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About this website

Our accessibility statement, our statement of disproportionate burden, our cookies policy.

Accessibility statement

Updated: 25 August 2026

This accessibility statement applies to dumfriesandgalloway.gov.uk.

This website is run by Dumfries and Galloway Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. We are committed to making our digital services accessible and have designed the website to meet the requirements of the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

For example, you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts using your browser or device settings
  • zoom in up to 300% without content becoming unusable
  • navigate most of the website using only a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader, including recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver

We also aim to make website content as simple and clear as possible.

AbilityNet provides 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.

Current known issues include:

  • our Near Me mapping application contains a keyboard focus visibility issue
  • some PDF documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader users
  • some videos may not have accurate captions or transcripts
  • some third-party systems and online services may contain accessibility issues that are outside our direct control

We are continually working to improve accessibility across our website and digital services.

Feedback and contact information

If you find any accessibility problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us:

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 030 33 33 3000

If you need information in a different format, such as:

  • accessible PDF
  • large print
  • easy read
  • audio recording
  • braille

please contact us and we will consider your request.

We aim to respond within 10 working days.

British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us through Contact Scotland.

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.

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

We are committed to making this 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 (WCAG) version 2.2 AA standard because of 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

Third-party mapping applications

Our Near Me mapping application contains an accessibility issue identified during accessibility testing.

Keyboard focus is not visible on the application logo when navigating using a keyboard. This can make it difficult for keyboard users to identify which element currently has focus.

This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.4.7 Focus Visible.

The application is provided through a third-party platform and we are currently unable to directly remediate this issue. We will continue to review the accessibility of this service and seek improvements from the supplier where possible.

PDF documents

Some PDF documents are not fully accessible.

Examples include documents that:

  • do not contain a descriptive document title
  • do not have a specified document language
  • contain images without alternative text
  • are not fully tagged for assistive technologies

This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria:

  • 2.4.2 Page Titled
  • 3.1.1 Language of Page
  • 1.1.1 Non-text Content
  • 1.3.1 Info and Relationships

When publishing new documents we aim to ensure they meet accessibility requirements wherever possible.

Disproportionate burden

We have assessed that undertaking a full manual accessibility review of every webpage, document and digital asset on this website, together with retrospectively reviewing and remediating all historic documents, would constitute a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

Further information about this assessment is available in our Disproportionate Burden Assessment.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

The regulations do not require us to fix:

  • PDF and other documents published before 23 September 2018 unless they are essential for providing a service
  • live video streams
  • third-party content that is neither funded nor developed by Dumfries and Galloway Council and is not under our control

What we are doing to improve accessibility

We are committed to continually improving accessibility across our digital estate.

This includes:

  • regular accessibility testing using automated and manual methods
  • accessibility reviews of new website functionality
  • staff guidance and training on accessible content creation
  • working with software suppliers to address accessibility defects
  • reducing reliance on PDF documents where appropriate and publishing information in HTML webpages

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared in August 2026.

It was last reviewed in August 2026.

The website was most recently assessed following accessibility monitoring undertaken by the Government Digital Service during 2026.

In August 2026, our web team carried out an internal accessibility audit of representative pages across the website, including service pages, forms, search results, school pages, pages containing tables and maps, and a sample of downloadable content.

The assessment included:

  • automated accessibility testing
  • manual accessibility testing against WCAG 2.2 AA requirements
  • keyboard-only navigation testing
  • zoom and reflow testing
  • testing of key user journeys

The internal audit identified a small number of issues relating to form labels, colour contrast, alternative text, heading structure and ARIA attributes. These issues have been recorded and are being addressed through our ongoing accessibility improvement programme.

The findings from the Government Digital Service accessibility monitoring exercise and the Council's internal accessibility audit have been used to prepare and update this accessibility statement.