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Welcome to our new site.

As of 23 March 2026 this site is now live. We will continue to improve the site but if you would like to give us any feedback or if you experience any issues just let us know by going here: Contact Us

Accessibility Statement

We want everyone who visits our website to be able to access the full range of services available, regardless of their skill or technology.

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

This accessibility statement applies to connectingcountydurham.co.uk.

Compliance status

This website and supporting applications are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliance(s) and/exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Below is a list of issues we have identified as not compliant and the accessibility compliance fails.

  • images: some images do not have an alt text or have not been marked as decorative, failing success criterion 1.1.1
  • forms: some form controls do not have labels or are using incorrect ones, failing success criterion 1.3.1
  • labels: some ARIA label IDs are missing, failing success 1.3.1
  • labels: some labels in the document do not point to valid IDs, failing success criterion 1.3.1
  • headings: some headings do not include text, failing success criterion 1.3.1
  • headings: some text has not been marked as a heading but should be, failing success criterion 1.3.1
  • headings: some headings do not cascade correctly, failing success criterion 1.3.1
  • tables: some tables are missing scope in headings, failing success criterion 1.3.1
  • forms: the purpose of some form fields are not identified programmatically, failing success criterion 1.3.5
  • colour contrast: some text does not have sufficient contrast, failing success criterion 1.4.3
  • forms: some form controls do not contrast sufficiently with their surroundings, failing success criterion 1.4.11
  • titles: some pages do not have an appropriate title, failing success criterion 2.4.2
  • links: some links do not explain their purpose, failing success criterion 2.4.4
    • links: links go to the same destination, but have different link text, failing success criterion 2.4.4
  • headings/labels: some headings and labels are not descriptive, failing success criterion 2.4.6
  • controls: some controls do not change appearance when they are selected, failing success criterion 2.4.7
  • links: a link uses generic link text that has no context, failing success criterion 2.4.9
  • functionality: some components may not be identified consistently, failing success criterion 3.2.4
  • forms: some forms may not suggest corrections, failing success criterion 3.3.3
  • links: some links cannot be used by screen readers, failing success criterion 4.1.2
  • Content added to the site by service providers is not checked for accessibility.

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

  • maps unless they provide core information (this includes maps in documents)
  • content that's under someone else's control that we have not paid for or developed ourselves:
    • Google Translate
    • social media links

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was first prepared in 26 August 2025. It will be reviewed every year in accordance with the regulations.

To prepare this statement an accessibility test was carried out by People Places Lives Quality Assurance Team. The most viewed pages were tested using automated testing tools by our website team. A further audit of the website was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. Durham County Council also did automated and manual testing of the whole site.

This statement was last reviewed on 10 March 2026.

Feedback and contact information

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page, think we're not meeting accessibility requirements or have any feedback, please use our contact us page.

If you need information on this website in a different format please see our Communication support page.

Find out how else you can get in touch with us in our Contact the council section.

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).

Under the Equality Act 2010 we must ensure we do not unlawfully discriminate in our service delivery and make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities where necessary. We are constantly working to improve the accessibility and usability of our site.