This accessibility statement applies to content published on the www.theapex.co.uk domain.

This website is run by West Suffolk Council. It is designed to be used by as many people as possible. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • 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.

We are always working to make the website text as simple as possible to understand.

In accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, we regularly monitor the accessibility standards of our website. To do this, we use a tool called SiteImprove which monitors and tests the website and sends reports to us.

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 these websites aren’t fully accessible but we are working where possible to correct this and your help is welcome in spotting anything we have missed:

  • Some pages scroll in two dimensions on small screens
  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • Some PDFs and other documents are not fully accessible:
    • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
    • occasionally we add documents produced by external organisations which we cannot always make accessible
    • there is no legal requirement to make documents produced before September 2018 accessible.
    • If you have any issues with reading a PDF document, please contact us as we may be able to provide an accessible version.
  • live video streams may not have captions, although some providers such as YouTube and MS Teams have them.
  • some of our forms may be difficult to navigate using just a keyboard.
  • some of the html code is not fully compliant
  • some of the code (aria) which is used by screen readers is not fully compliant
  • some of the systems this website links to are provided by third parties and are not fully accessible.

Feedback and contact information

If you are having issues accessing information on this website or need it in a different format like accessible PDF or large print:

In your message, include:

  • the web address (URL) of the content
  • your email address and name
  • the format you need - for example, plain text, braille, BSL, large print or audio CD

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 our websites. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact the West Suffolk Council Communications team by email: communications@westsuffolk.gov.uk. Please include:

  • ‘Website accessibility’ in the subject line
  • the web address (URL) of the page with the issue
  • details of the issue.

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

Find out how to contact us.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

West Suffolk 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 fully compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions’ listed below.

Non accessible content

When last tested on 26 May 2022, the accessibility report showed that the website was 97.6% compliant with the WCAG Level AAA standards.

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

PDFs and other documents

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

We are working to make sure that any new PDFs or other documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

We work with our suppliers, contractors, and partners to make sure their systems and documentation adhere to the latest Government guidance on accessibility where they are supplying us with content. Where possible this is written into contracts and is part of our procurement procedures.

However, we cannot always guarantee that documents produced by external organisations and members of the public which are published on our website, are always fully accessible. We have to host a considerable number of documents in relation to planning applications, the local plan and neighbourhood plans, and it is not always possible to get all the different organisations to adhere to our accessibility requirements.

If this is the case and you need a document in an accessible format, please contact us.

Live video

We don’t 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

We are continually working to improve accessibility. We regularly receive reports form SiteImprove, the automated system we use to check accessibility, quality assurance and search engine optimisation (SEO) and look to resolve issues on a weekly basis. We also respond to any issues identified by visitors to the websites and regularly review pages.

We have an active programme of searching out documents and other issues that do not meet the accessibility guidance. Where we find such issues, we resolve them or replace documents with HTML pages. We expect all these to be changed by June 2022.

We work with our third party suppliers to make sure their systems are as accessible as possible, and to resolve issues as quickly as possible.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 20 September 2019. It was last reviewed on 8 March 2024.

This website was last tested on 8 March 2024.

The test was carried out internally by West Suffolk Council, using Siteimprove for automated testing. The regular accessibility report run by Siteimprove shows that the site 99.55% compliant with the A standard, 100% compliant with AA standard, and AAA standard (which is above the legal requirement). It also includes best practice scores which bring the overall rating down to 98.7% (there are two issues which are appearing in error - skip to main content link appears when you tab, and all pages do have headings). This means that although we are meeting the legal requirements we are not quite meeting the additional levels of AAA and best practice guidelines. We continue to review the website and review any issues as soon as we can when a warning appears.

Read the full SiteImprove accessibility report – the Apex website 8 March 2024

This statement was prepared on 20 September 2019. It was last updated on 8 March 2024

For information about privacy and cookies visit How we use your information and our Cookies page.