Purpose

This report seeks approval for a total of
£25,032 net (£30,038 inclusive of VAT) across 3
financial years for the renewal of the Silktide accessibility tool
currently used to assess and identify accessibility issues on
Council websites.

Content

RESOLVED - That:
The renewal and continued use of Silktide so we can meet the legal
requirement that our websites, mobile apps and any documents, plans
and policies published online will meet the international WCAG 2.1
AA (soon to be WCAG 2.2 AA) accessibility standard.

Reasons for the decision

Not renewing Silktide - not renewing Silktide
would hamper the councils efforts to meet the statutory
accessibility requirements. Testing would have to be done manually
on a page by page basis and solutions to each problem would need to
be worked through by individual web team members. This would result
in more, less productive Web Team time working on accessibility
issues and create reputational risk.

Alternative options considered

Not renewing Silktide - not renewing Silktide
would hamper the councils efforts to meet the statutory
accessibility requirements. Testing would have to be done manually
on a page by page basis and solutions to each problem would need to
be worked through by individual web team members. This would result
in more, less productive Web Team time working on accessibility
issues and create reputational risk.