This blog post considers how well council websites in the UK and Ireland are meeting legal requirements to review their accessibility statements.
How many councils have an Accessibility Statement?
The majority of councils in the UK and Ireland (398 – 97.1%) publish an accessibility statement on their main websites. 12 councils (2.9%) currently don’t publish a statement. The table below details where the 12 councils are geographically located:
| Geographical location | Number of councils with an accessibility statement | Number of councils without an accessibility statement |
| Scotland | 32 | 0 |
| England | 312 | 2 |
| Wales | 21 | 1 |
| Northern Ireland | 8 | 3 |
| Ireland | 25 | 6 |
| Total | 398 | 12 |
How many councils have fully updated Accessibility Statements?
UK law (the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018) requires all public websites to have an accessibility statement. The statement details organisations compliance with accessibility standards (WCAG) and includes how accessible they are and procedures for users to report issues. The statement must be reviewed at least once a year, even if there haven’t been any significant changes to the website. It is also a requirement to include the date of the last review of the statement.
Irish law (S.I. No. 358/2020 – European Union (Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Sector Bodies) Regulations 2020) also states that ‘public sector bodies shall prepare and regularly update a detailed, comprehensive and clear accessibility statement on the compliance of their websites and mobile applications with these Regulations’.
I have reviewed council websites to find how many are updating their accessibility statements at least once a year. I also checked to see how many councils have revisited the model accessibility statement which requires them to review their websites against WCAG 2.2 accessibility guidelines, rather than the previous version (WCAG 2.1).
I was a little surprised by what I discovered. I found that 128 (31.2%) councils in the UK and Ireland are fully up to date with updating their accessibility statements. That leaves 282 councils (68.8%) which need to revisit and update their accessibility statements.
When did councils last update their Accessibility Statements?
As I mentioned earlier councils are required to review and update their statements at least once a year. Looking at the dates that councils have recorded on their statements I found that 152 councils have failed to review their statements in this period and a further 76 councils haven’t included a review date.
What do councils need to focus on when updating on their Accessibility Statements?
Councils which have work to do on their Accessibility Statements have 1 or 2 items to consider:
- update their statement and include the date this is carried out on their statements
- revisit the model accessibility statement and review their websites against WCAG 2.2 accessibility guidelines, rather than the previous version (WCAG 2.1)
The updating status of councils which need to update their statements is detailed on the table below:
| Updating status | Number of councils |
| 1 item needs to be updated | 97 |
| 2 items need updating | 185 |
How helpful is the guidance provided on what the law expects of councils in relation to Accessibility Statements?
The guidance provided to councils by the GDS (Government Digital Service) on what the law requires them to do with Accessibility Statements is comprehensive, easy to read and simple to understand. Councils (and indeed all public sector bodies) are provided with a model statement which contains mandatory wording to use.
If the guidance is comprehensive why are so many councils behind with updating their statements? Completing a statement isn’t a one off task, it is something that needs to be regularly reviewed at least once a year. Writing a statement and leaving it sitting on a website without updating it sends out the wrong message to people about a council’s commitment to accessibility. The councils which are regularly reviewing their statements are demonstrating their ongoing commitment to improving accessibility.
I usually publish full details of my findings, but this time I have decided not to as I want to councils to take the initiative themselves and check their statements. However, if you work in a council and want to find out how you fared in my review please get in contact and I will be happy to share what I found out. I am also available to help councils to review and update their Accessibility Statements.