Accessibility

Accessible to everyone

We want every young person, family member, social worker and colleague to be able to use this website easily.

Our commitment

Bridgewater Children's Care Services is committed to making this website usable by as many people as possible, including people using screen readers, screen magnifiers, speech recognition software or keyboard-only navigation. We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at level AA.

Colour and contrast

Text and interface colours are checked against WCAG 2.1 AA contrast ratios, and no information is conveyed by colour alone.

Keyboard and screen readers

All navigation, menus, forms, the photo gallery and its lightbox can be operated by keyboard, with visible focus states and descriptive labels.

Clear language

We write in plain English, avoid jargon where we can, and explain sector terms the first time we use them.

Documents

Our Statement of Purpose, Children's Guide and policies are produced as tagged, screen-reader friendly documents, and we provide large print, easy-read or plain text versions on request.

What we have done recently

Added descriptive alternative text to every photograph and decorative-only images are hidden from assistive technology.
Improved text contrast in the statistics band and on image overlays.
Ensured content remains visible if animations or scripts fail, with full support for reduced-motion preferences.
Labelled all form fields, with error messages announced in text rather than colour alone.
Made the photo gallery lightbox keyboard operable and screen-reader labelled.

Known limitations

We know a small number of things still need work: the embedded Google map is provided by a third party and its accessibility is outside our control, so a text address and directions link are always given alongside it. Downloadable PDFs are being reviewed for full tagging, and we will publish accessible versions as they are completed. We review this statement regularly as the site develops.

Tell us about a problem

If you find something difficult to use, or you need information in a different format such as large print, easy read, audio or plain text, please contact us at referrals@bridgewaterccs.co.uk. We aim to respond within one working day and will provide the information in a format that works for you.