Website accessibility statement for The New Theatre

This accessibility statement applies to:

welsh.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk/

newtheatrecardiff.co.uk

This website is run by Cardiff Council and hosted by John Good Ltd. The ticketing elements of the website are provided by Viva Ticket, a commercial ticketing provider.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should currently be able to:

●        Read the site in clear, plain English

●        Navigate part of the site using only a keyboard on a desktop computer

●        Access some content using a screen reader - the content is structured using headings (H tags) and bullet points as necessary and some images have had alt text added

●        Understand where hyperlinks will take you before you click them

●        Access a site map

●        Find information on how to obtain accessible versions of our brochures

We've also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

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:

●        The New Theatre's mobile site does not include the whole website. The access section is not included on the sections that appear in the mobile view. If you are using your phone to access and navigate around the site, you may not be able to access some content. (Success criterion 1.3.4)

●        Drop down menus for the site do not work when using a keyboard. The keyboard focus is there but disappears when it goes through dropdowns which do not show on the page, unless you hover a mouse over them. This may mean it is significantly harder to navigate around the website if you are not using a mouse. ( Success criterion 2.1.1)

●        There is no option to skip through headers/footers top level navigation to the main page content. This option should appear when you tab - any keyboard-only user will have to tab through the menu every time just to access your content. If you are a  visually impaired user, you may have to hear the menu being read out on every  page (Success criterion 2.4.1)

●        Some areas of text are very small, making it very difficult for someone with low vision to read. (Success criterion 1.4.4)

●        There is one example of a form that is currently a PDF, which means that you may not be able to complete the form if you are accessing the content using a screen reader. We have, where possible, highlighted alternative means to contact us with this information or to find out more about receiving it in an accessible format. (Success criterion 4.1.2)

●        Details about the seat you're looking at are only available when you hover over them. If you are accessing the site via a screen reader, or without using a keyboard, you may not be able to access this information. (Success criterion 1.1.1)

●        Some form text and labels are missing - if you're using a screen reader and/or navigating using the tab function, it may not be clear what information each form field is asking you to provide. (Success criterion 1.1.1)

●        Book tickets button is not readable by apples built in speech technology, which means that you may not be able to navigate using this button if you are relying on this functionality.

●        Some alt text is missing from some images. If you're accessing this content using a screen reader, you may be unable to access any information contained within the images. (Success criterion 1.1.1)

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like large print, audio recording or braille:

●        email NTMailings@cardiff.gov.uk

●        call our Box Office on 07925 659065

We'll consider your request and get back to you in three working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements, contact NTMailings@cardiff.gov.uk

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

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. Please note that this is currently unavailable, as the service only works in The New Theatre Building, which is closed due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Find details of how to contact us on our home page. You can also find information about supported performances, assistive technology and alternative ways to contact us on our Access section.

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Cardiff 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 partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed in the 'How accessible the website is' section is non-accessible for the following reasons:

In April 2020 Cardiff Council the management and operation of The New Theatre was due to be run by HQ Theatres (an independent commercial operator). This would have meant that the current website would have been replaced with a new website run by HQ Theatres. As a result, The New Theatre's website was not updated to meet accessibility regulations.

Many of the updates required are developmental updates, which would require paid input from the website development agency, John Good - an outsourced agency, rather than an internal web development team.

As a direct result of the Covid 19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown period beginning in March 2020, the new management of The New Theatre was not undertaken by HQ Theatres as planned. This was a last-minute decision. However, plans are in place for this to happen early in 2021. The website will be redeveloped as part of this process. Please note that John Good had also furloughed all of their staff at the outset of the Covid 19 pandemic.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

During the lockdown period throughout 2020 the internal marketing team at the New Theatre have worked hard to update the website content to ensure that it was compliant with as many of the accessibility regulations as possible, without outsourcing work to the external development agency.

Despite this work, it has not been possible to make many of the technical updates required to ensure compliance.

Cardiff Council are currently in the procurement stage of developing The New Theatre website to ensure it will be fully compliant on desktop and mobile devices. We will ensure content and functionality is user tested by people using assistive technologies to ensure that our user's needs are met as fully as possible.

We aim to launch the new, accessible version of The New Theatre website in 2021, unless The New Theatre is managed by HQ Venues, at which point the website will be run and managed by HQ

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a 'label' tag.

Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and 'skinned' to look like our website. This includes our ticketing software supplier.

We've assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a   disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when the supplier contract is up for renewal, likely to be in Winter 2020.

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By November 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

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 23 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 23 September 2020.

This website was last tested on 10 July 2020. The test was carried out internally. We tested every page of the website, rather than a sample selection. We did not test content using assistive technology, but will ensure that we run extensive user testing with people who access content using assistive technologies when further website developments are undertaken.