Accessibility Statement

We want everyone who visits our website to be able to access the full range of services available, regardless of their skill or technology.

Durham County Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This accessibility statement applies to thisisdurham.com, linked sub domains and all applications and systems that are classed as part of that site.

Compliance Status

This website and supporting applications are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliance(s) and/exemptions listed below.

Non-Accessible Content

Non-compliance with the Accessibility Regulations

Below is a list of the systems and sites which we have identified as not compliant, and the accessibility compliance fails.

• images in documents: some images / figures do not have an alt tag, failing success criterion 1.1.1
• images: some images do not have an alt tag, failing success criterion 1.1.1
• images: some images do not have appropriate alt text or have been incorrectly defined as decorative, failing success criterion 1.1.1
• images: some images have identical alt tags to adjacent text, failing success criterion 1.1.1
• links: adjacent links have the same destination, failing success criterion 1.1.1
• videos: videos do not have transcripts, failing success criterion 1.2.1
• videos: videos may not have captions, or the captions may not be formatted correctly or missing content, so may not be usable, failing success criterion 1.2.2
• videos: a full transcript may not be provided with videos, failing success criterion 1.2.3
• lists: the list elements are not correctly marked up, failing success criterion 1.3.1
• forms: some form controls have no labels, failing success criterion 1.3.1
• documents: some PDFs are not tagged and/or do not have headings, failing success criterion 1.3.1
• documents: some PDFs have no heading 1 or do not have a logical heading order, failing success criterion 1.3.1
• tables: header elements and scope are not declared, failing success criterion 1.3.1
• headings: some heading tags have no content, failing success criterion 1.3.1
• tables: tables are being used for layout but still have structural markup, failing success criterion 1.3.1
• forms: some fieldsets do not have a legend, failing success criterion 1.3.1
• forms: some labels with for attributes do not have unique IDs, failing success criterion 1.3.1
• fieldsets: some elements with the same name are not in a fieldset, failing success criterion 1.3.1
• headings: some text has not been marked as a heading, but should be, failing success criterion 1.3.1
• tables: some tables do not have a summary attribute, failing success criterion 1.3.1
• documents: some PDF content is not in a meaningful sequence, failing success criterion 1.3.2
• forms: fields do not programmatically identify their purpose, failing success criterion 1.3.5
• links: links are only distinguishable by colour, failing success criterion 1.4.1
• colour contrast: some text / background colours/hovers/rollovers do not have enough contrast or have images making the text hard to read, failing success criterion 1.4.3
• colour contrast in documents: some elements do not have enough contrast, failing success criterion 1.4.3
• colour contrast: menu links do not have sufficient colour contrast at 200% zoom when the menu has been expanded, failing success criterion 1.4.3
• images of text: there are images of text with no alternative, failing success criterion 1.4.5
• reflow: some content scrolls in two directions, failing success criterion 1.4.10
• forms: some form controls do not contrast sufficiently with their surroundings, failing success criterion 1.4.11
• keyboard use: some features, text and links are not available when using a keyboard, failing success criterion 2.1.1
• images: some animated images last over five seconds with no means of pausing or stopping them, failing success criterion 2.2.2
• frames: some do not have a title attribute or it may not be appropriate, failing success criteria 2.4.1
• skip navigation: skip to content is not always available, failing success criteria 2.4.1
• links: there are links to anchors that do not exist, failing success criteria 2.4.1
• documents: some documents have no title failing success criterion 2.4.2
• page titles: some titles may not be appropriate, failing success criterion 2.4.2
• links: some do not have a name or are not focusable, failing success criterion 2.4.4
• links: identical link text is used for different destinations, failing success criterion 2.4.4
• headings and labels: some are not descriptive, failing success criterion 2.4.6
• outline / border style: the focus style makes it difficult to see the keyboard focus, failing success criterion 2.4.7
• focus: this is sometimes fully obscured, failing success criterion 2.4.11
• drag and drop: some movements do not have an accessible alternative, failing success criterion 2.5.7
• links: some interactive elements/links are not far enough apart, failing success criterion 2.5.8
• language: this is not declared on a captcha, failing success criterion 3.1.1
• language in documents: some documents have no language declared, failing success criterion 3.1.1
• forms: some forms do not have submit buttons, failing success criterion 3.2.2
• buttons in documents: buttons do not have an accessible name, role or value, failing success criterion 4.1.2
• lists: lists are not marked up correctly, failing success criterion 4.1.1
• IDs: some elements have duplicate IDs, failing success criterion 4.1.1

Content that's not within the scope of the Accessibility Regulations

• PDFs and documents (pre September 2018): PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 and are not essential to providing our services
• pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020
• maps unless they provide core information (this includes maps in documents)
• content that's under someone else's control that we have not paid for or developed ourselves:
  • social media buttons

Preparation of this Accessibility Statement

This statement was first prepared in 2021.

We re-assess the code, design and content of a website, application or system for accessibility whenever it undergoes a major modification or every one to two years. We do this internally using a combination of automated and manual checking, and with any testing documentation the 3rd party supplier provides.

Page content add by us is manually checked every time it is updated.

The statement was last reviewed on 17 April 2025.

Feedback and Contact Information

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page, think we're not meeting accessibility requirements or have any feedback, please Contact Website Administrator.

If you need information on this website in a different format please see our Communication support page.

Find out how else you can get in touch with us through our contact us page.

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).

Under the Equality Act 2010 we must ensure we do not unlawfully discriminate in our service delivery and make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities where necessary. We are constantly working to improve the accessibility and usability of our site.