Test results for Cheshire East Council

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TaskNavigationA-ZGoogleSite searchReadabilityScoreTests
Address - change mine on council systemsGave upVery easyGave upEasy45
Adult education courses - find informationGave upVery easyVery easyEasy85
Antisocial behaviour - complain about itVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
Blue badge - apply for oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy99
Broken street lights - reportVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1015
Bulky waste or other special waste collection - bookVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy108
Complain about something the council has doneGave upVery easyEasyVery easy75
Council housing - apply for itVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy910
Council meeting - read the last full council minutesDifficultDifficultGave upVery easy613
Council news - find itVery easyDifficultGave upVery easy75
Council tax - pay itDifficultVery easyVery easyVery easy912
Council tax / housing benefit - applyVery easyVery easyVery easyDifficult915
Council tip - find a nearby oneVery easyVery easyGave upVery easy65
Councillors - find who mine areDifficultVery easyVery easyVery easy915
Cycling strategy - find itEasyVery easyVery easyVery easy910
Death - register oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy109
Economic condition and strategy for the area - find itVery easyEasyGave upVery easy65
Elections - find out when the next ones areEasyEasyEasyEasy85
Employment help for people with disabilities - find information onGave upGave upGave upUntested14
Events - find council onesVery easyVery easyEasyVery easy910
Flood protection - find informationEasyVery easyVery easyVery easy911
Food hygiene problem - report oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
Freedom of Information Act request - make oneVery easyVery easyVery easyEasy1010
Housing repair - request oneGave upEasyVery easyEasy75
Jobs - find a council jobVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1010
Leisure centres close to me - find oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1010
Leisure discount card - apply for oneEasyGave upGave upDifficult47
Library book - renewVery easyDifficultVery easyEasy85
Local history - find out aboutVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy95
Local library opening hours - find themVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
Local services and information on a map - look atGave upGave upGave upUntested14
Market stall trading - find information aboutVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy107
Meals on Wheels - find informationGave upGave upGave upUntested14
Missed bin collection - complain about oneGave upVery easyVery easyVery easy85
Noise nuisance - complain about itVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy95
Open Data - find someVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy108
Parking - find out how much it costsVery easyVery easyVery easyEasy105
Parking fine - pay oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy107
Petitions - create oneVery easyVery easyVery easyEasy95
Planning application - comment on oneEasyVery easyEasyVery easy918
Planning committee meeting - find when the next one isGave upVery easyVery easyEasy87
Planning or building control violation - report oneGave upVery easyGave upVery easy65
Planning permission - apply for itVery easyVery easyEasyDifficult819
Population and census information - find itEasyVery easyVery easyVery easy88
Pothole - report oneVery easyVery easyEasyEasy919
Public toilets - find themVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy914
Read the council's greenhouse gas emissions report for the previous yearVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
Regulation of children on stage, film, and television - find informationGave upGave upGave upUntested14
School places - apply for oneGave upVery easyVery easyEasy810
School term dates - find themVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1025
Scrutiny committee reports and minutes - find themVery easyVery easyVery easyEasy105
Senior staff and politicians in the council - find their namesEasyVery easyVery easyVery easy98
Small business support - find informationVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
Social media accounts - find themGave upGave upGave upUntested14
Stopping smoking services - find informationVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
Supplying the council - find out howGave upGave upGave upUntested14
Sustainability and climate change - find information onEasyVery easyVery easyUntested104
Taxi driver - complain about oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy89
Taxi licence - apply for oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
Telephone number - find the main oneGave upVery easyGave upUntested64
Trading Standards - complain about a dodgy item from a shopVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
Travellers - find information about themVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
Tree preservation order - apply for oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
Unitary Development Plan / Local Development Plan - find itVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
Voting - register toVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy914
Vulnerable adult - express concern about oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy109
Vulnerable child - express concern about oneGave upGave upGave upUntested14
Watch a webcast of a recent council or committee meetingGave upGave upGave upDifficult17
Welfare reform - find information aboutVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
Youth clubs in the area - find informationVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy105
TotalsNavigationA-ZGoogleSite searchReadabilityScoreTests
Total scores5225125945435612732 
Number of tests11810710911397 544
Usability Index (total score ÷ number of tests)455565  

About the scores

Each task can be tested according to five different criteria - navigation from the home page, navigation using the A-Z directory (where present), searching on Google, searching using the site's internal search, and the readability of the page. Scores are assigned according to 10 = Very easy, 8 = Easy, 4 = Difficult, and 1 = Gave up. Thus each task will have up to five tests counted against it when a user tests it.

As users test any given task, the score for each aspect of each task becomes a rolling mean average of individual test scores, and thus as more tests are completed the more reliable an indication of the usability of the website can be seen. The total scores in the table are thus the sum of the averaged scores for the whole suite of tasks which have been tested.

The Usability Index is the sum of the scores of the tests which have been carried out, divided by the number of tests which have been taken for this council, resulting in an index score between 1 and 10, with 6 being the score which a nominallly usable website with room for improvement might be expected to achieve. If any criteria have had fewer than 15 tests, or the site as a whole has had fewer than 50 individually tested items, the final Index scores are shown in a grey background to indicate insufficient testing for the result to be a reliable indicator.

Specific comments testers have made about this council

Broken street lights - report - 2014-02-27
Not easy to report a broken street light from this page - Street Lighting News. Only have aphine number, no link to the report a probelm page

Council meeting - read the last full council minutes - 2014-10-28
I could not find the page to view the minutes of the last meeting using the search field on the Cheshire East Website but the navigation from the homepage was easy to use.

Council tax - pay it - 2014-10-28
easy to find and clear to use

Council tax / housing benefit - apply - 2014-02-25
Search results keeps referring to Council Tax Benefit which no longer exists. Should be Council Tax Support

Council tax / housing benefit - apply - 2015-07-14
Used different words, apply/claim, support/benefit. No crossreference from council tax to housing.

Council tax / housing benefit - apply - 2015-07-14
Used different words, apply/claim, support/benefit. No crossreference from council tax to housing.

Elections - find out when the next ones are - 2015-07-13
Shows last election results, but not when the next elections are.

Flood protection - find information - 2014-07-21
The A-Z index took me to a page for road drains and gullies, nothing to do with flooding.

Leisure discount card - apply for one - 2014-02-13
to many results came up total was 347

Leisure discount card - apply for one - 2015-07-13
Discount card wasn't available on main website, it was on leisure centre website.

Market stall trading - find information about - 2014-10-28
Everything was very easy to use and the local information for where and when they were held was good however, but I didnt find any information on how to become a market stall trader or the process involved.

Meals on Wheels - find information - 2015-07-13
I don't thing that Cheshire East offers meals on wheels.

Parking fine - pay one - 2014-07-10
I started from the Cheshire East Council home page. Also I used links from the homepage rather than searching.

Planning application - comment on one - 2014-02-13
The web page I landed on was confusing. Too much detail. There were no clear instructions that jumped out at me. As a user I would want to just click a few buttons to complete my task. There is too much jargon and the customer journey is not easy

Planning application - comment on one - 2014-02-13
This is a lot easier to navigate round and the 'e- form' to actually comment on an application is very user friendly

Planning application - comment on one - 2014-10-28
the page was written in plain english and it was very easy to understand

Planning committee meeting - find when the next one is - 2014-02-13
It was fairly easy to navigate around this section of the website but again i think there is alot of information to take in on the one page of the website.

Planning or building control violation - report one - 2015-07-14
A-Z didn't find anything to do with planning violations or reporting it.

Planning permission - apply for it - 2014-02-12
Apply for planning permission, explains to apply via portal, but then states before you submit check'do I need planning permission' which takes to another page with the portal. There is a lot of reading material before you even start on the portal.

Planning permission - apply for it - 2014-02-13
It was confusing. I was having to navigate around several pages and I was still not sure if I need planning permission or should I just go and apply with worrying about whether I need it or not

Planning permission - apply for it - 2014-02-13
to many options when the page opened

Planning permission - apply for it - 2014-02-13
There is a lot of information to read and it automatically put me off. I think it needs to be more friendly with regards to its readability. I probably would have found myself phoning to get more concise information.

Pothole - report one - 2014-02-27
very easy to do

Pothole - report one - 2014-02-27
very easy to find what i was looking for but a little more difficult to read due to the samll screen

Public toilets - find them - 2014-10-28
Home Page / Leisure, Culture and Tourism / Town Centre Management / Public Conveniences the above bread crumb is not in the navigation which could mean that Town Centre Management and Public conveniences is not categorised. Public Conveniences can only be found using the keyword search field or the A-Z index

School places - apply for one - 2014-07-10
It took me about 30 minuites to find an application form because there is an overload of information. When I found an application form I still wasn't sure if it was the correct one.

Senior staff and politicians in the council - find their names - 2014-10-28
The keyword search terms I used were Cheshire East Councillors and Cheshire East MPs and the results were found very quickly

Sustainability and climate change - find information on - 2015-07-14
A-Z found climate change but not sustainability.

Taxi driver - complain about one - 2014-10-28
I found information on how to make a formal complaint but nothing specifically on how to complain about a taxi driver. My google search term took me to Citizens Advice page 'Complain about taxis and mini cab services' which proved useful

Voting - register to - 2014-02-10
The home page navigation was based on the assumption that the user would select 'Council and Democracy'. Council staff know to use this terminology, but would the public?

Vulnerable child - express concern about one - 2015-07-15
Vulnerable adult was easy to find, but no information on a vulnerable child.

Watch a webcast of a recent council or committee meeting - 2014-10-28
I found it very difficult to find any information regarding webcasts on the Cheshire East Website. there were no results relating to my keyword. However, when I did a google search it was at the top of the listing page

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