Council website scoops accessibility award

Released on 25 April 2012

Surrey Heath Borough Council has become the first council in Surrey to receive the Shaw Trust Plus Accessibility award for its website.

Shaw Trust is a national charity which supports disabled and disadvantaged people to live more independently.

Following a rigourous assessment process, Shaw Trust awarded www.surreyheath.gov.uk its highest available award for being easy to use and accessible to people with disabilities.

The Trust's Web Accessibility service is a social enterprise that employs disabled people to test websites and ensure people with a range of conditions and impairments are able to access information and contact their council online.

The council's corporate portfolio holder Cllr Colin Dougan said: "With more and more people using our website for transactions and information year on year, it's fantastic to be recognised by Shaw Trust for being inclusive to all.

"At Surrey Heath we value customer satisfaction and the importance of making our services accessible to everyone. The award reflects the hard work put in by our web team who ensure the content and navigation is simple and easy to use."

A Trust spokesman said: "Shaw Trust's accreditation process makes sure websites are accessible for users who have different needs in accessing, navigating or reading information online. Disabled people won't return to a website that they can't access, meaning that through no fault of their own they could be missing out on vital information about services. Councils do a huge amount of work to make sure the information they publish is accessible, and we're pleased that disabled people in Surrey Heath will have improved access to important information as a result our work."