Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Norfolk Museums website, which is made up of:

This website is run by Norfolk County 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
Navigate the website using just a keyboard
Navigate 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)

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We aim to meet the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 at AA level.

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

The visible label of the 'Search' button in the page header does not match its accessible name. This means that screen reader software will read out two different labels
Some email newsletter sign up forms:
- Have an email form field that does not support autocomplete
- Do not show error messages when the form hasn't been correctly completed and the user attempts to submit the form using a keyboard. This makes it hard for users to identify errors they have made and correct them
- Tell screen reader users that all fields have invalid input until they have been completed correctly. This may confuse users as this is not typical form behaviour
- Are embedded on the page in an iframe that does not have a descriptive accessible name. This may make it difficult for users to identify the form or find it on the page
On some pages the main landmark region is also the complementary landmark region
Screen magnifier users can't view some text in the 'Refine your results' section on search pages because it overlaps with other content. They may also not be able to see what content has focus
There are some missing headings
The visual styling of some headings does not match their programmatic styling
Some text is incorrectly identified as a heading
Colour has been used as the only way to convey the meaning of the state changes for some elements
The text in some elements overlaps or disappears on some pages when CSS styling is turned off
The colour contrast of some elements in different states is not accessible
Some Word documents may be difficult to access or use
Some PDF documents may be difficult to access or use
Some videos do not have audio description, which may make them difficult for visually impaired users to understand
In embedded YouTube videos, the timeline slider does not convey the current time to screen readers, so it is difficult for screen reader users to set the slider to a specific time

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 museums@norfolk.gov.uk.

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 webaccessibility@norfolk.gov.uk.

We'll consider your request and get back to you in 3 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).

Contact us by phone or visiting us in person

Our museums have audio induction loops at all ticket/reception desks.

Find out how to contact us.

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Norfolk County 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 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. Each item is listed with the relevant WCAG criterion that it fails on.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Search button labels on all pages

The visible label of the 'Search' button does not match its accessible name. This means that screen reader software will read out two different labels. Instructions are not consistent.

This fails:

WCAG 1.3.1 Information and relationships
WCAG 2.5.3 Label in name

Date of expected fix: 2 May 2024.

Email newsletter sign up forms

Some email newsletter sign up forms do not provide error messages when one or more fields do not have valid input and the user attempts to submit the form using a keyboard. This fails WCAG 3.3.1 Error identification
Some email newsletter sign up forms include 'aria-invalid="true"' on all form inputs until they have valid input, which triggers the value to change to "false". This is incorrect use of the attribute - on form load it should be set to "false" and it should only be set to "true" if invalid input is detected when validation is performed. This fails WCAG 3.3.1 Error identification
Some email newsletter sign up forms are embedded on the page using a script. This creates an iframe element within the html. The iframe does not have a descriptive accessible name. This fails WCAG 4.1.2 Name, role, value
The email form field in some email newsletter sign up forms does not include the attribute and value 'autocomplete="email"'. This fails WCAG 1.3.5 Identify input purpose

Landmark roles

On the homepage and search results webpages, the 'main' landmark regions are also the 'complementary' landmark regions. A landmark region must have the role that best describes its content, and these sections are not complementary so should only have the 'main' landmark.

This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Information and relationships.

Resize and reflow on search pages

From 175% zoom and upwards on a 1280 x 1024 display resolution, text in the 'Refine your results' section on search pages overlaps with other content, making it difficult to read.

This fails WCAG 1.4.4 Resize text and WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow.

Date of expected fix: 25 June 2024.

Missing headings

The footer on all webpages and some education webpages (for example, the key stage 2 education at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse webpage) have text that visually looks and operates as headings, but they are not coded as headings. This means screen reader software will not detect them as headings.

This fails:

WCAG 1.3.1 Information and relationships
WCAG 2.4.5 Headings and labels

Inconsistent heading styles

The visual styling of some headings does not match their programmatic styling. For example, the 'Related webpages' text on each museum's 'What's on' webpage.

This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Information and relationships.

Text incorrectly identified as a heading

On events webpages, the introductory normal text is incorrectly identified as a H2 heading.

This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Information and relationships.

Date of expected fix: June 2024.

Positioning of content

On some pages, content such as the search button and the drop-down menu overlaps or disappears when CSS styles are turned off. This makes the content difficult to read and interact with.

This fails WCAG 1.3.2 Meaningful sequence.

State changes

When some elements are in different states such as normal, hover, focus or select, the colour contrast between the text or styling (such as an outline or border) and the background, is not accessible.

This fails WCAG 1.4.11 Non-text contrast.

Colour as meaning

Colour has been used as the only visual way to convey the meaning of the state changes for some elements.

This fails WCAG 1.4.1 Use of colour.

Videos

In embedded YouTube videos, the timeline slider does not convey the current time programmatically. Some videos also have visual content that is not conveyed in the audio track, but audio described versions of the videos have not been provided.

This fails WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value and WCAG 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Pre-recorded).

We are reviewing other media players to try to identify and implement a more accessible media player. We are also accessibility checking all our videos and are working to remove inaccessible videos and replace them with accessible versions where needed.

Word documents

There are four Word documents that do not meet accessibility standards. This is because they require user input (act as editable forms or templates) but have visible labels or instructions that aren't programmatically associated with the form field, or do not have programmatically determinable form fields.

This fails:

WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

We aim to address these issues when we change content management system in 2024.

Norfolk Museums Pass application form

There is a Norfolk Museums Pass application form PDF on the Norfolk Museums Pass page. The PDF does not meet accessibility standards because:

It is an untagged PDF. This means it doesn't contain tags to tell assistive technologies what content is in the document. It can be difficult for people using assistive technologies to navigate, find content, and determine where they are in this document. Screen readers might not read the content in the correct order.
Some of the text in the document does not have sufficient colour contrast against the background colours used. This means it can be difficult for users with visual disabilities to read this text.

We aim to address these issues when we change content management system in 2024.

Disproportionate burden

We are not claiming disproportionate burden on any part of our site.

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

PDFs and other documents

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.

Older videos

Some of our older videos may not have captions and/or audio description. This fails:

We do not plan to make these older videos accessible because videos published before 23 September 2020 are exempt from the meeting the accessibility regulations.

Maps

Our maps are not accessible to screen reader users. We have ensured that essential navigational information included in maps, such as addresses or directions, are available in an accessible format.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22 September 2020. It was last updated on 23 April 2024.

We migrated this website to a different content management system (CMS) in April 2024. We have updated this statement to reflect how this has improved the accessibility of the website. We have development work planned to address many of the remaining system-related issues. We aim to have addressed these by the time we reaudit the website. We aim to have reaudited the website and updated this statement to reflect that by January 2025.

The website was last audited in February 2023. Norfolk County Council's Digital Customer Experience Team carried out the test.

We tested the website using automated and manual tests. We used:

Accessibility Insights for Web browser extension
Web Developer browser extension
Nu HTML Checker
WebAim.org contrast checker

We used a sample-based approach to auditing, based on the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM).