Council website receives accessibility rating

The Highland Council has been successfully awarded the Accessible AA (government recommended compliance level) accreditation for website accessibility by the Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC). 

DAC independently audited Highland Council’s website http://www.highland.gov.uk/  and worked with the Council and their supplier Jadu to ensure that the content and layout of the website was easy to use and navigate.

Part of the audit involves user testing – carried out by the DAC team, all of whom have disabilities and all of whom have experienced first-hand the barriers an inaccessible website places between them and independence.

By seeing first-hand what problems the testers encountered, the Council gained a much better knowledge of how to factor in accessibility at each stage of the design, and how to spot check the website for accessibility issues.

Councillor Bill Fernie Chair of Highland Council’s Resources Committee welcomed the accreditation, he said: “This improved access to Highland Council’s website is excellent news for people with disabilities.

“Removing barriers to council services and making it as easy as possible for everyone to use the website - whenever and wherever they want - is vital to improving our online business with customers.

“Well done to everyone involved. I hope that we continue to improve our accessibility ratings and make the Council’s website as user friendly as possible.”