Accessibility statement for H&F Home Buy

This accessibility statement applies to the H&F Home Buy website. There’s a separate accessibility statement for the main H&F website.

The H&F Home Buy website is run by Hammersmith & Fulham Council through our third-party supplier Locata.

Using this website

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
  • zoom in up to x% without the text spilling off the screen
  • get from the start of the service to the end using just a keyboard
  • get from the start of the service to the end using speech recognition software
  • listen to the service using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

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 are not fully accessible:

  • images may not have the right alt text or any at all
  • radio buttons and checkbox items are not grouped in fieldsets
  • some elements don’t meet the minimum colour contrast requirements
  • some search filters to view listed properties can’t be accessed by keyboard alone
  • most pages have the same page title
  • links may not be written in a descriptive way
  • text may not be marked up in a way that can be understood by assistive technology

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

Reporting accessibility problems with this service

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of the H&F Home Buy website.

If you find any problems that aren't listed on this page or think we're not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, please use our report form to let us know.

Report an accessibility issue

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are Deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. Please call 18001 followed by 020 8748 3020.

Alternatively, you can use Relay UK service. Relay UK (previously Next Generation Text) - helps people with hearing and speech difficulties communicate with anyone over the phone, using the national relay service.

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

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

Colour contrast

There is low contrast between text and background colours across the website. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 1.4.3 (contrast - minimum).

The border colour of form fields does not meet minimum contrast requirements. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 1.4.11 (contrast - non-text context).

Images, video and audio content

The images on the property adverts page don’t have descriptive alt text. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 1.1.1 (non-text content).

The images on the news (new developments) page are missing alt tags and alternative text. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 1.1.1 (non-text content).

Interactive tools and transactions

Radio buttons and checkbox items are not grouped using fieldsets with a descriptive legend. This fails WCAG 2.1 guidelines 1.3.1 (info and relationships) and 3.3.2 (headings or instructions).

Error messages are displayed when users tab or move away from fields without entering any information, or when invalid details have been entered. However, these messages are marked up in a way to allow assistive technologies to read them out. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 4.1.3 (status message).

Language

The Home Buy registration form doesn’t have a set language. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 3.1.1 (language of page).

Most pages on the website have the same page title meaning assistive technology users are unable to distinguish among the pages. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 2.4.2 (page titled).

Technology

The feedback widget disappears when the site is zoomed to 200%. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 1.4.4 (resize text).

Some links are not written as descriptive links and are presented as the URL. This can cause horizontal scrolling on mobile devices as the links don’t continue on the next line. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 1.4.10 (reflow).

Various sections and components on the website aren’t accessible when only using a keyboard. For example, on the View homes page the search, reset and close buttons below the bedrooms filter cannot be selected by keyboard controls. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 2.1.1 (keyboard).

Also on the Views home page, the first link in the search results is not part of the tab order. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 2.4.3 (focus order).

The focus order doesn’t follow a logical sequence in the navigation bar or with the placement of the feedback widget. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 2.4.3 (focus order).

The H&F logo in the footer doesn’t receive focus when users tab to it. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 2.4.7 (focus visible).

Text, links and tables

There are several issues around headings:

  • pages have multiple H1 headings
  • the headings on some pages skip from an H1 to an H3
  • empty heading tags

These issues fail WCAG 2.1 guideline 1.3.1 (info and relationships).

On some pages the text has not been marked up correctly or has formatting issues that mean assistive technologies may not recognise certain elements or confuse users. For example:

  • bullet lists may not be marked up using the list elements
  • text may be in bold when it should be tagged as a heading

These issues fail WCAG 2.1 guideline 1.3.1 (info and relationships).

Some links go to the same destination resulting in additional navigation and repetition for keyboard and screen reader users. This is not compliant with WCAG 2.1 guideline 2.4.4 (link purpose - in context).

Some links are not descriptive enough of their purpose such and are phrased as ‘click here’ for example. This is not compliant with WCAG 2.1 guideline 2.4.4 (link purpose - in context).

Website code

When the site is viewed with CSS disabled, there is a submit button and error close button at the top of each page and offers no function.

The button to open the mobile menu is also displayed, and if selected will move content up the page covering the navigation links. This fails WCAG 2.1 guideline 1.3.2 (meaningful sequence).

Disproportionate burden

Not applicable.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs don’t meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

We have created a register of PDFs that are essential for service delivery and we plan to either fix these, unpublish them or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards unless we determine that they represent a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

We also link to documents created by third parties. For example, we link to PDFs created by the Department for Communities and Local Government. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we endeavour to work with third parties to improve its accessibility.

How we tested this service

This service was last tested on 23 July 2020 by Hammersmith & Fulham Council using:

  • Accessibility insight for web
  • Browser inspection tools
  • Manual testing
  • NVDA
  • Siteimprove
  • Text spacing
  • WAVE
  • Web developer

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We're working with the supplier, Locata, to fix the issues in this statement and to make the system more usable for all users.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 9 April 2021.

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