WDC - Shaw Trust accreditation
16th February 2007
Warwick District Council (WDC) has worked with Trinity Expert Systems (Trinity) to ensure its website is fully accessible to people with various disabilities.
The council’s website is already rated in the top 10 shire websites in the UK, and it is committed to ensuring the website not only meets all accessibility requirements but exceeds them.
It is estimated that 10 million adults in the UK have a disability. Aware of this, the council recognised that it makes good business sense if all customers can access its services.
The council approached the Shaw Trust which provides an accreditation service that tests whether a website has the highest possible accessibility standards.
Together with WDC, Trinity attended a workshop at the Shaw Trust to experience first hand the different problems people with impairments had. The Shaw Trust also offered advice on how the council’s website could be improved to make it more usable for disabled users.
During the workshop both companies witnessed people who had physical disabilities, dyslexia, colour blindness, cerebral palsy and that were blind. Advice was given on how WDC’s site could include features to enable it to be more usable for these people.
Following the workshop Trinity was able to make changes to the council’s website to ensure it would gain the Shaw Trust web accreditation.
Michael Branson, website manager, Warwick District Council, says the council is “extremely pleased to be web accredited by Shaw Trust and is committed to ensuring the site will endeavour to be a fully accessible site for all users”.
A technical support officer from Shaw Trust, who carried out the assessment, says the council has “shown such a high degree of dedication to achieving a truly exceptional and accessible website.”
WDC and Trinity Expert Systems will continue working together to ensure the website continues to be accessible to the highest standards and is an example for other councils to follow.
To view WDC’s website please visit www.warwickdc.gov.uk.
About Trinity Expert Systems plc
Trinity Expert Systems plc is a leading provider of IT-led business solutions dedicated to serving the local government and health, legal, utilities, financial services, consumer retail, primary manufacturing and media sectors. Trinity’s services address every stage of the IT lifecycle, from consultancy through systems design and development, deployment and integration to application support. Its core services are underpinned by analysis, design, support, user training and project management. For more information, visit www.tesl.com.
About Warwick District Council
Warwick District Council (WDC) was created after the local government reorganisation of 1974. The council currently serves a population of around 125,000 across four major towns and approximately 40 villages. It covers an area of around 30,000 hectares, of which 75% is green belt or agricultural land. For more information, please visit www.warwickdc.gov.uk.
About Shaw Trust
Shaw Trust is a national pan-disability charity with over 20 years experience of working with disabled people. It is the UK’s largest provider of employment services and support for disabled people and one of the government’s key partners in the delivery of national disability employment programmes.