Key facts
- Full name
- Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018
- In force
- 23 September 2018
- Standard in GOV.UK guidance
- WCAG 2.2 Level AA
- Must publish
- An accessibility statement, reviewed regularly
- Covers
- Public sector websites, mobile apps for the public, intranets and extranets
- Monitoring
- Government Digital Service (GDS), which tests a sample of sites and apps every year
- Enforcement
- EHRC in England, Scotland and Wales; ECNI in Northern Ireland
Who must comply with the UK accessibility regulations?
All public sector bodies must comply unless they are exempt. That includes central and local government organisations and some charities and other non-government organisations. Intranets and extranets are covered, and so are mobile apps developed for the public; apps for a defined group such as employees or students are not.
You stay legally responsible even if a supplier built or runs your website. Separately from these regulations, every UK service provider must make reasonable adjustments for disabled people under the Equality Act 2010, or the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in Northern Ireland.
What does a public sector website have to do?
According to GOV.UK, a website or mobile app meets the legal requirements if it:
- meets the WCAG 2.2 Level AA standard, unless there is a valid legal reason not to, such as an exemption or disproportionate burden; and
- publishes an accessibility statement explaining how accessible it is, what is not accessible and why, and how to report problems.
Which organisations and content are exempt?
Fully exempt organisations are non-government organisations such as charities, unless they are mostly publicly funded, provide services essential to the public or aimed at disabled people, and public sector broadcasters. Primary and secondary schools and nurseries are partially exempt: they must make accessible the content people need to use their services, and publish a statement.
Content you do not need to fix includes:
- Pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020
- Live audio and video
- Heritage collections such as scanned manuscripts
- PDFs and other documents published before 23 September 2018, unless people need them to use a service
- Maps, as long as essential information such as an address is provided accessibly
- Third-party content you did not pay for or develop, such as social media buttons
- Intranet and extranet content published before 23 September 2019, unless it is majorly revised
- Archived websites that are not needed for services and are not updated
What is a disproportionate burden?
An organisation that is not exempt can decide not to fix something if the cost would be too much for it to reasonably bear compared with the benefit to disabled users. It must carry out an assessment and state the claim in its accessibility statement. Lack of time, knowledge or priority does not count, and claims are harder to justify for services aimed at disabled people or that let people take part in society, such as registering to vote or finding a job.
How are the regulations monitored and enforced?
GDS monitors compliance for the Minister for the Cabinet Office by testing a sample of public sector websites and apps each year, and can publish the names of bodies with a missing or incorrect accessibility statement. Failing to meet the accessibility requirement is treated as a failure to make reasonable adjustments, which the EHRC and ECNI can act on with investigations, unlawful act notices and court action.
Users who hit a problem should first contact the organisation using the details in its accessibility statement; if unhappy with the response, they can go to the Equality Advisory and Support Service or the ECNI.
