Accessibility law - Accessibility regulations vs the GOV.UK Service Standard

There is a difference between being legally compliant and having a service which works for everyone. Legal compliance is the bare minimum, but it doesn't guarantee your service will work for all your users.

The GOV.UK Service Standard is more specific in what you need to do to make your service accessible. There are an additional two criteria you must meet. This is called the Government Accessibility Requirements.

The Accessibility Regulations

To be legally compliant your service needs to:

You can read a more in-depth explanation about the accessibility regulations in this manual.

The Government Accessibility Requirements

To pass a service assessment your service needs to:

  • meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
  • publish a compliant accessibility statement
  • include users with disabilities in user research
  • be tested with common assistive technologies