This accessibility statement applies to the Chorley Council website and the following domains:
- https://chorley.gov.uk/
- https://democracy.chorley.gov.uk/
This website is run by Chorley Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. The text should be clear and simple to understand. You should be able to:
- zoom in up to 400% without problems
- navigate the website using just a keyboard
- navigate the website using speech recognition software
- use most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
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:
- there is no skip to content link on some pages of the website
- links on some pages are only distinguished by a change in colour
- not all PDF and other documents are fully accessible to screen reader software
- content and functionality provided by third party suppliers is not always fully accessible
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:
- email contact@chorley.gov.uk
- call 01257 515151
We will consider your request and get back to you in 10 working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please complete a website feedback form. Any accessibility issues will be picked up by our website team.
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 are 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 can provide a text service for people who are 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.
Technical information about this website's accessibility
Chorley 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 and exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
A new website, forms and customer account system has been rolled out for the council on 20 March 2025, an accessibility audit will be scheduled to allow us to identify any non compliance and resolve where possible.
Disproportionate burden
Payment forms
The Civica payment page does not reflow when viewed at high magnification, requiring users to scroll horizontally and vertically to view content. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.10 (Reflow).
Our payment process is built and hosted through third party software so we do not have direct control of the presentation or functionality of these pages.
We have assessed the cost of fixing this issue and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.
Parsing
When our website is run through the W3C HTML Validator it identifies a number of errors and warnings, which may impact how well assistive technology interacts with our website.
Following comprehensive assessment of the website with a range of assistive technologies we are confident that, in spite of the errors, the website is fully navigable by keyboard and with a screen reader.
We have assessed the cost of fixing all these validation issues on every page of our website and believe doing so would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.
Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on planning policies, and minutes of council meetings, and forms published as Word documents. By March 2025. 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 are not essential to providing our services. For example we do not plan to fix 'Statement of Accounts 2007 to 2008' PDF
Some PDF's are not accessible as they are meant for print such as maps and walking route PDF documents.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards
What we are doing to improve accessibility
We plan to identify and fix issues with accessibility as soon as issues are discovered.
The next accessibility audit will be in June 2025.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was last reviewed on 20 March 2025.
This website was last tested on 15 January 2021. The website will undergo a new accessibility audit in June 2025.
We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test.
We value your feedback
We value feedback from real website users and would love to hear from you and the experience you had with us. You can provide website feedback to us online, alternatively you can call us on 01257 515151.