Accessibility

This website has various accessibility features to help you use the site

Accessibility statement

Accessibility statement for the Property Pool Plus scheme website www.propertypool.org.uk

Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, and Wirral Councils are 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 www.propertypoolplus.org.uk.

This website is run jointly by Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, and Wirral Councils. 

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.
  • On most pages Zoom in up to 150% without the text spilling off the screen, this can be increased up to 400% using the Mobile website view in the top navigation.
  • 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. 
  • You can select the Accessibility option to change the font size to large or extra-large without the text spilling off the screen.
  • Our website makes use of embedded maps in several locations. We are not required to make these accessible as long as essential information is always provided in an accessible format like an address.

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 this website are not fully accessible:

  • You cannot zoom up to 400% without text spilling off the screen, however the Mobile version of the website can be zoomed up to 400% on most pages.
  • Our PPP Data page cannot be zoomed up to 400% even on the Mobile version of the website. Please contact us if you require this information in an alternative format.
  • Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with policy information and how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. We are aware that these documents do not meet accessibility standards. However, we can provide any of these documents in an alternative format to meet our customer's needs.  Please contact us if you require this service.
  • The components of our Site Map are too close together for effective use with assistive technology. There is also a link within the Site Map called “Average Waiting Time”, this is broken. You can navigate to the “Average Waiting Time” page via the “Properties and Recent Lets” website page.     
  • Some of our form controls do not programmatically identify their purpose, do not have sufficient contrast and do not have labels.
  • Some form fields do not include a legend or instructions.
  • reCAPTCHA is a third-party component our IT supplier uses on the website; however, we have no control over this. Unfortunately, this does not currently comply with the accessibility regulation.
Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please email propertypoolplus@wirral.gov.uk or phone  0151 691 8121 advising of the specific issues, so that these can be addressed.

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording, or braille please contact the organisation who manages your application to request this. You will find contact details on the contact us page. We will consider your request and contact you with a response.

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

Halton Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, and Wirral Councils are committed to making the Property Pool Plus website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018

Compliance status

This website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below. 

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The elements listed below are not accessible and do not comply with the accessibility regulations:

  1. The Website Map does not meet WCAG2.2 AA 2.5.8 as the components are not far enough apart.
  2. Some of the form controls have insufficient contrast with their surroundings. This does not meet the criteria under WCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.11.
  3. Some of the form field sets do not include a legend. This does not meet the criteria under WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1.
  4. Some form fields do not include instructions. This does not meet the criteria under WCAG 2.0 A 3.3.2.
  5. There is a broken link within the Website Map called “Average Waiting Times”. This does not meet the criteria under WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.4.
  6. Some of the form fields do not programmatically identify their purpose. This does not meet the criteria under WCAG 2.1 AA 1.3.5.

We are working with our IT supplier to resolve these issues, which are due to be fixed in future releases of the system. At this point, we do not have exact dates for when each item will be fixed and updated within our live system. However, we do expect that some of these issues will be fixed by June 2026 and we will keep this under review. 

Disproportionate burden

Page zoom and Reflow functionality.

At 400% zoom the website does not reflow correctly meaning users must scroll vertically and horizontally to see the full content. This fails to meet the criteria under WCAG 2.1 AA1.4.10.

We are claiming that it would be a disproportionate burden on the PPP partner local authorities to resolve the zoom / reflow issue due to limitations within the current IT system and the prohibitive cost of rectifying this issue at this time. We have spoken with the existing supplier who has advised that they have no plans to resolve this issue. The contract with the existing supplier is due to end in November 2027 at which point the partnership plan to ensure any future IT system procured fully meets the required WCAG standard in place at that time.

PDF and Microsoft Word Documents

Many documents on our website are published in non-HTML formats, for example PDF and Microsoft Word. They are not accessible in several ways including missing text alternatives, missing document structure. Also, when these documents are displayed on our website there are apparent issues with missing page titles and language settings.

We are claiming that it would be a disproportionate burden on the PPP partner local authorities to replace all documents on this website with html web pages. For example, the Property Pool Plus Policy is 86 pages long and includes complex formatting and flowchart diagrams which would take many hours to format as a web page. In addition, the current IT system does not include the necessary functionality to adequately publish our documents in a suitable format. The contract with the existing supplier is due to end in November 2027 at which point the partnership plan to ensure that any future IT system procured fully meets the required WCAG standard in place at that time, which should assist us with replacing some, or all of our documents as HTML web content.

ReCaptcha

Some of the form controls do not have labels. This is criteria under WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1 and relates to Recaptcha which is a third-party component the IT supplier uses on the website; however, we have no control over this. The contract with the existing supplier is due to end in November 2027 at which point the partnership plan to ensure any future IT system procured fully meets the required WCAG standard in place at that time.

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

PDFs and other documents

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix [example of non-essential document].

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 13th December 2020. It was last reviewed on 13th November 2025.

This website was last tested on 8th October 2025 date against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. This test was conducted by the PPP Scheme Co-ordinator using the  Silktide Accessibility tool.

Change size of text

It is possible to resize the text on this website by using the 'normal text size', 'Large text size' and 'Extra large text size' buttons below.

Language translation

You can translate the language of this webpage by using Google Translate. There is a Google Translate widget at the bottom right-hand corner of this website.

Change size of text

It is possible to resize the text on this website by using the 'normal text size', 'Large text size' and 'Extra large text size' buttons below.

Language translation

You can translate the language of this webpage by using Google Translate. 

  1. In your browser, go to Google Translate.
  2. At the top, click Websites.
  3. We recommend setting the original language to 'Detect language'.
  4. In the Website, enter a URL.
  5. Click Go.