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Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the primary domain: solentfreeport.com

This website has been developed to comply with the WCAG 2.2 AA standard for accessibility as a minimum.

This website is run by Portsmouth City Council. 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 400% 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 and aim to adhere to the national average reading age of 9.

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 the website are not fully accessible:

  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact DCE@portsmouthcc.gov.uk  

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille: contact DCE@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 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’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Portsmouth City Council 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 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliance(s) and/or the exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content 

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons. 

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

1. Some text does not have sufficient colour contrast when compared with its background. Some users may find them hard to read. This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum).

2. Starting from 150% zoom and in mobile view, some of the text is partly cut off so that some people may not have access to the information on the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.4.10 (Reflow).

3. There are some spaces for headings in the code with no text in them. This might be disruptive for users who are accessing the website with assistive technology. This fails: Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).

4. Empty button is present on the website, meaning a user relying on assistive technology cannot understand the button’s function without additional context. This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value (A).

5. There are links on the website that contain no text or meaningful content. This can cause confusion for users relying on assistive technology, as they may not understand the purpose of the link. This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (A).

Our website developers and content editors identified the above issues during the last accessibility audit. Fixes for some of these issues have been applied to the most popular pages informed by Google Analytics 4. We’re continuing to audit and improve accessibility across the rest of the website.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 19 January 2022. It was last reviewed on 22 May 2025.

This website was lasted tested on 22 May 2025 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. This test was carried out by Portsmouth City Council’s in-house development team with in-depth knowledge of the accessibility standards and completed using assistive tools such as the WAVE Evaluation Tool.

We tested a sample of pages, including the website’s most popular pages (informed by Google Analytics).

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