Accessibility

We are committed to providing a website that is accessible to as many users as possible. Here we have given our accessibility advice and our accessibility statement.

This statement applies to https://essexfrontline.org.uk/, https://hertsfrontline.org.uk/, https://northumberlandfrontline.org.uk/ and associated subdomains.

This website is run by Frontline Referrals Limited, a non-profit company owned and controlled by Uttlesford Citizens Advice.

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 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)

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. This includes how to:

• make your mouse easier to use
• use your keyboard instead of a mouse
• talk to your device
• make your device talk to you
• make text larger
• change your colours
• magnify the screen 

How accessible this website is

WCAG 2.2 was released on 5th October 2023. The guidelines included in the previous version of WCAG (2.1) are still in effect, while 9 new success criteria have been added. Six of the new criteria are at A and AA conformance level, which means they must be adhered to by law.

The six new A and AA success criteria (SC) in WCAG 2.2:

1. SC 2.4.1 Focus Not Obscured (AA)
2. SC 2.5.7 Dragging Movements (AA)
3. SC 2.5.8, Target Size (AA)
4. SC 3.2.6 Consistent Help (A)
5. SC 3.3.7 Redundant Entry (A)
6. SC 3.3.8, Accessible Authentication (AA)

We have recently introduced the use of Userway widget on all of our sites to support our WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards.

We are, in addition, working through the code of the website to ensure that wherever possible we continue to improve accessibility without the use of a widget.

An independent report by Silktide on 2nd March 2022 reviewed 100 pages of the site and concluded it was 82% compliant with WCAG 2.1 accessibility standard. (94% Level A, 74.6% Level AA, 73.5% Level AAA). They described this as ‘Great’ but we have already acted to further improve accessibility and still need to address:

• some form fields do not identify themselves programmatically (we are currently discussing if this functionality is appropriate for a site supporting referrals)
• some buttons don’t change appearance when selected

Feedback and contact information

If you have problems accessing any service related information from our websites – please visit the ‘About’ section of our sites. This will contain details of a local organisation that will be able to help you.   

If you need information on this website in a different format please contact us and we will consider your request and respond to you within ten working days.

• call us on 01799 618849 
• email us on info@frontlinereferrals.org.uk 

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this 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 contact us on info@frontlinereferrals.org.uk.
 

Benchmarking to WCAG Version 2.2 AA Standard

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to a number of non-compliances.

We have recently introduced the use of the Userway widget on all of our sites to work towards meeting WAG 2.2 accessibility standards and are in the process of testing this tool to see if we’re 2.2 AA compliant and improving our coding.

We will report in this document when testing is complete.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

This statement was published in November 2024.

We continuously monitor our website's accessibility based on manual testing. We have developed, and try to stringently follow, a style guide to ensure all our content is easy to read and is written in an accessible way.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement has been drafted with the use of Silktide report from 2nd March 2022 and with regular use of the Wave Accessibility Evaluation Tool.

This statement was last updated November 2024.