Accessible Information and Communications Policy

Contents

  1. Policy Aims and Scope
  2. Policy Context
  3. Legal framework
  4. What do we mean by Accessible Information and Communication?
  5. Customer Needs Assessment
  6. Our Principles and Standards
  7. References

1. Policy Aims and Scope

The aim of this policy is to have a clear, consistent, transparent and fair approach to the way we communicate and provide information. It reflects best practice in inclusion and accessibility for all and particularly for:

  • People who are disabled
  • People who do not speak or read English at all or very well
  • People with low literacy
  • People in digital poverty or who don’t have access to IT

It covers:

  • Internal and external communication
  • Written, visual, audio, digital and face to face communication, including social media
  • Documents / information (both physical and digital)
  • Proactive and re-active communications 
  • Corporate correspondence
  • Meetings
  • Online forms and services
  • Provision of Interpretation, translation, transcription and communication support
  • Planning and design of information and communication channels and materials
  • Customer engagement mechanisms

2.   Policy Context

This policy supports Reading Borough Councils Customer Experience Strategy 2020-2024 which sets out the Council’s commitment to customer service excellence – that every interaction will be a positive experience: better, faster, simpler; and recognises that some people might need extra support to access services, and that we must ensure it is available. It pledges to look at our services and processes through the lens of the customer to ensure services are accessible. 

This policy supports the Council to meet legal requirements in relation to accessible information and communication. These come mainly from 3 areas: The Equality Act; Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the NHS Accessible Information Standard

3.1     Equality Act 2010

All the Council’s services are required to meet the Equality Act 2010 requirement not to discriminate, and to advance equality of opportunity for protected characteristics: age; disability; gender reassignment; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation. This may mean:

  • removing or minimising disadvantages if it is connected to that characteristic;
  • taking steps to meet the needs of people who share a relevant protected characteristic that are different from the needs of people who do not share it;
  • encouraging people who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation disproportionately low.

The Equality Duty explicitly recognises that disabled people’s needs may be different from those of people who are not disabled and there is a requirement to make reasonable adjustments.

3.2     Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the international standard for producing a universal approach to web content accessibility for the needs of individuals, organisations and governments.

All public sector organisations’ websites and mobile applications must meet the international WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard alongside publishing an accessibility statement outlining the extent to which the website is accessible.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines aim to ensure that all elements of the digital service are made more ‘perceivable, operable, understandable and robust’

3.3     NHS Accessible Information Standard

Under the Care Act (NHS Accessible Information Standard), NHS and Adult Social Care services have a legal responsibility to provide clear access to information. This standard sets out a legal specification that guarantees that information and communications preferences are identified, recorded, flagged, and shared and met for ‘patients, service users, carers and parents with a disability, impairment or sensory loss’ (NHS, 2020). This standard does not apply to generic services or websites that adult social care users may use.

4. What do we mean by Accessible Information and Communication?

Accessible Information and Communication means using clear, easy to read language and simple, uncluttered design in all communications, and providing appropriate accessible formats and methods so that our communication includes everyone.

We are living in an increasingly digital age which has many benefits for access and inclusion e.g.:

  • accessibility features on web sites can read out information to people with visual impairments
  • translation apps enable people to translate information into their first language instantly

But we know that many people face obstacles accessing online services e.g.:

  • not having the equipment or access to the equipment, to go online.
  • not having the skills or ability to use the technology
  • not having access to the internet
  • anxiety/fear/lack of confidence in using the technology
  • accessibility for disabled people
  • language and literacy
  • not having the assistance and support to go online
  • preferring face to face to discuss complex issues.

This means we need to consider how disabled people, people who do not speak or read English at all or very well, people with low literacy and people in digital poverty or who don’t have access to IT will be able to receive and understand our information and communicate with us.

5. Customer Needs Assessment

We have carried out a Customer Needs Assessment. We know from our residents’ survey[1] that three quarters of residents prefer to receive information about council services via email and just over a half prefer to use the Council’s website.

This means a quarter to half of residents prefer to receive information in other ways. Information from voluntary sector services and service users indicate that a variety of methods are needed to cater for different needs: face to face, phone; accessible formats, interpretation and translation and non-digital options.

In Adult Social Care the largest single needs are for large print and British Sign Language interpretation. It is estimated that 2,205 adults in Reading have severe hearing loss[2]. Our translation and interpretation service had 330 requests for BSL during 2019/20.

Whilst Reading is a very diverse town and has twice the national average of households where no one in the household has English as their main language, just 2% of the Reading population (3,140 people) report that they cannot speak English at all or not well (Census 2011). This is in line with the national average. The main languages of the households with the highest numbers where English is not spoken at all or not well are Polish, Punjabi, Urdu, Nepalese, Bengali and Portuguese. This, along with Arabic and Romanian is reflected in Council’s Interpretation and Translation service records.

Being able to find key information easily on the Council’s website and to see themselves presented positively in Council communications is also important – for people to trust that the Council has their interests at heart and to feel encouraged to engage with Council messages.

6. Our Principles and Standards for Accessible Information and Communication

As a result of our needs assessment and gap analysis we will adopt the following principles and standards:

  1. Full compliance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard for web accessibility
    We will pursue full compliance with the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard for web accessibility and communicate inclusion and accessibility principles and methodology widely across the staff base.  This will improve understanding and use of the best practice tools available for accessibility of both online and offline information. This will apply to our own and outsourced communications, third-party communications provided via the Council, to the use of third-party communication vehicles e.g. websites and portals.
  2. Work towards full compliance with the NHS Accessible Information Standard across all services
    We will adopt the NHS Accessible Information Standard across all services for customers with disability, impairment or sensory loss. The roll-out of this will be built into our Customer Experience programme.
  3. Positive Images
    We will continue to present positive images of disabled people and ethnic diversity on our website and publications to encourage customers to use our services, to help them identify with the message and feel that they can trust the organisation. We will increase our photo library of real residents and service users so that images are more authentic and better represent local context.
  4. Involve target audiences to understand what is effective for them
    As part of inclusive communication, we will ask what our customers need to understand the messages that we want to give them and ensure they have the opportunity to let us know how they want to communicate with us.
  5. Designated web page for disabled people
    To make it easier for disabled people to access information that is most important to them we will have a designated page, signposted from the Website Home page, with clear information about the services which are the highest priority for them such as accessible toilets, Blue Badges and parking.
  6. Telephone hotline to support all areas of the website
    We will provide a Telephone hotline to support all areas of the website where people need assistance to find what they are looking for, complete a transaction, report a problem with accessibility. This will be promoted on the accessibility pages and staff taking the phone calls will receive additional training to enable them to deal effectively with the customer enquiry.
  7. Design accessibility into information and communication
    We will use clear, easy to read language and simple design. Use Trebuchet or similar (sans serif) font and a minimum font size of 12 point for paper copy.
  8. Meet accessible communications needs on request.
    We will make provision to be able to meet customers communications needs on request. In line with our Customer Experience Strategy customers will be able to receive support by telephone or face to face if they have additional needs and need to speak to an advisor or specialist. We will provide alternative channels for those who need additional support (e.g. face to face appointments). We will make provision for interpretation and translation, alternative formats and multiple channels on request and within a standard timescale, with clear information to customers and staff on standards and how to make a request.
  9. Ensure the additional needs of customers are considered when designing communications
    Where there is evidence of need and demand we will provide translated material and accessible formats in advance. We will develop a standard set of principles and criteria for when to make this provision.
  • Training
  • Accessibility guidelines and resources
  • Accessible Information Standard and WCAG 2.1
  • Interpretation and translation service
  • Data and evidence of need and demand for accessible formats and interpretation and translation

10. Staff informed and trained on accessible information and communication 
We will provide training and resources for staff on communicating in an inclusive and accessible way.  This will be based on the Accessible Information Standard and WCAG 2.1. We will have an accessible information and communication section on our Intranet where staff can access:

  • Training
  • Accessibility guidelines and resources
  • Accessible Information Standard and WCAG 2.1
  • Interpretation and translation service
  • Data and evidence of need and demand for accessible formats and interpretation and translation

7. References

Customer Experience Strategy 2020-2024

Equality Act 2010 Equality Act 2010: guidance – GOV.UK

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

Last updated on 12/06/2024