Offer website is run by East Sussex County Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website and understand its content.

You should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels, and fonts
• navigate the website using only a keyboard
• navigate the website using speech recognition software
• listen to our website using a screen reader. You can click the speaker symbol next to text on this site, for it to be read out loud. Alternatively, NVDA is a free non-visual desktop access tool and Narrator is the screen reader software built into the Windows 10 operating system

You can use the Accessibility toolbar on this site to:

• change the colour / contrast levels
• change the font size

If you are having any problems using this site, please contact us on localoffer@eastsussex.gov.uk so we can look into making further improvements.

Enlarge Text 

There are various ways in which you can change the size of text on this site:

• You can click on the different A letters in this sites' accessibility toolbar, until you find a size that best suits you
• Using a mouse with a scrolling wheel, you can increase the size of text by holding down the Ctrl key while rotating the mouse wheel towards you. To reduce the text size, hold down Ctrl and rotate the wheel towards you.
• Change your zoom or magnify settings via your internet browser
• Use your keyboard to zoom in (press Ctrl and +), or zoom out (press Ctrl and –)
• Change the settings directly on your computer or laptop. Go to the Settings / Control Panel on your computer or laptop to make the changes.

Additional Help

• If you have a visual impairment, you'll find helpful advice on the RNIB Assistive aids and technology web pages.
• You can visit AbilityNet for guides on how to make web pages easier to read.
• Some smartphones also have their own accessibility options - for example, see Apple iPhone, Samsung, and Huawei.

All non-text content on this site has a text alternative.

Language

We use plain English to make the text easy to read. We aim to create content for a reading age of 11. We regularly run readability audits on our content and make continual improvements.

Please note, while we continue to aim to make this site as easy to read as possible, there are quite a few service names, recognised terms and statutory words surrounding Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) that mean this cannot always be done. We continue to look for ways around this.

Sign language readers can visit the East Sussex County Council website for a British Sign Language (BSL) introduction.

If you would like to read this website in another language, you can use Google Translate.

If you are having any problems with the language on this site, please contact us on localoffer@eastsussex.gov.uk so we can look into making further improvements.

Videos

Videos used on this website are embedded YouTube videos. To view a video, select the arrow in the centre of the screen and it will start to play.

If you want to download the video onto your computer, make sure you have a media player installed on it that is capable of viewing videos.  

Although videos uploaded by third party providers do not need to comply with the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility legislation, we aim to only add videos that include subtitles, so their videos are accessible.

If you are having any problems with the videos on this site, please contact us on localoffer@eastsussex.gov.uk so we can look into making further improvements.

Accessibility Statement

Technical information about this site’s accessibility

East Sussex County Council are committed to making the East Sussex Local Offer 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 listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Images

Images have text descriptions known as their 'alt' tag. These text descriptions explain what you should see if the image doesn't appear on the screen. Ideally the descriptions should be short and avoid abbreviations and confusing language.

Images can’t be added without alt text. We review the alt text added to existing images annually to ensure they are suitable. We last completed this exercise in May 2023. Some images may contain text, and people with dyslexia may not be able to read the information (WCAG success criterion 1.4.5 (Images of Text)).

This will be reviewed again in 2024.

Documents

PDFs and Microsoft Word documents on the East Sussex Local Offer may be created by the Council or by third parties and are moderated before being added. Some are essential documents but may not be structured so that they’re accessible. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, role value).

The PDFs and Word documents were reviewed in December 2021 and where possible, they were fixed to ensure they were accessible. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish should meet accessibility standards.

If you use assistive technology such as a screen reader, please contact us. We will do our best to help and we will contact you about the next step.

You can contact us on localoffer@eastsussex.gov.uk

This will be reviewed again in 2024.

Hyperlinks

All hyperlinks on this site will open in the same window unless otherwise stated. Most links on the website are shown by underlined text. All hyperlinks were reviewed, and this exercise was completed by the end of 2023. 

Some of our links may contain images and the link text may match the image alt text. This does not comply with WCAG 2.0 A H2. All links on images were reviewed to ensure the alt text did not match the link text and this exercise was completed by end of 2021.

This will be reviewed again in 2024.

Tables

The tables on the website were reviewed to ensure they are accessible, and this exercise was completed by end of 2021.

This will be reviewed again in 2024.

Plain English

We aim to make this website easy to understand by using plain English. If you have difficulty understanding any of the content, please contact us on localoffer@eastsussex.gov.uk

Disproportionate burden

We are not claiming disproportionate burden on this website.

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

PDFs and Word documents

The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or Word documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Exceptions apply to any materials created by third parties. Although these don't need to be fixed, we continue to advise them of best practice.

See Provision 4(2) of the PSB Accessibility regulations for details.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

As well as fixing issues identified by the testing, we will make sure that any changes or developments applied to the website consider accessibility and comply with the legislation. Accessibility will be checked each time we update this site.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 29 October 2021 and was last reviewed on 12 July 2023. The statement will be reviewed at least every 6 months to ensure it reflects the current accessibility of the website.

How we test this website

East Sussex Local Offer was most recently tested in July 2023. These tests were carried out internally and it was tested for compliance with the WCAG Level A and Level AA. We used testing software called Silktide.

The results were reviewed, prioritised, corrections applied and, where necessary, passed to software developers for consideration. Various fixes will also be applied with future updates.

Feedback and contact information

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of the East Sussex Local Offer. If you find any problems using this website or think that we're not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us on localoffer@eastsussex.gov.uk

It would be helpful if your e-mail contained the following:

• The address of the page(s) that you are having difficulties with
• The nature of your disability, if applicable
• A description of the problem

If you have a solution to suggest, please feel free to do so.

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. If you contact us and are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service.

Glossary of East Sussex SEND Terms

Some of the terms used on this website are explained on our page, Glossary of East Sussex SEND Terms.