Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to lbbd.gov.uk. 

This is the website of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD). We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. 

To do this, you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts using your browser or device settings
• zoom in up to 400% 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)

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:

• there are documents, maps and forms that cannot be easily accessed by all users
• some text and buttons have insufficient colour contrast
• heading structures are not always logical or linear
• some images contain text that is not conveyed to screen readers
• the chatbot is not fully accessible via keyboard or screen reader
• some links are broken, duplicated or don’t have useful text explaining where the link will take the user, which may confuse users
• zooming in can cause layout issues by making some elements inaccessible (for example: table elements)
• some videos do not have captions

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: website@lbbd.gov.uk.

What to do if you can’t access parts of this website

If you need information on this website provided in a different format or you have found inaccessible content not on this list please email website@lbbd.gov.uk. We'll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Residents can also visit our local libraries to access services face-to-face. More information is contained on our libraries pages. 

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

LBBD 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 listed below.

Non accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons. (This list might not be exhaustive as the site is regularly updated, and this can cause shifts in design.)

Alerts

Alerts (pop up messages) interfere with a user requiring keyboard control or screen reading software.

Images

Some images on the website are not accessible to everyone. 

This is because:

• some images contain text that screen readers can’t recognise
  • this fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.9 Images of Text (No Exception)
• images that are only for decoration are not marked as decorative, which means screen readers may read out unnecessary descriptions
  • this fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-Text Content)
• some of our old images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information
  • this fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-Text Content)

PDFs and other documents

Many of our PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards, which may make them difficult for some of our users to access.

 For example:

• they do not have the correct heading tags, so screen reader users will be unable to navigate using heading levels
  • this fails WCAG success criterion 1.3.1 (Info & Relationships)
• they do not have document landmarks, so screen reader users will find it difficult to understand the structure of the PDFs
  • this fails WCAG success criterion 1.3.1 (Info & Relationships)
• images are missing alternative text, so people using screen readers are unable to discern them
  • this fails WCAG success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content)
• colour contrast is insufficient in places, which can impact users with visual impairments or colour blindness
  • this fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast)

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. We do have an ongoing programme to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages in the future.

Links

Some links on the website don’t meet accessibility standards.

 This is because:

• there is not always descriptive link text, which means screen reader users may not know where the link will take them
  • this fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context)
• on some pages, multiple links on the same page lead to the same destination but have different link texts or may share the same link text and surrounding context, but take the user to different destinations
  • this fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context)

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

PDFs

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. For example, we do not plan to fix evidence base PDFs in the planning section.

Live video

Live video streams don’t have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions – live).

We don’t plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. 

Disproportionate burden

Not applicable.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are actively working to fix these issues. 

This includes:

• improving colour contrast across key components
• restructuring headings to follow a logical order
• minimising the use of images and all newly uploaded images have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader can access the information
• making interactive elements like the chatbot fully keyboard accessible
• reducing the number of PDF and Word documents and making as many as possible available on the website itself in HTML format or online forms
• removing broken and redundant links
• enhancing zoom and reflow responsiveness

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to lbbd.gov.uk.

This statement was prepared on 28 August 2025.

This website was last tested in May 2025. The audit included manual and automated testing of a sample of pages, including the homepage, service pages, and interactive components.