Test results for Liverpool City Council

According to our records, this website hasn't had a major update since it was first registered with us - webteam members can update this information themselves.

Filter within results: or click headings to sort.

TaskNavigationA-ZGoogleSite searchReadabilityScoreTestsImportance
Address - change mine on council systemsGave upDifficultGave upUntested284
Adult education courses - find informationVery easyVery easyEasyEasy953
Antisocial behaviour - complain about itDifficultVery easyEasyVery easy8142
Blue badge - apply for oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1053
Broken street lights - reportVery easyVery easyDifficultVery easy9143
Bulky waste or other special waste collection - bookVery easyVery easyVery easyEasy1053
Complain about something the council has doneVery easyVery easyDifficultVery easy953
Council housing - apply for itEasyVery easyDifficultEasy893
Council meeting - read the last full council minutesEasyEasyEasyEasy853
Council news - find itGave upEasyGave upEasy553
Council tax - pay itVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1094
Council tax / housing benefit - applyVery easyVery easyEasyVery easy1053
Council tip - find a nearby oneEasyVery easyDifficultVery easy9102
Councillors - find who mine areVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy9144
Cycling strategy - find itGave upDifficultGave upEasy393
Death - register oneDifficultVery easyVery easyVery easy9103
Economic condition and strategy for the area - find itEasyVery easyDifficultVery easy753
Elections - find out when the next ones areGave upGave upGave upUntested143
Employment help for people with disabilities - find information onGave upGave upGave upUntested143
Events - find council onesVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1053
Flood protection - find informationGave upGave upGave upUntested143
Food hygiene problem - report oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1053
Freedom of Information Act request - make oneDifficultEasyDifficultUntested543
Housing repair - request oneDifficultDifficultGave upVery easy593
Jobs - find a council jobVery easyVery easyVery easyUntested1045
Leisure centres close to me - find oneEasyVery easyEasyEasy894
Leisure discount card - apply for oneEasyVery easyGave upEasy753
Library book - renewVery easyVery easyEasyVery easy993
Local history - find out aboutGave upDifficultGave upEasy393
Local library opening hours - find themEasyVery easyVery easyVery easy1053
Local services and information on a map - look atEasyDifficultDifficultEasy6103
Market stall trading - find information aboutVery easyVery easyGave upVery easy853
Meals on Wheels - find informationVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy853
Missed bin collection - complain about oneVery easyVery easyVery easyUntested1045
Noise nuisance - complain about itVery easyVery easyDifficultVery easy753
Open Data - find someGave upVery easyDifficultVery easy782
Parking - find out how much it costsEasyEasyEasyEasy794
Parking fine - pay oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1053
Petitions - create oneGave upGave upGave upUntested143
Planning application - comment on oneEasyVery easyVery easyVery easy9103
Planning committee meeting - find when the next one isEasyVery easyDifficultVery easy853
Planning or building control violation - report oneGave upGave upGave upUntested143
Planning permission - apply for itVery easyVery easyEasyVery easy1053
Population and census information - find itVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy993
Pothole - report oneDifficultVery easyDifficultVery easy894
Public toilets - find themGave upGave upDifficultUntested243
Read the council's greenhouse gas emissions report for the previous yearEasyVery easyVery easyVery easy853
Regulation of children on stage, film, and television - find informationGave upGave upGave upUntested143
School places - apply for oneVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1053
School term dates - find themVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1094
Scrutiny committee reports and minutes - find themDifficultEasyDifficultVery easy793
Senior staff and politicians in the council - find their namesVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy9104
Small business support - find informationVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1053
Social media accounts - find themGave upVery easyEasyVery easy753
Stopping smoking services - find informationGave upGave upDifficultEasy353
Supplying the council - find out howEasyEasyEasyVery easy953
Sustainability and climate change - find information onEasyVery easyVery easyVery easy853
Taxi driver - complain about oneDifficultDifficultGave upDifficult393
Taxi licence - apply for oneVery easyVery easyEasyVery easy1053
Telephone number - find the main oneGave upGave upGave upUntested345
Trading Standards - complain about a dodgy item from a shopVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy1093
Travellers - find information about themVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy9103
Tree preservation order - apply for oneEasyEasyGave upVery easy6194
Unitary Development Plan / Local Development Plan - find itVery easyVery easyVery easyVery easy10103
Voting - register toEasyVery easyVery easyEasy953
Vulnerable adult - express concern about oneEasyVery easyEasyUntested943
Vulnerable child - express concern about oneVery easyVery easyVery easyUntested1043
Watch a webcast of a recent council or committee meetingGave upGave upGave upUntested183
Welfare reform - find information aboutUntestedUntestedGave upVery easy623
Youth clubs in the area - find informationGave upGave upGave upEasy3173
TotalsNavigationA-ZGoogleSite searchReadabilityScoreTests 
Total scores4634665394315142414  
Number of tests10510510410667 487 
Usability Index (total score ÷ number of tests)445485  

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. As more users complete any given test, the score for each aspect of each task becomes a mean average of all the individual testers scores, and thus the 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 all 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.

The Importance column shows the mean average of how important all the testers considered the ability to complete this task to be, ranging from 0 = Unimportant to 5 = Very important.

Specific comments made about this council

Address - change mine on council systems - 2013-12-17
Very surprised not to find change of address on council tax pages!

Address - change mine on council systems - 2015-01-13
I eventually found a downloadable PDF form via a google search and a link to an online form, but I didn't manage to find this via the site.

Adult education courses - find information - 2015-01-13
I found adult education course information quickly and easily via both council site and google search.

Antisocial behaviour - complain about it - 2013-12-17
Being offered a choice of routes stops it being very easy. I still wonder who complains to the council rather than going to the police about antisocial behaviour anyway?

Antisocial behaviour - complain about it - 2015-01-13
Easy to find. Information is clear.

Antisocial behaviour - complain about it - 2015-01-14
it had to be entered as anti-social behaviour to be found using the internal search. Antisocial behaviour returned no results.

Blue badge - apply for one - 2015-01-13
I found the relevant information and form with ease, however the form is a downloadable form which can be posted, emailed or presented at a one stop shop for submission. There's no option to complete and submit the application online.

Broken street lights - report - 2013-12-17
Nothing under street lights, had to go to report.

Broken street lights - report - 2015-01-13
Internal keyword search presents no search results, but easy to find via other search methods and the wizard is easy to use.

Council housing - apply for it - 2013-12-17
Housing being at the very bottom of the home page, and the link being labelled housing associations stopped it from being very easy.

Council housing - apply for it - 2015-01-13
I found the page I wanted eventually, but it was difficult to find the correct term to search under. I first reached the 'find a housing association page' which is a list of names and addresses and doesn't point me to the 'join the housing register' page.

Council meeting - read the last full council minutes - 2015-01-13
I found the latest meeting minutes easily and very current. the meeting I searched for had minutes published from a meeting the previous evening.

Council tax - pay it - 2015-01-13
Found this information easily via navigation, a to z and google, but not so easily by an internal search.

Council tip - find a nearby one - 2015-01-14
The search result for the key-phrase "Rubbish Tips" does not show any results. On the Find a Recycling Centre or Tip page, the address under the Otterspool Recycling Centre header, could probably use a little spacing between each line. The lines seem very close together, but this is obviously not essential.

Cycling strategy - find it - 2013-12-17
Some cycling info, couldn't find strategy info.

Cycling strategy - find it - 2015-01-14
I couldn't find this strategy via the council site.

Death - register one - 2015-01-13
Register Death was easy to find, but both "Register Death" and "Death and Bereavement Benefits" pages did not have any related links to one another.

Death - register one - 2015-01-14
This page is easy to find and information is well presented.

Economic condition and strategy for the area - find it - 2015-01-14
Liverpools economic information was difficult to find. The strategies information was much easier to locate.

Elections - find out when the next ones are - 2015-01-14
it's very easy to find links to last election results and information about elections, but nowhere could I find the next election date.

Employment help for people with disabilities - find information on - 2015-01-14
I couldn't find any information on the Liverpool site for employment help for people with disabilities.

Flood protection - find information - 2015-01-14
I couldn't find information on flood protection on liverpool.gov.uk

Freedom of Information Act request - make one - 2015-01-14
It's easy to find information on FOI, but I couldn't find an online form to enable me to make a request online. I found a telephone number to call and an email address.

Housing repair - request one - 2013-12-17
Does this council not do this?

Jobs - find a council job - 2013-12-17
Bottom of the home page, not top. General note: A-Z pages being in three columns is actually quite difficult; another site where lists are not in alphabetical order.

Leisure centres close to me - find one - 2013-12-17
Not 'very easy' because on the home page the labelling didn't have location; some inappropriate use of show/hide links on some leisure centre list pages. Also, the branding of them as 'lifestyles centres' could cause confusion.

Local services and information on a map - look at - 2015-01-14
I can find my neighbourhood information which is specific to a postcode. It includes things like electoral details, find my nearest school, library, bin collection date, etc. I cannot however view this information on a map and if I try to search by a term other than 'my neighbourhood' it's difficult to find what I'm looking for.

Local services and information on a map - look at - 2015-01-14
I can find my neighbourhood information which is specific to a postcode. It includes things like electoral details, find my nearest school, library, bin collection date, etc. I cannot however view this information on a map and if I try to search by a term other than 'my neighbourhood' it's difficult to find what I'm looking for.

Meals on Wheels - find information - 2015-01-15
Information is easy to find and easy to read.

Open Data - find some - 2014-04-07
'Open data' was generally difficult to find if you landed on the council homepage - only users who knew to look for 'transparency' would find the information relating to open data.

Open Data - find some - 2015-01-15
Data is buried quite deep within council section and under the heading - key statistics. This was difficult to find.

Parking - find out how much it costs - 2013-12-17
Car parks easy, but couldn't find on-street parking costs.

Parking - find out how much it costs - 2015-01-15
Content is easy to find, but you have to click into each car park name for fees and car park address.

Petitions - create one - 2015-01-15
I couldn't find petition information.

Planning or building control violation - report one - 2015-01-15
I couldn’t find how to report a planning or building control violation.

Population and census information - find it - 2015-01-15
I found this with ease.

Public toilets - find them - 2015-01-15
I found a public toilet under facilities for one of the parks, but I couldn't find a collective list.

Regulation of children on stage, film, and television - find information - 2015-01-15
I couldn’t find this information.

School places - apply for one - 2015-01-15
Found this information with ease.

School term dates - find them - 2015-01-15
Easy to find and well presented.

Scrutiny committee reports and minutes - find them - 2015-01-15
Easy to find this information.

Small business support - find information - 2015-01-15
The information is easy to find.

Social media accounts - find them - 2015-01-15
It's difficult to find social media links on the Liverpool City Council site but I found it easily from a Google search.

Stopping smoking services - find information - 2015-01-15
I found a page buried within the schools and learning section which lists fag end sessions taking place in a Children's Centre. This information is targeted only at young parents. I cannot find information for all relating to stop smoking services.

Taxi licence - apply for one - 2015-01-15
The internal search does not recognise "Taxi Licence', but will show results for "Taxi Licences".

Travellers - find information about them - 2015-01-15
"Gypsy and Traveller Service" does not show up within the internal search results. Also "Gypsy and Traveller Service" and "Gypsy and Traveller Sites" do not have any related links to one-another.

Travellers - find information about them - 2015-01-15
"Gypsy and Traveller Service" does not show up within the internal search results. Also "Gypsy and Traveller Service" and "Gypsy and Traveller Sites" do not have any related links to one-another.

Tree preservation order - apply for one - 2015-01-15
There may be a problem with the internal search, as both "Tree", "Tree Preservation" and "Preservation" did not show any results.

Tree preservation order - apply for one - 2015-01-15
There may be a problem with the internal search, as both "Tree", "Tree Preservation" and "Preservation" did not show any results.

Tree preservation order - apply for one - 2015-01-15
There may be a problem with the internal search, as both "Tree", "Tree Preservation" and "Preservation" did not show any results.

Tree preservation order - apply for one - 2016-06-17
It appears the council doesn't offer this as an online service.

Voting - register to - 2014-02-27
Easy to find, but had to guess-click a link to find the form.

Vulnerable adult - express concern about one - 2015-01-15
N/A

Vulnerable child - express concern about one - 2013-12-17
Was under health and social care on home page - may not be the best heading nowadays.

Watch a webcast of a recent council or committee meeting - 2015-01-14
There are no Webcasts currently on the website.

Watch a webcast of a recent council or committee meeting - 2015-01-14
There are no Webcasts currently on the website.

Youth clubs in the area - find information - 2015-01-13
When using the keywords "Youth Club(s)" internally, the search result does not find any result. This maybe due to the keywords used, "Young Peoples Activities". Although, when searching Google, the correct page does show up for the keywords "Youth Club(s)".

Youth clubs in the area - find information - 2015-01-15
I couldn't seem to find information regarding a Welfare Reform.

Youth clubs in the area - find information - 2015-01-15
I couldn't seem to find information regarding a Welfare Reform.

Youth clubs in the area - find information - 2015-01-15
I couldn't seem to find information regarding a Welfare Reform.