Accessibility law - Accessibility statements
Increasingly, people are including declarations on their websites that define the level of web accessibility the website aims to achieve. Known as Accessibility Statements, these declarations take the form of a short information page which is available via a link from every page of the website.
An accessibility statement is a page of content on your service which:
- shows people how we can be confident our services are accessible
- allows people to contact us if they get stuck
- stops people wasting their time if they won’t be able to use the service
- empowers people to hold us accountable if we are not fulfilling our responsibilities
- helps our services to be legally compliant
Accessibility statements and the law
Under regulation 8 in the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 it states that all public sector websites must provide an accessibility statement.
Under the legislation, an accessibility statement must:
- be provided in an accessible format
- be published on the website of the public sector body
- include an explanation of any features which are not accessible and why
- outline any accessible alternatives
- provide a method of contact so people can report issues or request information
- outline the enforcement procedure
Sample Accessibility Statement
GDS have created a sample accessibility statement based on the model accessibility statement which includes additional information which might be useful: sample accessibility statement for a public sector website.
It’s important to note that the sample is template that should be used as a starting point, not a finished statement. You should not just copy and paste this sample. You should ensure that all sections are relevant for your service (aside from the legally required bits) and that content is accurate to your website or service.
There is also additional guidance on accessibility statements on GOV.UK.
