Using this website
This accessibility statement applies to lbhf.gov.uk
This website is run by Hammersmith & Fulham Council. 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 300% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
You should also be able to select a language to get a page translated using Google Translate. This is a machine-based translation service, so we can't guarantee the accuracy or the sense of any given translation.
Find out how to change your browser and device settings to adapt our content to your needs by visiting accessibility options: making this website work for you.
Online services provided by third-party applications
Most of our online services are provided by third-party applications - these are platforms and websites developed and managed by commercial suppliers.
Because the development of these third-party applications is partly or wholly out of our control, they may not conform to the same levels of accessibility as our main website.
Third-party applications include:
- My Account
- Online payments
- Libraries catalogue
- Public Access applications search (planning, building control and licensing)
We monitor the accessibility of these sites and ask suppliers to fix accessibility issues that arise.
View the accessibility statements for our third-party systems.
We require that any new third-party systems we commission are compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA standard.
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible. You can see a full list of any issues we currently know about in the Non-accessible content section of this statement.
Feedback and contact information
If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements you can report an accessibility issue.
Email us at webmaster@lbhf.gov.uk if you need information on this website in a different format like:
- an accessible PDF
- audio recording
- braille
- easy read
- large print
We'll consider your request and get back to you in 10 days.
We provide a text relay and British Sign Language interpreting services for people who are Deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. Find out how you can use these services to contact us.
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).
Technical information about this website's accessibility
Hammersmith & Fulham 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
The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard.
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
Documents
Documents published between 23 September 2018 and 11 March 2021 have been reviewed and remediated for accessibility issues, along with older documents essential for service delivery. Examples of essential documents include PDFs with information on how users can access our services and forms published as PDF or Word documents.
Not all documents published since 12 March 2021 are accessible.
Accessibility issues include missing:
- text alternatives for images
- document structure properties such as headings and bookmarks
- interactive controls for forms
- a default document language
- titles or have non-descriptive titles
These issues fail WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content), 1.3.1 (info and relationships), 2.4.2 (page titled), 3.1.1 (language of page), 4.1.2 (name, role, value).
If you come across a document you cannot use, contact us to request an accessible alternative document.
We also publish documents that are not designed for reading online, for example, posters, leaflets or digital image files. These documents may not be accessible. We will identify them as printable documents and offer users an alternative format if requested.
Read more about what we are doing to improve the accessibility of documents.
Forms
Error messages show up when required form fields are left empty or filled in the wrong way. But these messages aren't linked to the form fields in a way that screen readers can detect. So, when someone using a screen reader clicks into a field, they don't hear the related error message. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.1 (Error identification). We're working with our developer to resolve this issue.
Cookiebot
We use Cookiebot as our cookie consent tool on this website, however, it has several accessibility issues.
The icon (button) to open the cookiebot widget has generic labels for assistive technology users: 'Open widget' and 'Close widget'. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.4 (Link purpose - in context)
Links to third-party websites have different visible labels and accessible names, meaning people who use voice commands can't activate the links. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.5.3 (Label in name).
Links to third-party websites also have tooltips that appear when the pointer hovers over them. However, the tooltips disappear when the pointer moves away from the link. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.3 (Content on hover or focus).
Keyboard users can only exit the Cookiebot widget by selecting the X (Close widget or close banner) button. Selecting Allow all, Allow section or Deny minimises the widget, but the focus stays within it. This fails WCAG success criteria 2.1.2 (No keyboard trap) and 2.4.11 (Focus not obscured - minimum).
At 300% zoom and higher, the Allow selection and Deny buttons do not receive focus, meaning users can only select Allow all. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard).
At 300% zoom and higher, the following elements do not have a visible focus:
- the close widget and close banner buttons
- the preferences, statistics and marketing checkboxes
This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus visible).
Cookiebot is aware that their product does not meet accessibility standards but don't have a timeline for resolving these issues. We are looking at alternative cookie consent tools that are accessible and allow us to fully comply with privacy regulations.
Disproportionate burden
Not applicable.
Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
This section covers issues that we do not need to fix right now. The law calls these exemptions.
Documents published before 23 September 2018
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to someone accessing our services.
Many of our older documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be tagged so they're accessible to some using a screen reader. Contact us to request an accessible alternative to one of these documents.
Read about what we are doing to improve the accessibility of documents.
Third-party content
Our website uses functionality and content that is neither funded, developed or under our control. This means we cannot always guarantee they will be accessible.
The following third-party content and functionality that we use have known accessibility issues.
Google Translate
The dropdown box to select a language is missing a label.
Videos published before 23 September 2020
Video content embedded on our website before 23 September 2020 may not meet accessibility standards.
This is because they may not feature:
- subtitles or captions
- an audio-description
- a written transcript
While these videos are not subject to the regulations, we are adding text alternatives where possible.
How we monitor this website
We use Silktide an automated testing tool to help us monitor and fix usability and accessibility issues as they occur.
We also use a range of other tools to test for accessibility issues including:
- Accessibility insights for the web
- Arc toolkit
- Axe
- browser developer tools
- NVDA
- Siteimprove accessibility checker
- Text spacing
- WAVE
- Web Aim contrast checkers
- Web developer
Manual reviews are carried to assess any content and functionality automated testing cannot cover.
The website was last audited by an external organisation on 8 January 2019. The audit was carried out by Shaw Trust Accessibility Services and included technical and manual testing.
The sample of pages reviewed in the audit was selected using the following criteria:
- pages common to many websites - for example, homepage and contact us
- pages with variations in layout and functionality
- most visited pages
- selecting pages at random
What we're doing to improve accessibility
Documents
We work with our service teams to try and provide an accessible HTML version of any new information as the primary source rather than use a PDF or other document format.
When we publish new PDFs or other document types that we own or control, we will aim to ensure they meet accessibility standards. If we have to publish a PDF that doesn't meet accessibility standards, we aim to provide a plain text version that does.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 23 September 2019. It was last reviewed on 12 May 2025.