Test results for Cambridgeshire County 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.

Grey rows indicate this council is not responsible for this task, but has been tested according to how well it signposts to the correct council.

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TaskNavigationA-ZGoogleSite searchReadabilityScoreTestsImportance
Address - change mine on council systemsGave upGave upGave upVery easy351
Adult education courses - find informationVery easyVery easyEasyEasy753
Antisocial behaviour - complain about it
Blue badge - apply for oneUntestedVery easyVery easyEasy843
Broken street lights - reportGave upEasyGave upUntested543
Bulky waste or other special waste collection - book
Complain about something the council has done
Council housing - apply for it
Council meeting - read the last full council minutes
Council news - find it
Council tax - pay itUntestedVery easyVery easyUntested1033
Council tax / housing benefit - apply
Council tip - find a nearby one
Councillors - find who mine areUntestedVery easyVery easyEasy1043
Cycling strategy - find itUntestedUntestedUntestedVery easy1020
Death - register one
Economic condition and strategy for the area - find it
Elections - find out when the next ones are
Employment help for people with disabilities - find information on
Events - find council ones
Flood protection - find informationUntestedUntestedUntestedVery easy1025
Food hygiene problem - report one
Freedom of Information Act request - make one
Housing repair - request one
Jobs - find a council job
Leisure centres close to me - find one
Leisure discount card - apply for one
Library book - renewUntestedVery easyUntestedUntested1013
Local history - find out about
Local library opening hours - find themUntestedUntestedVery easyEasy925
Local services and information on a map - look atUntestedUntestedUntestedDifficult725
Market stall trading - find information aboutUntestedUntestedGave upUntested123
Meals on Wheels - find informationUntestedGave upGave upUntested133
Missed bin collection - complain about one
Noise nuisance - complain about it
Open Data - find some
Parking - find out how much it costs
Parking fine - pay one
Petitions - create one
Planning application - comment on one
Planning committee meeting - find when the next one is
Planning or building control violation - report one
Planning permission - apply for it
Population and census information - find itGave upEasyEasyEasy550
Pothole - report oneGave upEasyEasyUntested743
Public toilets - find them
Read the council's greenhouse gas emissions report for the previous year
Regulation of children on stage, film, and television - find information
School places - apply for one
School term dates - find them
Scrutiny committee reports and minutes - find them
Senior staff and politicians in the council - find their names
Small business support - find information
Social media accounts - find themUntestedUntestedUntestedVery easy1025
Stopping smoking services - find information
Supplying the council - find out how
Sustainability and climate change - find information on
Taxi driver - complain about oneVery easyGave upGave upUntested340
Taxi licence - apply for one
Telephone number - find the main one
Trading Standards - complain about a dodgy item from a shop
Travellers - find information about them
Tree preservation order - apply for oneUntestedUntestedGave upUntested123
Unitary Development Plan / Local Development Plan - find it
Voting - register to
Vulnerable adult - express concern about one
Vulnerable child - express concern about one
Watch a webcast of a recent council or committee meeting
Welfare reform - find information aboutGave upUntestedVery easyVery easy645
Youth clubs in the area - find information
TotalsNavigationA-ZGoogleSite searchReadabilityScoreTests 
Total scores9525778094371  
Number of tests177111411 60 
Usability Index (total score ÷ number of tests)647696  

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

Adult education courses - find information - 2014-02-14
Internal search took me to "learning centres" page. From there I found the Adult education page which was a level up. I could not find a single list of courses availble but the search for courses was good.

Broken street lights - report - 2014-11-20
A-Z is at bottom of page so not very prominent & streetlighting not listed. Google result - #2 (district council page is #1)

Council tax - pay it - 2014-02-05
The three possible search methods were very good as they were all rated as 'Very Easy'. However, there wasn't an A-Z search box on the website. Even though for this task it wasn't necessary, for others, this may be needed to make it easier for people to search. Overall, the three present options were very helpful and useful. These were near the top and were relevant so this was good. Like I stated before, the only improvement would be to add a A-Z index service.

Councillors - find who mine are - 2018-02-20
It's good that you can click on a map, but the usability of the map product itself is very poor. In 2018, an online map should behave like Google Maps does. What's with the rotating fan for several seconds in the top right corner whenever a page is loaded?

Local services and information on a map - look at - 2015-08-17
map is laggy and hard to navigate through

Meals on Wheels - find information - 2018-02-20
A top result on the internal search for 'meals on wheels' was Help with cost for music education. I assume this council doesn't provide this service, but since the perception of most people might be that it's still a social care service provided by the council, the council website should at least signpost people to the agency which does provide the service.

Population and census information - find it - 2014-02-20
The search box on your A to Z pages can't be submitted by hitting Return. You have to click. This is an accessibility problem.

Taxi driver - complain about one - 2014-02-05
I found the general complaints form quite easily, but not for the specific task.

Tree preservation order - apply for one - 2018-02-20
Internal search for tree preservation orders gave as 'Top Results' Youth Offending Service, Digitisation and Scanning, and Document conservation service amongst other links.