This website is managed by Greater Manchester 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 (opens in a new tab) has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
- most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
What to do if you cannot access parts of this website
If you need information on this website in a different format:
Email enquiries@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk
Call 0161 778 7000
Write
Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Broadhurst House
56 Oxford Street
Manchester
M1 6EU
We’ll consider your request and get back to you.
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 the GMCA digital team by:
email gmdigital@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk
telephone 0161 778 7000
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) (opens in a new tab)
Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. To access this call 18002 0161 778 7000. If there is a specific number you wish to call add the prefix of 18002 to enable Text Relay.
Our offices have access to an audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Greater Manchester 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.
This website is 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.
Images
Not all of our images have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).
We plan to add text alternatives for all images by the end of October 2020. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
Navigation and accessing information
The accessibility of embedded video content is dependent on the standards reached by the third-party provider. Where possible we will make use of features such as subtitles to ensure our content is accessible.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
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 (opens in a new tab).
Pre-recorded video
Some pre-recorded videos don’t have an audio captioning or description, so the information in them isn’t available to people who cannot see or the hear the video content. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.2.5.
We plan to add audio captioning or descriptions for all pre-recorded videos by the end of September 2020. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our videos meets accessibility standards.
PDFs and other documents
Older documents
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 (opens in a new tab) if they’re not essential to providing our services.
Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).
Any new documents we publish will be accessible.
How we tested this website
This website was last tested on 28th May 2020. The test was carried out internally by Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
We checked all the pages on the website. We used a free-to-use developer tool which checks each page against standard accessibility issues. A manual audit was also conducted. Each of the issues was logged, and an action plan formed and implemented for the website.
What we have done to improve accessibility
We are always open to suggestions, additions or the reporting of accessibility problems. Users can use the contact details supplied above.
We made the following improvements in September 2020:
- added a ‘skip to main content’ function on the header of every page
- increased the colour contrast of hyperlinked texts and buttons
- ensured link text is descriptive
- ensured all page titles should be unique on the browser window tabs
- ensured headings are nested in the correct order
- added labels to all page buttons
- added keyboard accessible function to news items so users can select articles
- added skip Twitter feed function
- removed auto play and auto carousel functions
- news items open as individual pages instead of pop-up windows
- alt text field is available for most images (excludes decorative banners)
- reviewed labels and attributes to ensure compatibility with assistive technologies
We have developed a web guide and training to ensure all web and document authors are creating content that is accessible.
We plan to annually review website accessibility, and ensure that any new pages or PDFs and other online documents conform to web accessibility criteria.
This statement was prepared on 16th September 2020. It was last updated on 22nd September 2020.