What accessible content is

What content needs to be made accessible

Find out what content needs to be made accessible and what you need to do if it's not.  

On this page

What content is

Anyone who creates or commissions content for our websites is legally responsible for making sure it's accessible.

This includes content on websites:

  • we control and manage 
  • we pay somebody else to supply
  • meant only for staff, like our Intranet or SharePoint sites

By content, we mean:

  • web page text and images
  • documents files, like PDFs, spreadsheets or Easy Read documents 
  • forms and surveys
  • video and audio-only content (like podcasts)

You cannot argue that making things accessible is a disproportionate burden simply because you’ve not given it priority, or you lack the time or knowledge.

Make a plan to review content people use on your web pages and if you need to, fix it.

Things you need to fix

Your team will need to fix content that has not been made accessible if it has been published on our:

  • public websites, even if the website has been outsourced to an external supplier
  • intranets or extranets after 23 September 2019
  • intranets or extranets before 23 September 2019 if they are updated or redeveloped

This content includes:

  • text and images
  • pre-recorded audio and video published after 23 September 2020
  • PDFs or other documents published after 23 September 2018 
  • PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018, if users need them to use a service, like a form that lets you request school meal preferences

Things you might not need to fix

Your team does not need to fix content that's exempt from the accessibility regulations, including:

  • content on intranets or extranets published before 23 September 2019, unless you make a major update
  • PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018, unless users need them to use your service, like a form that lets you request school meal preferences
  • pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020
  • live audio and video - unless it's recorded for later access and was published after 23 September 2020
  • maps - but you’ll need to provide essential information in an accessible format like an address
  • heritage collections like scanned manuscripts
  • archived websites if they’re not needed for services you provide and they are not updated
  • third party content that’s under someone else’s control if you did not pay for it or develop it yourself, like social media 'like' buttons

Third-party content under someone else’s control

You are not responsible for fixing third party content that’s under someone else’s control if you did not pay for it or develop it yourself. For example, a YouTube video or PDF produced by an external organisation.

While you do not need to fix this content, you may still be responsible for providing this information in an alternative format if:

  • it is essential to understanding or using your service - users rely on it to complete a task, access information or make decisions
  • a user requests an accessible version

Examples of an alternative format could be:

  • a text summary of important information from an embedded video without captions
  • text on a web page summarising inaccessible information in a PDF event flyer
  • a plain text summary of a complex PDF document with charts and tables 
  • a CSV file of table information in a PDF financial report 

Partially exempt organisations

Primary and secondary schools or nurseries are partially exempt from accessibility regulations, except for the content people need in order to use their services. For example, a form that lets you outline school meal preferences.

Read more about accessibility requirements for public sector bodies (GOV.UK)