Accessibility

Accessibility Statement for Hartlepool Borough Council website

This is an accessibility statement for Hartlepool.gov.uk. This website is owned and operated by Hartlepool Borough Council.

The purpose of this statement is to let you know:

  • How accessible our website is
  • Issues we are currently working on
  • How to report issues
  • What to do if you can't access parts of it

Viewing our website

There are a number of customisation options for your browser and device that could help you use this website and other websites more effectively. AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability or impairment. This includes how to:

Conformance status

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. Hartlepool Borough Council website is partially conformant with WCAG 2.2 level AA. Partially conformant means that some parts of the content do not fully conform to the accessibility standard.

How accessible is this website

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • many downloads, in Portable Document Format (PDF), do not meet accessibility standards, meaning they are harder to use by some people:
  • some PDF forms are not responsive, cannot be completed electronically, and are missing labels on form controls - this relates to WCAG, level AA, success criterion 3.3.2
  • some downloads don't have alternate text for images or figures - this relates to WCAG, level AA, success criterion 1.1.1
  • some downloads don't have titles or descriptions - this relates to WCAG, level AA, success criterion 2.4.2
  • some downloads don't have an appropriate tabbing or reading order - this relates to WCAG, level AA, success criterion 1.3.2
  • some downloads are missing clickable bookmarks, page numbers - this relates to WCAG, level AA, success criterion 2.4.5
  • some downloads lack consistent headers/footers - this relates to WCAG, level AA, success criterion 3.2.3
  • some downloads contain tabular information and lists which don't use the correct tags - this relates to WCAG, level AA, success criterion 1.3.1

Where downloads (in PDF, and other file formats) do not meet accessibility standards we plan to fix or replace them, either when they are next reviewed, or as part of our ongoing programme of review work, whichever is sooner. We aim to have completed this work by September 2026.

  • This website includes links to other websites which may not be fully accessible. This includes websites that are managed by Hartlepool Borough Council. We are currently reviewing all websites and aim to make all of our websites accessible by September 2026.

Additional accessibility considerations

There are some additional features on this website which add further features above that stated within WCAG 2.2 Level AA conformance, including the use of Sign Video which provides remote Video Relay Services, Video Remote Interpreting and BSL/English Translation Services.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of Hartlepool Borough Council website. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers on Hartlepool Borough Council website:

We try to respond to feedback within 5 business days.

Technical specifications

Accessibility of Hartlepool Borough Council website relies on the following technologies to work with the particular combination of web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer:

  • HTML
  • WAI-ARIA

These technologies are relied upon for conformance with the accessibility standards used.

Assessment approach

Hartlepool Borough Council assessed the accessibility of Hartlepool Borough Council website by the following approaches:

  • Self-evaluation
 

Date:

This statement was created on 4 September 2025