Disproportionate burden assessments

Conducting a full audit and buying auditing tools used

We are required by law to carry out disproportionate burden assessments where we are not able to meet our legal obligation to reach the WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standard.

This assessment relates to our accessibility audit for our main website (www.slough.gov.uk) and the tools used for it.

Benefits

To conduct a full accessibility audit and to have access to a paid for/full version of a web governance platform which, will run automated accessibility and quality assurance checks, would benefit our users with:

  • a more accessible website for all our users
  • easier access to council services
  • a more efficient and comprehensive automated check.

Burden

Full audit costs

Quotes for accessibility audits found on the Digital Marketplace search are from £130 per hour or from £600 to £900 per day.

Web governance platform costs

Quotes for web governance platforms found on the Digital Marketplace search are from £6,000 to £95,000 a year.

Burden due to costs

Historically, the council did not have a dedicated budget line for the Slough Borough council website. While funding has since been identified and allocated to support the ongoing development of the website and the resources required to maintain and improve it, there remains insufficient funding to comprehensively address all accessibility requirements, including undertaking a full accessibility audit.

In the absence of full funding, incremental manual improvements continue to be made to enhance accessibility wherever possible.

Although the council continues to face significant financial challenges, the website - along with all digital platforms used to support those who live, learn and work in Slough - remains a core consideration within the council’s future planning and digital development strategy.

Extra costs would impact negatively on the budget.

Our organisation's size and resources

Slough Borough Council is a unitary authority, going through some huge financial issues as described above, with the future of the council looking to be downsized between 2021 and 2026.

We currently do not have the technical expertise in-house, or the resources to get a third-party, to conduct a full accessibility audit.

We do not have the resources to pay for a web governance platform. We are relying on the free tools that are available:

  • Colour Contrast Analyser (CCA)
  • Silktide accessibility checker
  • WAVE

We frequently check for any accessibility issues that the Silktide Index picks up on from our website. We use WebFX to check for readibility.

In addition to the basic accessibility check, we also perform manual checks to:

  • search and fix raw urls
  • search and replace words such as 'click', 'see', 'view' with more inclusive terms, such as 'select', 'check' and 'find'
  • ensure meaningful link texts are used
  • check links lead to the right destination
  • check text is web friendly and in plain English.

We appreciate a basic audit may not pick up all issues however, accessibility is always of primary focus when building and developing the website.

Our Accessibility Statement (as per requirements) includes our webmanager@slough.gov.uk email address for anyone to get in touch if they have any issues with the Slough Borough Council website (www.slough.gov.uk). Although we cannot determine what issues would come up on a full audit or from using a full version of a web governance platform, we are open to being approached on any accessibility issue.

Raising staff awareness on accessibility

Within the council, staff awareness on the importance of accessibility is being incorporated into events and activities which include:

  • providing guidance and training to teams on creating accessible documents
  • supplying reminders and best practice tips through internal communication forums and newsletters
  • creating accessible content training courses within the council’s intranet and talent management system, Cornerstone for staff to access and learn from
  • engaging with services who have invested in third-party software to make sure documents produced by them and need to be posted on the Slough Borough Council website are accessible.

Assessment

We consider that the costs to conduct a full accessibility audit on this site and to invest in a web governance platform for our site will represent a disproportionate burden to the organisation in terms of cost.

We have, therefore, had to conduct a basic accessibility check as advised on GOV.UK, as part of our accessibility audit and used the free resources and tools that are available.

This disproportionate burden will apply until the council’s financial situation has been settled. The Transformation Plan Update Report hopes to balance the budget by 2028/29, so we expect the disproportionate burden to apply until 2029.