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Accessibility Statement

This statement applies to the Local Government Association’s principal website (www.local.gov.uk).

Accessibility statement

This statement applies to the Local Government Association’s principal website (www.local.gov.uk). 

This website is run by the Local Government Association. 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 on the majority of pages 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’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:

  • some content may not be interpreted correctly by assistive technology
  • portions of content may not be accessible to keyboard only users
  • certain text elements may be difficult to read due to low colour contrast
  • older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software because of tagging and reading order issues
  • older videos may not have fully accurate captions
  • some of our older videos don’t have audio described versions

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:

  • email [email protected]
  • call 020 7664 3000
  • give us the URL of the content and the format that you require 
  • we’ll consider your request and get back to you in 15 (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’). 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 

The Local Government Association 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 2.2 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 

1.1.1 Non-text Content

Some presentational images have been marked up in such a way that they’ll get announced to users of assistive technology, even though the images themselves are not conveying any information. Additionally, some older documents contain graphical elements that lack text alternatives. This fails WCAG success criteria 1.1.1 - Non-text Content.

1.3.1 Info and Relationships

Some heading elements and form labels are not correctly defined in markup, and as such may not be correctly announced to users of assistive technology – this fails WCAG success criteria 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships.

1.3.5: Identify Input Purpose

As part of the “create new account” process, users are prompted to enter personal details, however the form fields collecting this information don’t have the appropriate autocomplete attributes defined. This fails WCAG success criteria 1.3.5 - Identify Input Purpose.

1.4.12: Text Spacing

Some content doesn’t display correctly if users have modified word/character/paragraph spacing or line height. This fails WCAG success criteria 1.4.12 - Text Spacing.

1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus

Some data visualisations present descriptive callout elements to users when hovering over specific data ranges – however these callouts don’t persist when users move the cursor over them. This may present a barrier to users of screen magnification software and fails WCAG success criteria 1.4.13 - Content on Hover or Focus.

1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)

Some text elements present on the site have insufficient colour contrast and may not be perceivable by all users. This fails WCAG success criteria 1.4.3 - Contrast.

1.4.4 Resize text

Some elements are partially obscure when browser zoom is enabled to 200% magnification. This fails WCAG success criteria 1.4.4 - Resize text.

2.1.1: Keyboard

A condensed version of the site navigation is presented to users on devices with smaller viewports or when browser zoom is enabled. Some of the elements contained within this menu can’t be activated via keyboard alone. This fails WCAG success criteria 2.1.1 – Keyboard.

2.4.11: Focus Not Obscured (Minimum)

For users utilising a keyboard to navigate through content, the privacy banner may obscure interactive elements receiving keyboard focus. This fails WCAG success criteria 2.4.11 – Focus Not Obscured (Minimum).

2.4.7 Focus Visible

Some elements in our mobile navigation may lack a visible focus state; this fails WCAG success criteria 2.4.7 - Focus Visible.

2.5.3: Label in Name

Some visible text labels don’t match the accessible name for the control – this fails WCAG success criteria 2.5.3 - Label in Name.

4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

Some elements can be expanded by users to reveal additional settings; however the state of these elements may not be adequately communicated to users of assistive technology. This fails WCAG success criteria 4.1.2 - Name, Role, Value.

4.1.3 Status messages

The loading indicators we use for some content may not be announced correctly to users of assistive technology. This fails WCAG success criteria 4.1.3 - Status messages.

Disproportionate burden 

We currently host slide decks in PPT and PDF format on the “past events” section of our website for benefit of attendees. 

These materials are produced by external presenters. While we provide support and guidance on how to create content to our standard, we’re ultimately reliant on authors to ensure what they’ve provided us is accessible.

We’ve assessed that, given the volume of events coupled with the fact that we only keep these materials on our site for 6 months (Or 12 months for materials related to annual events), identifying and remedying issues within every slide deck prior to publication would impact our ability to deliver accessible content in other areas. 

We established this by conducting a disproportionate burden assessment. A copy of this assessment is available on request.

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

The accessibility regulations don’t require us to remediate PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

  • briefing papers 
  • reports and publications 
  • research and statistics

What we’re doing to improve accessibility 

We provide training and guidance to all LGA staff to ensure that the required standard of accessibility is achieved our published content. Where possible, the LGA’s digital team can remediate content to rectify accessibility issues.

We use a combination of auditing by external suppliers in conjunction with internal testing to help ensure our content is accessible.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 14 March 2022 and was last updated in August 2024.

This website was last tested in July 2024 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.

Testing was conducted internally using a representative sample of content types and theme configurations.