This accessibility statement applies to content published on www.lgo.org.uk

This website is run by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. It is designed to be used by as many people as possible. The text should be clear and easy to understand.

You should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• zoom in up to 300% without problems
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of 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

Some parts of this website are not fully accessible. For example:

• some documents are in PDF format and are not fully accessible
• some images do not have good alternative text descriptions
• a number of third party plug-in applications are not fully accessible

How to request content in an accessible format

If you need information in a different format email us at website@lgo.org.uk and tell us:

• the web address (URL) of the content
• your name and email address
• the format you need, for example, braille, accessible PDF or Easy Read (pictures and simple print)

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting the accessibility requirements, email us at website@lgo.org.uk

Enforcement procedure

If you contact us with a complaint and you’re not happy with our response contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

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’).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman 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 listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

1. Some documents are in PDF format and are not accessible in a number of ways, such as having incorrect document structures, labels or alternative texts. Non-HTML documents published on or after 23 September 2018 must have an accessible format.
2. Some images do not have a suitable text description so people using assistive technologies may not have access to information conveyed in those images. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).
3. The pop-up modal encouraging people to sign up to our email alerts, provided by a third party, is not fully accessible to screenreaders. This is because it is not labelled correctly and has insufficient colour contrast levels. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions) and 1.4.6 (Contrast [enhanced]).

Content not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

We have many non-HTML documents published before September 2018. The regulations state they do not need to be accessible, unless users need them to use our service.

These are mainly:

• historical investigation reports (public interest reports)
• historical focus reports
• historical copies of our annual report and accounts

We do not plan to replace these documents with more accessible formats. However, users can request these in alternative formats using the contact details above.

Third party widgets

We have some third party widgets on our website that may have accessibility issues. These include a stream to our social media account and Google reCAPTCHA. While we use them in a way to minimise accessibility problems, becasue we do not pay for them, they are not within the scope of the regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

1. We plan to make all PDFs published after 23 September 2018 fully accessible PDFs by Jan 2021. In the future we plan to replace the bulk of our PDF publishing with HTML pages and provide HTML alternatives for the smaller number of PDF reports we will still be required to publish.
2. We plan to have suitable alternative text in place for all images by November 2020.
3. We plan to explore with our third party supplier if we can obtain a pop-up modal that is fully accessible as soon as possible.

We will regularly review this statement and update this page when issues are fixed.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 23 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 23 September 2020.

This website was last tested on 17 September by Web Labs.

Our approach to testing was to identify a representative sample of pages by:

• using analytics to understand the most commonly used pages
• using our insight to identify the pages most crucial to accessing our services. For example, the pages providing people information about how to complain to us
• including in the sample most of the common page templates used on our website

We also reviewed every page for readability and correct heading structure.