Accessibility statement for Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service

This website is managed by Leicestershire Fire and rescue Service. This accessibility statement applies to pages that start with leics-fire.gov.uk.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • 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’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 are not fully accessible:

  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software. 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 streams do not have captions. Although live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations, we do plan to work to add captions to live video streams.
  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • content placed within an ‘accordion’ is not fully accessible via a keyboard
  • images and text within the ‘information zones’ are not fully accessible

We are currently making improvements to the Accessibility of this website.

Feedback and contact information

Telephone

0116 210 5555

Write to

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service
12 Geoff Monk Way, Birstall, Leicester LE4 3BU

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 14 days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us for directions.

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: Corporate Communications via info@leics-fire.gov.uk

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

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

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

Find out how to contact us

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-compliance with accessibility regulations

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

Images

While most do, not all of our images have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Navigation and accessing information

The accessibility of embedded video content is dependent on the standards reached by the third-party provider. Where possible we will make use of features such as subtitles to ensure our content is accessible. Some iframe video embeds are missing the “title” attribute. When we add new videos we will ensure it has captions available and the title attribute in the iframe.

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive tools are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (information and relationships). The text and images within our ‘information zones’ fail WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) and WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value.

Forms

Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content), WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) and WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value.

We are currently working with our web agency to prioritise and resolve these issues. They will be completed in early 2023.

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

Live video

Live video streams do not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions – live).

We are exploring ways to include live captions of a sufficient quality, however live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations (opens in a new tab).

Pre-recorded video

Some older pre-recorded videos don’t have an audio captioning or description, so the information in them isn’t available to people who cannot see or the hear the video content. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.2.5.

As we publish new video content we’ll make sure to use captions/subtitles in order to meet accessibility standards.

Third-party content

Third-party content on our site that is neither funded nor developed by, nor under the control of, the public sector body may also not be accessible. For example slides accompanying webinars and social media widgets and plugins.

PDF’s and other documents

Older documents

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 (external website, opens in a new tab) if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Some of our older PDFs and Word documents, including some published after September 2018, do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents.

Our newer documents should be compliant. If a new document is published that we have not been able to make accessible, we will make this clear on the page holding the document itself, along with details of when the document will be fixed by or how to obtain the information in an alternative format.

Documents designed for print and creative / artistic content

Some of our documents have been designed for print (e.g. our current safety campaigns) and as such may not be accessible for screen readers. Some documents also contain artistic and creative content, and are also not accessible by screen readers.

Translated documents

Some of our documents are translated by a third-party translations service. Currently these documents are provided in a format that can be printed but not read online by screen readers. We are in discussions with our provider to see if we can change to a screenreader friendly format.

How we tested this website

The website was last tested on 7th November 2022. This test was carried out internally by Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service. We checked a broad sample of pages on the website, including the homepage and a selection of other pages. We used a free-to-use developer tool and site improve which checks each page against standard accessibility issues. A manual audit was also conducted. Each of the issues was logged, and an action plan formed and implemented for the website.

We use Site Improve Accessibility Software to monitor the website content.

What we have done to improve accessibility

We are always open to suggestions, additions or the reporting of accessibility problems. Users can use the contact details supplied above.

We made the following improvements in August 2020:

  • added a ‘skip to main content’ function on the header of every page
  • increased the colour contrast of hyperlinked texts
  • ensured all page titles should be unique on the browser window tabs
  • added labels to all page buttons
  • reviewed labels and attributes to ensure compatibility with assistive technologies
  • increased the colour contrast of the keyboard navigation indicator box
  • reviewed video iframes resize and response to different devices
  • created a web guide to ensure all web authors are creating content that is accessible

We made the following improvements in November 2022:

  • Simplified some of the interactive website features
  • made a log of all published documents on the website
  • checked content on every page of the website and updated headings, image alternative texts, table, link text and video iframe titles
  • reviewed and updated our Accessibility statement

We made the following improvements in February 2023:

  • Removed the home page slider which contained non accessible attributes and replaced with an accessible static banner
  • Removed and replaced the Information zones with accessible buttons
  • Checked all embedded videos had title tags within the iFrames

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We have identified a list of key older service documents such as plans and strategies. The majority of these documents are PDFs have been designed using Adobe software or converted from a Word document and older documents are not fully accessible. Our focus is very much on ensuring newer, current information is accessible.

In the meantime, if you are unable to access a document, please contact us. We’ll consider your request and get back to you. You can also get tools and information to increase the accessibility of PDF documents from the Adobe website 

We plan to annually review website accessibility, and ensure that any new pages or PDFs and other online documents conform to web accessibility criteria.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 15th September 2019. It was last updated on 20th April 2023 and will next be reviewed October 2023. This website was last tested on 25 August 2022. The test was carried out by the Government Digital Service (GDS).

Accessibility