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.

This accessibility statement applies to www.thriveleisure.co.uk, https://sport.thriveleisure.co.uk/ and systems that are classed as part of that site.

This website is run by Durham County Council.

How accessible the site is

We know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible.

There are known issues with the:

3rd party functionality: areas of the site which are developed by external 3rd party companies

What to do if you have problems or queries

If you have any accessibility problems or feedback, please email us at webadmin@durham.gov.uk.

If you need to contact us about any other issues, please use our contact us page.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

We are committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

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.

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

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

Leisure Hub (Xn portal)

This is provided by a third party supplier where we do not have full control to make changes. During our accessibility checks the following fails with WCAG 2.1 AA compliance have been identified:

markup: the stylesheet font-weight property is used rather than semantic markup like strong, failing success criterion 1.3.1
tables: heading elements are not declared and role=presentation is not used, failing success criterion 1.3.1
stylesheets: absolute positioning fails success criterion 1.3.2
background colours: some text / background colours do not have enough contrast, failing success criterion 1.4.3
keyboard users: onclick handlers do not have an equivalent onkeyup or onkeydown handler, failing success criterion 2.1.1
http header: refresh is used to redirect pages, which can confuse users, failing success criterion 2.2.1
page titles: pages titles are not unique, failing success criterion 2.4.2
links: links use generic link text that has no context, such as ‘click here’, failing success criterion 2.4.4
navigation: the system does not have information about its general layout failing success criterion 2.4.5
outline / border style: the stylesheet makes it difficult to see the dotted link focus outline, failing success criterion 2.4.7
page language: this is not declared, failing success criterion 3.1.1
forms: some form controls have blank labels or titles, which fails success criterion 4.1.2
fieldsets: fieldset elements are not labelled with legend elements, failing success criteria 1.3.1 and 3.3.2
colours: some body or element colours are set, but not all of them, failing success criteria 1.4.3, 1.4.6 and 1.4.8

Learn2Swim portal

This is provided by a third party supplier where we do not have full control to make changes. During our accessibility checks the following fails with WCAG 2.1 AA compliance have been identified:

images: some images do not have an alt tag, failing success criterion 1.1.1
markup: the stylesheet font-weight property is used rather than semantic markup like strong, failing success criterion 1.3.1
background colours: some text / background colours do not have enough contrast, failing success criterion 1.4.3
page titles: pages titles are not unique, failing success criterion 2.4.2
links: links use generic link text that has no context, such as ‘click here’, failing success criterion 2.4.4
navigation: the system does not have information about its general layout failing success criterion 2.4.5
outline / border style: the stylesheet makes it difficult to see the dotted link focus outline, failing success criterion 2.4.7
colours: some body or element colours are set, but not all of them, failing success criteria 1.4.3, 1.4.6 and 1.4.8

Chatbox, enquiry form, FAQs and bookings

This is provided by a third party supplier where we do not have full control to make changes. During our accessibility checks the following fails with WCAG 2.1 AA compliance have been identified:

headings: some do not cascade, failing success criterion 1.3.1
links: some links say they open in a new window when they do not, failing success criterion 1.3.1
links: some text is clickable but is not a link, failing success criterion 2.4.4

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

maps unless they provide core information
content that’s under someone else’s control that we haven’t paid for or developed ourselves:
- social media buttons
- embedded social media feeds

Preparation of this statement

This statement was prepared in September 2023. It was last reviewed on 7 September 2023.

We re-assess the code, design and content of a website, application or system for accessibility whenever it undergoes a major modification. We do this internally using a combination of automated and manual checking.

Main site page content is manually checked every time it is updated.