Accessibility Statement
This is the Accessibility Statement for the West Sussex Connect to Support website - https://www.westsussexconnecttosupport.org/
This website is run by West Sussex County Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website.
This website should allow users to:
- Change contrast levels and size of text.
- Modify the line height or spacing of text.
- Zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the page.
- 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 (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver).
We have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
This website was launched on 9 April 2020. It has been updated on the 7 August 2024 to be compliant with the international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 (WCAG) – Level AA.
A further update has occurred on the 12 June 2025 to resolve accessibility issues raised by an accessibility audit from the Cabinet Office.
How accessible is this website?
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- This website uses JavaScript to deliver certain features. Please make sure you have JavaScript turned on within your browser to deliver full features
- Older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- Live video streams do not have captions.
How to use this website?
Accessible Features
This website uses a widget that contains several Accessible features that can be used by users with specific requirements. The widget is available on the top right-hand side of the header menu.
These features include:
Contrast and Font Size
Changing the contrast and font sizes of text can increase legibility for some users.
This website has two colour contrast settings, firstly, the “default colour scheme” which provides a suitable level of contrast for most users and satisfies the accessibility standards. However, if a user feels the colour contrast is too low in areas the website also contains a “high contrast scheme” which satisfies all accessibility standards for colour contrast.
A user can change the contrast settings by clicking on the icons at the top right of screen. For a user using voice recognition please say, “Switch to default colour scheme” and “Switch to high contrast scheme” respectively for the same result.
To increase the font size, click on the icons at the top right of the screen. For a user using voice recognition please say, “Switch to normal font size”, “Switch to big font size” and “Switch to biggest font size” respectively for the same result. The user can also use the browser’s own zoom facility. The website will work up to 200%.
Accessible Alternatives
Efforts have been made to create accessible alternatives for content that does not meet standards where possible.
Where appropriate we may be able to deliver content to users in accordance with their needs.
Please see Feedback and contact information section for further details.
Purpose of Links
West Sussex County Council will use links to navigate to content on the website. External links will open in a new window.
Where possible the action of an external link will be described by extra description within the link text, so all users can understand the link’s purpose. However, in certain areas of the website adding this extra description will become a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.
We have provided the following definition for external links.
External links will be used for any content that has known limitations with assistive technologies OR navigates a user away from secure platforms. In summary, this means the following items are considered external links.
- Non-HTML Documentation (See “Issues with PDFs and other documents”)
- Redirection away from secure platforms
- External websites that are not part of council website.
Feedback and contact information
If you find any problems that are not listed within this statement, or believe we are not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations please contact us.
Contact details for West Sussex County Council
Email: WestSussexConnectToSupport@westsussex.gov.uk or use the feedback form on the bottom of every page.
Alternatively, you can contact Adults’ CarePoint.
Email: www.westsussex.gov.uk/contact-help
(Fill in the 'Contact us' online form)
Phone: 01243 642121
NGT Text Relay: 18001 01243 642121 (available as a downloadable app for computer tablets and smartphones. Helps people with speech and hearing difficulties.)
Write to: West Sussex County Council Adults’ CarePoint, Second Floor, County Hall, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1RG
We will consider your request and get back to you in 5 days.
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
West Sussex County 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 2.2 AA standard, due to the following non-compliances and exemptions listed in the following chapter.
Non-accessible content
This chapter lists issues that fail the current accessibility regulations. The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
This sub-section lists issues that fail the current accessibility regulations.
During our last review of this website we have fixed all major issues that failed WCAG 2.2, please see "Resolutions Section" for detailed summary of the fixes.
Areas of the website that fail to meet WCAG 2.2 have been brought to our attention.
Issues with My Account and Login Pages
Testing the login page has discovered the following accessibility issues.
- Contrast of Placeholder text is too low. This causes a failure for WCAG criteria 1.4.3 Contrast. This will be fixed by July 2025.
- Page title not descriptive enough. This causes a failure for WCAG criteria 2.4.2 Page Titled. This will be fixed by July 2025.
- Form control items are not fully labelled or have correct landmarks. This causes failures with WCAG criteria 1.3.1 Information and Relationships. This will be fixed by July 2025.
Issues with PDFs and other documents
Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up to be accessible for a screen reader.
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with Easy Read Information on how users can access our services. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
Issues with images, video and audio
Live video streams have captions auto added by YouTube, not all videos are currently checked for the accuracy of their captioning.
Resolutions of Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Since this statement was last updated the following accessibility issues have been resolved.
RESOLVED: Issues with Colour Contrast being too low and items not being focus visible
The following issues were resolved from the 12th June 2025 deployment.
The colour contrast theme was considered too low on some content pages. These items did not have an acceptable keyboard focus outline. This broke contrast and focus highlight regulations.
All pages now have an appropriate colour contrast theme and all link elements are focus visible.
RESOLVED: Issues with Link Text not being descriptive enough
On a previous accessibility audit, it had been noted that there were different web links that did not make sense out of context. We are constantly reviewing new items as they are published to ensure that they meet requirements.
RESOLVED: Issues with Mobile Devices and Screen Reflow
The following issues were resolved from the 12 June 2025 deployment.
Since the last review of this statement the hamburger menu required the user to say “Toggle Navigation” to open/close the menu. A user can now say "Menu" to expand or collapse the Hamburger Menu when viewing the website on a mobile device screen. This passes success criteria 2.5.3: Label in Name (AA) of the accessibility standards.
At 400% zoom and in mobile view (320 x 256 pixels), the menu along the top of the webpage does not reflow correctly as it is no longer visible without scrolling horizontally. This failed WCAG 2.2 criteria 1.4.10 Reflow.
Disproportionate burden
There are no issues that are considered a disproportionate burden.
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 or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
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’re doing to improve accessibility
The new version of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG 2.2 were published on 5 October 2023.
This has replaced WCAG 2.1 as the legally required accessibility standard on October 2024.
A Cabinet Office audit was carried out on the 27 March 2025 to check the accessibility of this website.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 9 April 2020. It will be reviewed every year in accordance with the regulations. It was last reviewed on 13 June 2025.
This website was tested on 27 March 2025 by the Cabinet Office. Further accessibility audits were carried out by West Sussex and our website provider, People Places Lives on the 29 April 2025 and 30 May 2025.
To prepare this statement an accessibility test was carried out by People Places Lives QA Team. The most viewed pages were tested using automated testing tools by our website team. A further audit of the website was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.