New regulations have come into force which means from next year, every public sector website and app will need to meet certain accessibility standards.
The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, to give its full title, came into force on 23 September. It aims to ensure public sector websites and mobile apps are accessible to all users, especially those with disabilities.
We recently published a blog post detailing what the new regulations will cover, what public sector website owners will need to do and how the Government Digital Service (GDS) is supporting them.
Now we want to focus on one particular thing the regulations require - publishing a website accessibility statement.
The regulations and the statement
All new public sector websites will need to meet accessibility standards and publish an accessibility statement.
This will make clear the level of accessibility across the site or app. Where there are barriers, the statement will inform users of alternative routes to access. The statement will also enable users to contact the website owner if they identify issues.
Any websites published since September this year will need a statement by September 2019, while older websites have until 2020 to comply.
Writing the statement
Many public sector bodies already publish accessibility information on their website. The new regulations mean this information will have to be presented in a consistent way and based on a model statement.
The accessibility statement should:
- list any inaccessible parts of the website or app
- show how people with access needs can get alternatives to content that’s not accessible
- provide details on who to contact to report accessibility issues
- provide information on the enforcement procedure if people are not happy with the response
- be published in a fully accessible form
- follow a consistent format
The statement will also need to be updated annually.
How GDS is helping
GDS is currently working on the model statement that website owners must use.
We have been user-testing the format with people with access needs so we can make sure the statements are clearly understood and meet user needs.
We are currently finalising the template and will publish it on GOV.UK in the new year.
What you need to do right now
In order to have the information required to complete an accessibility statement it is important that public sector bodies review and test their websites for user accessibility now.
You should include users with access needs and those using assistive technologies in this activity and schedule this on a regular basis.
When fixing issues with your online services and published content make sure they meet the key acceptance criteria of the European or international standards (respectively, EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.1 AA).
This will ensure you are prepared to meet the new regulations and will have all the information needed for your statement.
Read the guidance on making your public sector website or app accessible.
9 comments
Comment by David Williamson posted on
Hi
How is the template for accessibility statement available yet?
Would like to start getting it into use on my Council's sites.
Comment by Joshue O Connor - Senior accessibility specialist posted on
Hi David, We're working on guidance to help you publish an accessibility statement in line with the new legislation. This should be on GOV.UK in the next couple of months.
Comment by Mike J posted on
When you say "Public sector websites" is this referring to citizen facing websites/services? I work for the National Crime Agency and we run a members only web site/service that is specifically aimed at certain users across the law enforcement landscape, including local authorities, all police and other government departments.
The GDS service manual and service design guidelines always seem to be only referring to public facing websites for citizen use, which causes some confusion for agencies like ours.
Comment by Anthony Ilona posted on
Hi Mike J,
The regulations also include “extranets and intranets” in its scope. This means a website that is only available for a closed group of people and not to the general public.
Comment by Tina Wiltshire posted on
Will there be a standard accessibility statement template incorporated into the format for GOV.UK hosted sites?
Comment by Mike Gifford (@mgifford) posted on
Hopefully it is in a consistent location like /accessibility
Would be wonderful if there was a machine readable format (a new yaml standard perhaps).
There are other ideas about how to craft a useful statement here:
https://github.com/accessibility/Accessibility-Statement
Comment by AH posted on
I have read this and your previous blog and while I think I know the answer I don't like to assume, so my question is:
When you refer to 'websites' do you mean all sites independent of GOV.UK?
Comment by Anthony Ilona - GDS posted on
Hi AH - Any reference to UK public sector bodies websites would also include all non-GOV.UK websites.
Comment by Renato Bottini posted on
If you are looking for a solution to addressing Accessibility issues as well as website governance including Quality, SEO and GDPR please take a look at Insites.com from Silktide.
Best
Renato