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Accessibility statement

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This accessibility statement applies to www.belfastcity.gov.uk. This website is run by Belfast City Council.

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand and it is approved by Plain English Campaign (link opens in new window) on an annual basis. My Computer My Way (link opens in a new window) 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. You can see a full list of any issues we currently know about in the Non-accessible content section of this statement.

Feedback and contact information

As part of our commitment to promoting equality of opportunity and good relations, we want to make sure everyone can access this website. You can get all our webpages in different languages and formats by:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within ten working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We want to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, email us at [email protected]

Tell us what part of the website you are visiting, what you are trying to do and what is preventing you from doing what you need to do. If possible, tell us what device and which browser you’re using. We will get back to you within three working days.

Read tips on contacting organisation about inaccessible websites.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) (link opens in new window) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (link opens in new window) (the ‘accessibility regulations’) in Northern Ireland. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your request or complaint, call ECNI on 028 9050 0600 and ask to speak with one of their Discrimination Advice Officers in their Legal Division, or email [email protected].

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Find out how to contact us.

We provide a video relay service for people who are deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. You can access this online or at some of our venues. Find out more about this service.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit, we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) or Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpreter.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Belfast City Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (link opens in a new window).

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 (link opens in new window) AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed.

Non-accessible content

The content listed is non-accessible for these reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Automated testing issues

Belfast City Council makes use of automated tooling to assist with accessibility issue identification. An accessibility report on 26 July 2024 from the ‘Silktide’ testing tool has identified these issues.

  • Some pages scroll in two dimensions on small screens including mobile devices. This fails WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow (AA). For example, this issue affects Employment Land Monitor Report 2021-2022 and Councillors’ allowances for 2020-2021, and 2019-2020.
  • Some pages use duplicate link text for different destinations rather than all links having unique text. This applies to internal links as well as external links in the events and content pages. This fails WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (A). This appears on our home page.
  • Some links do not have text names which means they are not accessible to screen readers. This fails WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A). This issue affects the Back to top button on our HTML Documents, for example, our Belfast Agenda Strategy.
  • Some of our interactive components, for example, buttons or menus do not have appropriate spacing between elements which may make them harder to click for some users. This fails WCAG 2.5.8 (AA). This affects the ‘Look at our A to Z of services’ in the footer of many of our pages on mobile.
  • Our mailing list sign up forms, as HTML and as iFrames do not announce error messages properly. This fails Status Messaging (WCAG 4.1.3 - AA), for example, on our jobs sign up page and the sign up iframe. We plan to review this and develop a roadmap to fix this.

Document issues

Several PDFs and other documents across the website are not accessible. Some of these predate the regulations and are listed in the “Content that’s not within scope” section of this statement.

Others were published after 2018 or are otherwise used for active administrative purposes. These PDFs are inaccessible. If you need them in another format, email [email protected]. They are:

Financial reports

It is a legal requirement to publish our financial reports.

Job application forms

The job application form is in Word format and the job application pack, including job description and terms and conditions of employment, is in PDF. Help is available for you and we can provide these documents in other formats if you need them.

If you have a disability, or your first language is not English, and you need help with any aspect of our recruitment and selection process, email [email protected] or call 028 9027 0640 during office hours (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, closed bank and other public holidays).

Microsoft Bookings

We use Microsoft Bookings to schedule appointments for:

There are parts of this application that are not fully accessible:

  • For some text, colour choices may make them harder to read. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast Minimum (AA).
  • For some controls, for example, buttons and focus indication, colour choices may make these elements harder to perceive. This fails WCAG 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (AA).
  • For some magnification or larger text uses, some elements may be truncated or “clipped”. This fails WCAG 1.4.4 Resize Text (AA) and 1.4.10 Reflow (AA).
  • Some parts of the booking journey are not correctly announced to the NVDA or JAWS screen readers. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A).

Microsoft last updated its accessibility statement for this product on 11 October 2023.

Online forms

We will continually review our online forms. If you need any help with carrying out a task on our website, contact the service or email [email protected].

Modern Gov - Civica

Civica provides Modern.Gov (link opens in new window), where you can search for minutes of council and committee meetings. Civica has carried out an accessibility review and states that the majority of pages were compliant at WCAG 2.1 (link opens in new window) AA level, with the exception of the calendar functionality which has now been disabled on this site.

Modern.Gov was tested using a range of accessibility assessment tools across different web browsers and cross-checked against accessibility standards to identify improvements.

Modern.Gov uses the PDF file format to display agendas and minutes. We are investigating options for publishing these in a more accessible format. Email [email protected] or call 028 9027 0434 if you need this is another format.

Your Say – public consultations

Our engagement platform, Your Say (link opens in new window) is supplied by Bang the Table Pty Ltd and is built on the Engagement HQ platform. View the Your Say accessibility statement (link opens in new window).

Northern Ireland Houses in Multiple Occupation (NIHMO)

NIHMO (link opens in new window) is a regional solution for landlords for houses of multiple occupancy. The supplier is Idox.

We know that the website has these issues:

  • At 200 per cent magnification or on some smaller screens, important instructional reading that should be completed before registering is visually hidden and cannot be accessed by users. This fails WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow (AA).
  • Some links use colour alone to indicate focus. This fails WCAG 1.4.1 Use of Colour (A).

If you find an issue that we have yet to identify, contact us using one of the routes described in the ‘Reporting accessibility problems with this website’ section of this statement.

Disproportionate burden

At this time, we have not made any disproportionate burden claims for this website.

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. For example, we do not plan to fix our financial statements published before 2018.

Cremation forms

Some of our PDFs are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs which are necessary for organising cremations and need physical signatures.

These forms need to be completed in hard copy. Forms A and H need to be sworn and signed in the presence of a commissioner for oaths. If you need any help with these forms, call 028 9027 0296 or email [email protected].

We do not intend to replace these with online forms. Two pieces of legislation which govern how these forms are to be completed, are:

Planning

The Local Development plan and other planning documents comprise over 300 PDFs and other documents. Some of these documents contain information provided by third-parties as well as online maps used for planning purposes. Additionally, some of these documents predate the regulations.

In accordance with the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 (link opens in new window) and The Planning (Local Development Plan) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 (link opens in new window), we are required to make, publish and provide access to the documents that form part of the Local Development Plan and supporting Evidence Base.

If you need any of these PDFs in another format, email [email protected] or call 028 9050 0510.

Road closures

We have an obligation to publish a Road Closure Notice and have a copy of the application available for inspection. The Traffic Management Plan (TMP) is part of the application - (Paragraph 3 (4) (e) – The Notice must specify alternative routes for traffic and pedestrians, these can only be obtained from TMPs.

This may contain images or PDF files of the traffic management plan to be used during the road closure, without an alternative from third party companies. These documents may be covered by the online maps exemption where these documents are used for works purposes, not navigation.

Should you need these plans in another format, email Building Control at [email protected] or call 028 9027 0650.

Video content

Public-i offers the webcasts of the council meetings (link opens in new window). This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard. Read Public-i’s accessibility statement (link opens in new window).

If you need any help, contact Democratic Services on 028 9027 0434 or email us at [email protected] and we will respond to your email within two working days.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We have reviewed the issues identified in the last audit and have split those into actions we can solve, and actions that require changes by our supplier. We plan to address these issues by 30 July 2025.

We are using automated checks to alert us if something falls below the standard.

We commissioned a manual accessibility audit of our websites in March 2024. We are implementing these changes and will complete a retest if required.

We contact our suppliers to assess their compliance with the legislation. We are also approaching organisations that request we publish their documents on our website, to discuss how we can present their information in an accessible way.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 27 July 2020. It was last reviewed on 26 July 2024. We will continue to review our accessibility status monthly and update the statement when needed.

This website was last tested on 26 July 2024 using our automated accessibility testing tool Silktide. We scanned 4,178 pages and 350 documents on our site.

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