Accessibility

This accessibility statement applies to www.merseyfire.gov.uk

This website is run by Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service. The Service is committed to understanding and being responsive to the diverse needs of our communities. We want everyone to be able to receive our important safety messages, find out about the Service and apply for jobs leading to a rewarding career with us.

Our commitment to fulfilling the General and Specific duties placed upon us by the Equality Act 2010 and also meets the statutory requirements set out within the Act.

  • The MFRS external website was built to comply with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

We want everyone who visits the Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service website to feel welcome and find the experience rewarding. 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 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:

We understand the above may cause issues for some users of this website and we are working to put resolutions in place.

  • Some of our PDF documents are not fully accessible, and may contain issues relating to: WCAG 2.4.2 Page titled; WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text content; WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.
  • Some third party applications accessed through the website cannot be read aloud using ReciteMe, for example, Fire and Rescue Authority pages, current vacancies, and the Safelincs online home fire safety check. These pages do not reside on the merseyfire.gov.uk website.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

Email: diversityteam1@merseyfire.gov.uk

Call: 0151 296 4236

We’ll consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.

 

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements:

Email: diversityteam1@merseyfire.gov.uk

 

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).

 

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Many of our premises have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

To find out how to contact us please visit https://www.merseyfire.gov.uk/get-involved/contact/ or click on the contact button at the top of the page

 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

 

Compliance status

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.

 

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The dropdown menu from along the top of the website is not fully accessible using the keyboard. This partially fails WCAG Success Criterion 2.1.1: Keyboard. We have logged this issue with our website developer and asked for a resolution to be implemented. All dropdown menus are accessible by using the return or enter key when the main menu is in focus (highlighted).

Some of our PDF documents are not fully accessible, and may contain issues relating to: WCAG 2.4.2 Page titled; WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text content; WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.  We are working to put resolutions in place.

Disproportionate burden

Not applicable

Navigation and accessing information

Not applicable

Interactive tools and transactions

Not applicable

 

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs are essential to providing our services. We are in the process of reviewing them to ensure they are accessible PDFs.

Any new PDFs 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.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service is committed to providing content in an accessible format on the website. As well as working to improve the areas of the website that are currently not accessible (see the section above), we are working hard to make our website more accessible through the use of plain English throughout the site. We also intend to make more of our documents available as HTML in the future, in addition to accessible PDFs.

We have also introduced the ReciteMe assistive toolbar on our website. You can view this and use the toolbar by clicking on the yellow accessibility button at the very top of the page.

ReciteMe allows you to:

  • Change colours, typeface and font size
  • Listen to most of the website using the built-in screen reader
  • Enable a screen mask to assist with reading
  • View through a built in magnification tool
  • Translate most of the website into 130+ languages, many of which will also read aloud
  • Increase and decrease font size
  • You can find out more with the ReciteMe user guide

A high-level summary of our accessibility roadmap can be found below.

  • February 2023 – EMBED powered by DMS (Wirral) Ltd to carry out a digital accessibility check against the Web Content

    Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard.

  • March/April 2023 – review recommendations and create an action plan for implementing the required changes

  • May to July 2023 – implement the key priorities (KP1)
  • August to December 2023 - implement priority 2 and 3
  • January to March 2024 - implement further best practice.

As part of the overarching ED&I plan for the organisation, which is inclusive of accessibility, we plan to expand future audits to consider how inclusive the content is alongside technical accessibility.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 9th July 2020. It was last reviewed and amended on 21st June 2023.

This website was last tested in February 2023. The test was carried out by EMBED powered by DMS (Wirral) Ltd who checked against the Web Content

Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard.