Accessibility statement
Introduction
This accessibility statement applies to eastsussex.gov.uk
This website is run by East Sussex 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
- zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using only 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
Most of our website should be accessible. It should work well when used with access devices such as screen readers, braille readers, as well as smart phones and other devices.
We know some content on this website is not fully accessible:
- some old PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- live video streams do not have captions.
- some third-party content
A detailed list of known accessibility issues and how we plan to address them is available further down this statement. We regularly review the site and add further issues to this statement as they are identified.
Feedback and contact information
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact the Web Team .
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
East Sussex 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 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.
- Some documents in PDF (Portable Document Format) and Word format may not be accessible. For example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).
We’ve trained all our web authors in how to produce accessible PDF and Word documents, including how to use automated accessibility checkers. We conduct regular audits and manual checks of accessibility issues with documents and work with web authors to improve the accessibility of documents, especially popular ones. All new documents should be accessible.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Digital assistant (chatbot)
The digital assistant (chatbot) feature known as 'Esca' appears on our website pages about Blue Badges if you have cookies enabled. This chatbot is run by East Sussex County Council and the chatbot was developed by ICS.AI. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this chatbot. For example, that means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the chatbot using just a keyboard
- navigate most of the chatbot using speech recognition software
- listen to most of the chatbot using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver).
We’ve also made the chatbot 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 chatbot is:
We know some parts of the chatbot are not fully accessible.
- Keyboard and screen reader users may have difficulty navigating the chatbot. Accessing chatbot response messages and inputting user questions does not function with keyboard controls. Users are expected to press Enter to move into specific messages within the chat window. Keyboard and screen reader users may not receive these instructions and have difficulty navigating the chat window and responses. This fails WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard (A). The issue has been raised with Microsoft’s Enterprise Disability Answer Desk who have confirmed it to be a problem with a Microsoft software component and have escalated it to the product engineering team for resolution.
- When keyboard or screen reader users interact with carousel replies, they may experience focus visibility issues and navigational issues. Focus visibility may not move new messages completely into the field of view for keyboard only users, and using the left and right arrow keys for keyboard or screen reader users will disrupt the journey and move the user back to the top of the chatbot navigation and out of the chat window. The issue has been raised with Microsoft’s Enterprise Disability Answer Desk who are investigating the problem.
- The chatbot profile picture is read out to mobile screen reader as they move through messages while the picture is visually hidden. This fails WCAG 2.4.3 Focus Order (A). This issue is still under investigation. This behaviour may manifest itself inconsistently depending on the hosting site. The developers are working towards a solution which will resolve the issue.
This chatbot was last tested on 31 January 2022. The test was carried out by All Able Ltd.
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of services we use such as this chatbot. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please email us.
Email: Web Team
Holiday food and fun booking system
We offer a range of activities at our holiday food and fun clubs for children on benefit-related free school meals. The events are advertised and booked using a third-party system provided by Eequ Ltd. We know that some images do not have alternative text which fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). Read the Eequ Ltd accessibility statement.
If you need help booking a place, please contact us.
Telephone: 07923 382464
Email: HAF team
Freedom of Information and complaints
Our FOI and complaints systems use a third party system called iCasework. We know this might not be suitable for users of assistive technology. We are awaiting an update from our supplier. Here is the iCasework accessibility statement from Civica.
If you find any problems with iCasework, please email support@icasework.com
If you have issues using this system to submit an FOI request or a complaint, please contact us:
Telephone: 01273 482913
Adult Social Care Adults Portal
This accessibility statement applies to our Adults Portal which is supplied to East Sussex County Council under contract with third-party company SystemC. The Adults Portal is used to fill in an online self-assessment to find out if you are eligible for social care support. You can apply yourself or on behalf of someone else.
How accessible the Adults Portal is:
Most of our website should be accessible. It should work well when used with access devices such as screen readers, braille readers, as well as smart phones and other devices.
We know some content on this website is not fully accessible. This includes:
- images
- some PDF documents
- some third-party content.
East Sussex Portals are 100% compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 A standard, AA standard and 98.1% compliant AAA standard due to the non-compliances listed below.
- Aim for large interactive controls WCAG 2.1 AAA 2.5.5 . All interactive components on a page, such as buttons or fields, should ideally be large enough to be easily used by people with motor impairments.
- Aim for text to have very high contrast. To comply with the strictest accessibility standard (WCAG AAA), the colour of text must strongly contrast with its background colour, so that people with significant visual impairments can read it.
How the Adults Portal was tested:
- The Portal was tested in Silktide in April 2025 for compliance with the WCAG Level A, Level AA and Level AAA. These tests have been carried out internally. The results are reviewed, prioritised, corrections applied and, where necessary, passed to our Portal software suppliers for consideration. Various fixes will also be applied in future upgrades.
- These Portals are configurable by each local authority who uses them. However, the suppliers review the base application code for the Portals on a regular basis to ensure that any reported accessibility or security issues are addressed or scheduled for future releases. The suppliers also use a mixture of browser plugins such as Wave WebAIM for chrome, SortSite and aXe for auditing, to analyse the applications accessibility performance.
This statement was prepared in April 2025.
Adult Social Care Provider Portal
The Provider Portal gives care home and home care providers details about their clients, such as contracts and rates.
Parts of this website are not fully accessible. For example:
- PDFs are not always accessible
- pages are not accessible without JavaScript enabled
- some pages have minor issues when accessed using assistive technologies.
How accessible the provider portal is:
This website is fully compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the following:
- Ref 4.1.2 – elements must only use permitted ARIA attributes - aria-label attribute cannot be used on a span with no valid role attribute (registration page)
- Ref 4.1.2 – ensure every ARIA input field has an accessible name (modal dialog.)
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
- incorrect focusable headers on forms containing supporting documentation and secure messages dialogs - keyboard navigation
- secure messages dialog loses focuses when keyboard navigated through all available fields
- unable to select date from date picker using keyboard – manual date entry required
- validation messages are not read out by screen reader on initial display - only read during full page scan or direct selection.
How the Provider Portal was tested:
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This statement was prepared on 4 June 2025. It was last reviewed on 4 June 2025.
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This website was last tested on 4 June 2025.
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The test was carried out by System C. The whole site was tested using automated testing tools by our website team such as Axe, NVDA and Windows Narrator.
If you need help with the Provider Portal, please contact us:
Telephone: 0345 608 0190
Online Financial Assessment website
Our Online Financial Assessment website allows people to check if they need to pay towards their social care. The site is managed by Oxford Computer Consultants on behalf of East Sussex County Council.
While we have tried to ensure the accessibility of our site, there are some known limitations. These are documented below along with suggested workarounds to address these limitations.
The following are some potential problems that we are working to improve:
- PDFs are not always accessible. We are working to ensure those still in use are available in an accessible format and are moving away from using PDF format for future documents.
- Pages are not accessible without JavaScript enabled. Although this is not a failure of WCAG 2.1 in itself, we recognise that it may represent a significant issue for some users. If you are affected by this, please contact us to arrange an alternative method of financial assessment. If you find any content that you cannot access, then please contact us and we will provide you with an accessible alternative format, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille.
- If you would like to comment on the accessibility of the Online Financial Assessment website, please contact us.
Contact details:
Telephone: 0345 60 80 191
Email: Health and Social Care Connect
Other ways to Contact Adult Social Care and Health.
How the Online Financial Assessment website was tested:
- This statement was prepared on 1 June 2021. It was last reviewed on 14 April 2022. This website was last tested on 12 April 2022. The test was carried out by Oxford Computer Consultants.
- They tested a large sample size of page types with the aim to make sure all types of user journey and the most popular tasks were represented, for example the main homepage and also the content listed under service landing pages.
- They complete accessibility audits by testing how the site performs when accessed using accessibility tools such as WAVE Evaluation Tool (to test coding elements) and WebAIM Contrast Checker (to test the contrast levels between colours with hexadecimal accuracy).
Synergy Parent Portal
This is used to apply for school places, free school meals and 2-year nursery funding. We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible.
If you need help with the Parent Portal to apply for school place or free school meals, please contact us:
Telephone: 0300 330 9472
Email: School Admissions team
If you need help with the Parent Portal to apply for 2-year nursery funding please contact us:
Telephone: 0345 60 80 192
Email: Customer Relations team
Individual school admission rules documents
Where schools have their own admission rules, we publish those in PDF format on the Final Arrangements page on School admissions policies .
Although we encourage and provide guidance to schools around web accessibility standards, not all PDFs are completely accessible. We are legally required to offer these documents on our website, but each document is owned by its respective school.
Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Maps
Some forms may have an online map. Online maps and mapping services are exempt from the regulations if essential information is provided in an accessible digital manner for maps intended for navigational use.
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.
The accessibility regulations also do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents provided by third-parties that we have no control over.
Live video
Live video streams do not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions - live).
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
Disproportionate burden
Navigating date picker with keyboard
Date pickers are known to fail several basic criteria in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Although the date widget is not accessible by keyboard, GOV.UK Design System components recommends to use a date input field instead of calendar when asking users for dates they already know, such as date of birth.
Planning register
Our planning register automatically generates PDF and Word files with accessibility issues. Where Word files are manually created we will make them accessible. All relevant documents on current/live planning applications are in an accessible format. If you have difficulties accessing the planning register please contact the Planning Policy and Development Management Team.
Telephone: 01273 481846
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 24 September 2019 and last reviewed on 19 November 2025.
We have asked our third party suppliers for their updated accessibility statements. We will update these when we hear back.
How we test this website
Sections of the website are tested on an ongoing basis by analysts with a range of disabilities at the Digital Accessibility Centre.
We also use an automated accessibility audit tool, Silktide to check the accessibility of our website and PDFs.
Language
We use plain English to make the text easy to read. We aim to create content for a reading age of 9. We run regular readability audits on our content and make continual improvements.
Sign language readers can visit our British Sign Language (BSL) introduction to the East Sussex County Council website.
If you would like to read the website in another language use Google Translate.