Web Accessibility

Practical resources and advice to help you understand and implement the new government legislation.

What are the accessibility regulations?

On 23 September 2018 new regulations on the accessibility of websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies came into force in the UK. 

The government will be monitoring affected websites and apps to check they follow the rules and aren’t breaking the new legal requirements.

Am I affected?

These regulations require public sector websites and mobile applications to achieve specific accessibility standards. This applies to all publicly-funded higher education institutions. Read more about how this will affect HE on the government website.

What organisations must do

There are four steps public sector organisations must take to ensure they are compliant with the regulations:

  1. Understand how the regulations will impact them
  2. Check the accessibility of their websites
  3. Make a plan to fix any problems they find
  4. Publish an accessibility statement

What are the deadlines?

23 September 2019

Public sector websites published on or after
23 September 2018 must be compliant.

23 September 2020

Websites published before 23 September 2018
must be compliant.

23 June 2021

Apps must be compliant.