We hope you find our website easy to use. We are committed to making it as accessible as possible.
This accessibility statement applies to the West of England Combined Authority, Growth Hub, Invest Bristol and Bath domains.
This website is run by the West of England 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 this website is
We know some parts of our main website and its associated domains are not fully accessible:
- some PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- the link purpose of all our hyperlinks may not be immediately clear from the text
- html heading tags may not be presented in a logical order on several pages
- alt-text may be included where images should be marked as decorative
- when zoomed in to 400% the cookie banner which appears when first landing on our domains covers the entire viewport and is partially cut off
- the chatbot that can be selected in the bottom right of the viewport has several accessibility issues around text resizing and reflow, which we are unable to change. We’ve requested the developers of Landbot update the software
- there may be some accessibility issues on pages and forms we have created using Dotdigital. These pages have ‘Dotdigital’ in the URL. These issues include technical coding issues relating to ARIA text; confirmation page text not being correctly announced, and radio buttons not being associated with visual labels. We have requested the developers update the software.
- some videos do not have a transcript uploaded with them
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:
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: comms@westofengland-ca.gov.uk to speak with someone from our Communication and Marketing teams
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
If you would like to contact us by phone, please use the following number: 0117 428 6210
For further details on how to contact us, please use our contact page.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The West of England 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.
Compliance status
The West of England Combined Authority and its associated websites are partially compliant.
Our websites are 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:
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations:
When first visiting any main or Growth Hub page when the browser is zoomed to 400% the cookies banner that usually goes across the bottom of the screen takes over the entire viewport and is also partially cut off. This fails on WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow. We have raised this with the third-party service Civic Cookie who look to address this in future releases.
On the Growth Hub pages at 400% zoom the header, cookies icon and live chat icon take up a lot of space in the viewport. As a result, the cookies and live chat icons cover some content meaning it cannot be fully read. This fails on WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow. This has been raised as an issue with the providers who are looking to resolve it in a future release.
Not all of our videos have an audio description for important information like actions, scene changes or on-screen text. This fails on WCAG 1.2.5 Audio Description (prerecorded). For new videos we create, we will either include audio descriptions natively, or create a separate file with audio descriptions.
In the cookies menu that can be expanded from the bottom left corner of all main pages there is a toggle switch for 'Analytical Cookies'. The text 'Off' does not have sufficient contrast against the background. This fails on WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum). This has been raised as an issue with the providers who are looking to resolve it in a future release.
In the cookies menu that can be expanded from the bottom left corner of all Growth Hub pages there are two places where the minimum contrast ratio is not met:
- the 'Accept Recommended Settings' button
- the toggle switch in the 'Off' or 'on' positions
This fails on WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum). This has been raised as an issue with the providers who are looking to resolve it in a future release.
On the Growth Hub pages, the pink ‘Accept’ button in the initial cookies banner that appears when you first visit any page does not have sufficient contrast with the text. This fails on WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum). This has been raised as an issue with the providers who are looking to resolve it in a future release.
The following issues are created by our live chat functionality which we are unable to amend internally. We have raised them with the third-party service provider who will look to amend them in future releases:
- The live chat functionality that appears when you first visit any of the Growth Hub pages is partially cut off when the page is viewed at 200% zoom. This fails on WCAG 1.4.4 Resize text. This has been raised as an issue with the provider and they are looking to resolve it in a future
- The live chat functionality that appears when you first visit any of the Growth Hub pages is partially cut off when the page is viewed at 400% zoom. The live chat window that can be opened by clicking on the icon in the bottom right of the screen does not display properly at 400% zoom. Text is partially cut off and the window cannot be scrolled using a mouse. Tabbing reveals further content but text is again partially cut off. This fails on WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow.
- When text is spaced, the live chat functionality that appears on the Growth Hub pages is pushed down outside of the viewport and the buttons can no longer be accessed. This fails on WCAG 1.4.12 Text Spacing.
- When the live chat functionality that appears across the Growth Hub pages is collapsed the icon does not appear to be reachable via keyboard. This fails on WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard.
- On the Growth Hub pages, the live chat functionality iframe that appears at the bottom left of the screen does not have a page title. There is also no page title for the window that appears when the functionality is opened from the icon. This fails on WCAG 2.4.2 Page titled.
- When the live chat functionality that appears across the Growth Hub pages is opened from the icon, the 'Privacy Policy' link in the window does not receive visible focus. This fails on WCAG 2.4.7 Focus visible.
- The live chat functionality iframe that appears on first visit to the Growth hub pages does not have a specified language. The window that appears when the functionality is opened from the icon also has no specified language. This fails on WCAG 3.1.1 Language of page.
- The live chat iframe on the Growth Hub pages does not have an accessible name. This fails on WCAG 4.1.2 Name, role, value.
The following issues are created by our use of Dotdigital which we are unable to amend internally. We have raised them with the third-party service provider who will look to amend them in future releases:
- The radio buttons on the Newsletter Sign-up form are individually labelled but do not appear to be associated with their overall main visual label which in this case is the question that needs to be answered. This fails on WCAG 1.3.1 Info and relationships.
- The form to apply for Future Bright requires personal information about the user but the inputs do not have autocomplete attributes. Similarly, there is an option to reveal more fields if you are not filling out the form for yourself. The inputs in ‘Referrer's details' also ask for personal information but do not have autocomplete attributes. This fails on WCAG 1.3.5 Identify input purpose.
- The first four fields on the newsletter sign-up form asks for personal information about the user but do not have any autocomplete values set. This fails on WCAG 1.3.5 Identify input purpose.
- On the newsletter sign-up form, the drop down box to select an area code for the 'Phone' input, the codes, for example '+1', '+44', do not have sufficient contrast against the white background or grey background that appears on hover and on focus. This fails on WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum)
- There are several parsing issues in Dotdigital. This is where markup languages have been used incorrectly, such as HTML (HyperText Markup Language), meaning it may not work reliably across all supported browsers, devices and assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 4.1.1 Parsing.
- For the newsletter sign-up form, the drop down element that appears as part of the ‘Phone’ input to choose an area code there is an ARIA attribute which does not have a valid value: • aria-activedescendant="iti-0__item-gb-preferred”. This fails on WCAG 4.1.2 Name, role, value.
- Error messages for the newsletter sign-up form appear after pressing ‘Submit’ when empty or invalid information has been entered into mandatory fields. After pressing ‘Submit’ the errors are 46 announced to users of assistive technology as expected. However, the status message in some cases changes when you edit the field, and these changes are not announced. For example, when submitting the form with an empty 'Email' field the error message reads 'Please answer the question below'. If this field is then edited but with an invalid email address the message changes to 'The format is incorrect' and that change in the status is not announced. This fails on WCAG 4.1.3 Status messages.
- When the newsletter sign-up form is submitted the page content changes to say 'Thank you' and this status message is not announced to users of assistive technology. This fails on WCAG 4.1.3 Status messages.
Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
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. By September 2023, we plan to have all the key PDF and Word documents fully accessible.
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.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We have developed an accessibility management plan which features the next steps in our efforts to improve our websites accessibility.
The immediate steps we are taking to improve accessibility are as follows:
- Reviewing key documents (PDFS and Word docs) across our websites and improving their accessibility.
- Reviewing alt-text of all images, ensuring decorative images are marked as such.
- Reviewing existing pages and make sure when creating new pages, logical sequential heading structure is used.
- Ensuring link purpose is clear in all hyperlinks and buttons.
- Adding language of page information when creating forms and pages in Dotdigital.
Following this we have set out a longer-term plan which sets out plans for further audits, internal training and other methods for improving the organisations accessibility standards.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 22/11/22. It was last reviewed on 25/04/23.
This website was last tested in March 2025. The test was carried out by Shaw Trust Accessibility services:
- https://www.accessibility-services.co.uk/certificates/west-of-england-combined-authority/
- https://www.accessibility-services.co.uk/certificates/west-of-england-combined-authority-good-employment-charter/
- https://www.accessibility-services.co.uk/certificates/west-of-england-combined-authority-bristol-and-bath/
Any web site carrying this mark is currently being tested by people with a wide range of disabilities to highlight accessibility barriers that might be present, and implement solutions to provide inclusive content.
The Shaw Trust Digital Assessment and Accreditation process is rigorous. Over 60 hours of accessibility testing by users with a disability goes into each and every accreditation. This is in addition to a stringent technical assessment by our digital auditors. All assessments are carried out in line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 A and AA criteria.
Their approach to testing included taking a sample of webpages across our domains.
The Mayoral Combined Authority are currently working through suggested remedial actions from their report, including design, technical and content changes. The sites will be submitted for re-testing later this year to assess the efficacy of the remediation work.
