This accessibility statement applies to [final URL].
This website is managed by Place Services.
Place Services is committed to ensuring its digital services (websites, mobile apps, online tools and documents) are all free of barriers that might prevent people with vision, hearing, mobility and other disabilities from using them.
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 using browser or device settings
- zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition software
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
We work to the content style guides provided by Essex County Council to help website editors improve accessibility.
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 aren’t fully accessible, for example:
- some images contain text which you may not be able to read
- some items have no titles or accurate label
- some links don't make sense on their own
- some older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen readers
- interactive tools are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
- some alternatives for images are missing or just repeat content on the page
- some heading levels are skipped
- some lists are incorporated incorrectly
- items have low contrast
- when resizing text, some elements are impossible or difficult to read
- the focus order is not always logical.
What to do if you can't access parts of this website
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:
Email: Accessibility@essex.gov.uk
We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 20 working days.
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 age or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements, contact the accessibility team at Accessibility@essex.gov.uk who will consider your request and get back to you within 20 working days.
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’).
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Place Services 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
The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to ‘the non-compliances’ listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Many of our older PDFs and other documents don’t meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role Value.
The accessibility regulations don’t 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 don’t plan to fix old PDF publications that might still be published and accessed through our website.
Online maps and mapping services are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. From 23 September 2020 we'll ensure that where maps are intended for navigational use essential information is provided in an accessible digital manner.
What we are doing to improve accessibility
We are constantly looking into improving the accessibility of our website. We will liaise with our supplier on how to fix our accessibility issues.
We will continue to monitor accessibility using automated and manual checks.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 2 March 2026. It was last reviewed on 2 March 2026.
This website was last tested on [date] against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.
The test was carried out by Place Services. The most viewed pages were tested using automated testing tools by our website team. A further audit of the website was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.