Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the website: www.blackburn.gov.uk, which is managed by Blackburn with Darwen Council.

This website is run by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use it. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

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 is

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

  • you can’t modify the line height or spacing of text
  • most older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • the accordion dropdown feature used on some pages has some minor issues when used with screen readers.
Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format please contact us.

We'll get back to you within 14 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations,please contact us.

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've made a formal complaint to us about our website's accessibility, and aren't happy with our response, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Blackburn with Darwen Council is committed to making its website 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

  • It’s not possible for users to modify text spacing or line height.
  • The news slider feature on the homepage features some non-standard HTML ( <div> elements within <ul> tags) and 2 "empty" button elements generated by the slider module itself.
  • There are several colour contrast generated by our web content management errors on HTML elements that are visually hidden for accessibility reasons.

Issues with PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs don’t meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be marked up so they’re accessible to a screen reader.

Some of our PDFs are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services and forms published. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages unless we determine that they represent a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we don’t plan to fix the documents listed on the Gib Lane masterplan page.

Any new PDF we publish will meet accessibility standards as far as is possible, unless we determine that they represent a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. Ultimately we plan to provide an accessible HTML version of the information as the primary source.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 30.05.19. It was last updated on 25.08.21.

This website was last tested on 19.02.21. It was performed by Invotra who were commissioned to audit our website and produce a detailed report describing any areas needing improvement.

They tested a selection of pages from each of our template types and a sample of user journeys through our content. Overall the website conformed 94% to AA standard for pages tested.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We aim to provide an accessible HTML version of any new information as the primary source rather than using a PDF.

We commissioned a third party accessibility audit featuring real user feedback (RNIB) and are now working through the results report to fix any outstanding non-conformances.