Accessibility Statement

This website is managed by Greater Manchester Combined Authority. 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.

How accessible is this website

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Embedded videos are not fully accessible on all devices

We are currently making improvements to the accessibility of this website.

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format please contact us via:

Email: recycle4gm@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk

Phone: 0161 778 7000

Post: Recycle for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Broadhurst House, 56 Oxford Street, Manchester M1 6EU

We’ll consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact the GMCA digital team by email gmdigital@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk  or telephone 0161 778 7000.

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 D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. To access this call 18002 0161 778 7000. If there is a specific number you wish to call add the prefix of 18002 to enable Text Relay.

Our offices have access to an audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Greater Manchester Combined Authority is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Images

Not all of our images have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Navigation and accessing information

It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view video content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.4 (orientation).

The accessibility of embedded video content is dependent on the standards reached by the third-party provider. Where possible we will make use of features such as subtitles to ensure our content is accessible.

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (information and relationships).

Some forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website. We are reviewing our forms and looking for accessible alternatives.

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

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

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

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Pre-recorded video

Some pre-recorded videos don’t have an audio captioning or description, so the information in them isn’t available to people who cannot see or the hear the video content. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.2.5.

We plan to add audio captioning or descriptions for all pre-recorded videos by September 2020. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

How we tested this website

This website was last tested on 27th February 2020. The test was carried out internally by Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

We checked a broad sample of pages on the website, including the homepage and a selection of other pages. We used a free-to-use developer tool which checks each page against standard accessibility issues. A manual audit was also conducted. Each of the issues was logged, and an action plan formed and implemented for the website.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are always open to suggestions, additions or the reporting of accessibility problems. Users can use the contact details supplied above.

We are working to make the following improvements:

  • Add alt text for images
  • Ensure all page titles follow the headings hierarchy
  • Reviewing the keyboard trap issue with the comments function on the community post and blog pages.

We have developed a web guide to ensure all web authors are creating content that is accessible.

We plan to annually review website accessibility, and ensure that any new pages or PDFs and other online documents conform to web accessibility criteria.

This statement was prepared on 23rd September 2019. It was last updated on 23rd September 2020.




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