TIP 90

Accessibility Statement Policy

If you are a website commissioner or a business looking to design your website to ensure accessibility (that is an accessible website design) you have a perceived responsibility under the UK DDA (and in compliance with the recent PAS 78) to ensure your new website design has an accessibility statement on it, from the website design company who developed the site and in collaboration with you, the website commissioner, declaring any steps taken to make your website that bit more usable and accessible, especially to people with any kind of disability which might see them discriminated against when visiting your website.

Defining the accessibility policy for the website

The website commissioner should ensure that an accessibility policy is in place for the website and this policy should be prominently displayed on the website. The accessibility policy for each website can be adapted from an existing organizational policy. The accessibility policy should outline the accessibility targets that will be set and any measures that will be taken to broaden access. The accessibility policy should be referenced in tender and contract documents and contain requirements for contractors undertaking the development and maintenance of the website.

All contractors should be asked specifically to commit to helping the organization meet its accessibility policy and this should be reflected in all contracts. There should be a summary of the accessibility policy available on the website.

Content of the accessibility policy

Website commissioners should include a declaration of accessibility on the website. The declaration should avoid jargon and be written in clear and appropriate language so that people understand its implications. The declaration should reference the W3C guidelines and specifications that the website upholds. Where self-awarded logos are used, these should only be displayed when the website conforms to the standards indicated and conformance should be checked on a continuous basis.

The content of the accessibility policy should include the following:

• A description of the disabled users to be consulted during the development of the website.
• An explanation of the core tasks users should be able to achieve on the site eg buy a book and the criteria for determining success.
• A description of the process to be used for developing and maintaining content to meet the needs of these users, including:
  • identifying user needs
  • developing the website to meet those needs
  • measuring the performance of the website in meeting those needs.
• Details of the accessibility level to be upheld (eg “conformance to W3C WAI WCAG 1.0 Level AA”).
• If an area or element of the website is unlikely to be accessible to people with particular impairments, an explanation should be provided of:
  • any repairs to be made to improve accessibility, along with a reasonable estimate of when the repairs will be made,
  • how disabled people can access this information or these services via alternative means.
  • If some of the above are possible, an explanation of why it is considered reasonable for the area to remain inaccessible.
  • NOTE Attention is drawn to the DRC’s “Code of Practice – Rights of Access, Goods, Facilities, Services and Premises”.
• Contact details (eg email, postal, telephone, textphone and typetalk) for requesting further information about the accessibility policy. NOTE Advice on the provision of textphone facilities is provided by RNID (Royal National Institute for Deaf People).
• Provision for users to lodge suggestions, comments and complaints with the website commissioner.

Publicly available accessibility policy statement

A summary of the accessibility policy should be made available on the website. This summary should include information on how to access details of optimizing the website user experience, eg how to change the screen colours and text sizes. NOTE Details of how to optimize the user experience of websites can be found at the BBC. Website commissioners may consider linking to this site. This summary should also provide contact details (eg email, postal, telephone, textphone and typetalk) for requesting further information about the accessibility policy and provision for users to lodge suggestions, comments and complaints with the website commissioner.

Accessibility guidelines

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the most important accessibility guidelines for web commissioners to be aware of, as they are considered to be the de facto standard for accessible web design.

WCAG comprises a set of checkpoints ranked into three conformance levels, with priorities 1, 2 or 3, according to W3C WAI’s view of their relative importance in enabling web access. Conformance with all the checkpoints in a conformance level (and those above it) qualifies a site for the designation Conformance Level A, AA or AAA.

Commissioners should specify the WCAG Conformance Level in their accessibility policy. NOTE W3C WAI has published resources to assist website developers in the application of WCAG. These include:

• Checklist of checkpoints for WCAG 1.0
• Techniques for WCAG 1.0
• Web content accessibility guidelines
• Additional resources

Website commissioners should aim to develop websites that are usable and accessible on a reasonable range of web browsers and operating systems. For examples of current browsers please see information posted at the BBC.

Website commissioners should ensure that web developers are aware of UAAG. Web developers should promote the use of UAAG by designing web content that upholds W3C guidelines and specifications, so that browsers that uphold the UAAG guidelines will provide an accessible experience. NOTE 1 It is not the responsibility of the website commissioner or website designer to ensure that the browser used upholds W3C guidelines and specifications, including UAAG.

Information sourced from PAS 78:2006 18 © BSI 8 March 2006. You can Download PAS 78 free, which can assist you in commissioning an accessible website design.

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