Accessibility statement

About this statement

This accessibility statement applies to the website tunbridgewells.gov.uk (our website), which is managed by the Digital Services team at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website and have designed it so that it lets you edit your preferred settings, with options to:

• zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
• you can modify the line height or spacing of text
• navigate it using just a keyboard
• navigate much of the website using speech recognition software
• listen to most of it using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We have also made the website text in most areas as simple as possible to understand. There may still be older content on some pages where this is not the case.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Mobile apps

This statement also covers the accessibility of mobile apps that we offer to deliver our services, these are:

• Modern.gov
• RingGo Parking

Please see the mobile apps section below for further details.

How accessible our website is

This site has been built to be as accessible as possible and tested against WCAG 2.2 AA. There are some areas which are not yet fully accessible:

• some of our older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• live video streams do not have sub-titles
• some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard

Feedback and requests

If you would like to comment on the accessibility of our website, or request any of the information in a different format, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording, or braille, please email digitalservices@tunbridgewells.gov.uk.

We will aim to get back to you within five working days.

Reporting accessibility problems

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of our website. If you encounter any problems that aren’t already mentioned in this statement, or you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, email us at digitalservices@tunbridgewells.gov.uk.

We will aim to get back to you within five working days.

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 have made a formal complaint to us about our website's accessibility, and aren't happy with our response, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service.

Contacting us

Phoning or visiting us in person

Unfortunately, we do not provide a text relay service for people who are deaf, hearing impaired, or have a speech impediment. We can, however, use a mediated text relay service if one is provided by the person calling.

If you use a hearing aid and would prefer to visit us in person, The Amelia in Tunbridge Wells town centre has hearing loops available in all its meeting rooms.

If you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter through Kent County Council Sensory Services, or you can call ahead and book them directly on 03000 418 100, or by email to sensoryandautism@kent.gov.uk.

Our find and contact us page includes details of how to email, telephone, or visit us in person.

Technical information

Technical information about our website’s accessibility

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Our 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.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Same link text for different destinations

Many of the pages on our website contain the same link text more than once, but each goes to a different URL. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context).

Focus visible

A small number of our website pages and some of our online forms have link text, buttons or link images that do not have a visible focus when selected using a keyboard tab. Some get the keyboard tab focus twice. This fails WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible: No or barely visible focus.

IDs used in ARIA and labels must be unique

Some of our online forms have multiple elements referenced with ARIA with the same id attribute. This fails WCAG 4.1.1 Parsing: IDs used in ARIA and labels must be unique.

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents may not be structured so they are accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).

At the time of updating this statement there were 2,258 documents available to view and download from our website. The breakdown by document type is:

Forms and pages hosted by third-party software suppliers

Some of our forms and pages are built and hosted by third-party software suppliers and ‘skinned’ to look like our website. Some of these do not fully meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion. Our ability to make them accessible is limited by, for example, the supplier’s development and release cycles for new versions. These issues are experienced by many local authorities who use the same software suppliers.

We will continue to provide feedback to our third-party suppliers about accessibility issues we identify with their software and ensure that accessibility is a requirement of our future software procurements.

Disproportionate burden

Having made an assessment of the non-accessible documents on our website, we have not identified any that are considered a disproportionate burden (within the meaning of the No. 2 Regulations) to be made accessible.

Out of scope content

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations.

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards, for example, they may not be structured so they are accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. We are continuing to review and replace essential documents with accessible HTML versions where possible.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services.

Any new PDF documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams, because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

All pre-recorded and edited film clips published on our website from 23 September 2020 will feature subtitles, captions, and a transcript.

Third-party content

Our site includes third-party content and documents.

We cannot guarantee that all third-party content is accessible. We are not responsible for any third-party content that is under someone else’s control, for example, social media ‘like’ buttons.

We often link to third-party websites or documents when there is useful information that relates to our services, for example, official information sources like GOV.UK and the Electoral Commission.

We often create content on third-party platforms. For example, we create video content on YouTube. We are responsible for making sure the content is accessible, but we are not responsible for YouTube's platform.

Mobile apps

Details about the accessibility of the mobile apps we offer are given below.

Modern.gov

The Modern.gov native application is available in iOS (Apple) and Android versions.

This app enables users to automatically download, view, and annotate papers for council meetings on their mobile device.

The application is supplied by a third-party, Civica, and the accessibility of the technical infrastructure and user interface is the responsibility of the third-party supplier.

The accessibility of the content on the app, all of which is PDF documents, is the responsibility of the council's Democratic Services team. The accessibility of PDF documents is further explained in this statement.

Alternatives to using the mobile app

All of the content offered in the mobile app is also available on our website under the meetings, minutes and agendas section.

RingGo Parking

The RingGo Parking native application is available in iOS (Apple) and Android versions.

This app enables users of some car parks in the borough to pay for parking on their mobile device.

The application is supplied by a third-party, RingGo (part of Park Now Ltd), and the accessibility of the technical infrastructure and user interface is the responsibility of the third-party supplier.

The accessibility of the content on the app is the responsibility of the council's Parking Services team. The content displayed is controlled by the user interface of the app, which is the responsibility of the third-party supplier.

Alternatives to using the mobile app

Users of our car parks are provided with alternatives to using the RingGo app for making payments, these include cash, card, and Check in Check out (CiCo). The alternatives offered are different for each car park, further details can be found on our website under the car parks section.

Use of AI tools in preparing content

To help ensure our website content is clear, accessible and written in plain English, we sometimes use AI tools to review or rephrase text. We may also use AI for simple image adjustments, such as removing backgrounds or small items. These tools support our editors in improving clarity, readability and consistency.

All content is reviewed and approved by Council staff before it is published. No personal information is processed by these tools.

If AI tools have been used for another purpose, such as analysing data or summarising information within a report, this will be clearly explained within that report or publication.

Preparation of this statement

This accessibility statement was prepared on 10 October 2019. It was last updated on 1 April 2026.

Our website was most recently tested for accessibility in March 2026. Testing was carried out by staff from our Digital Services team.

We tested a wide range of page types and content across the website. This included key user journeys and our most frequently used services, such as the homepage and the content under Bins and recycling. We also tested each page template to make sure our standard layouts meet accessibility requirements.

Accessibility testing included the use of recognised testing tools, including Silktide, WAVE and Axe. We cross‑referenced the results of this testing with feedback from users.

This statement will be reviewed again in March 2027.