What accessible content is

What content needs to be made accessible

Anyone who creates or commissions content for our websites must make sure it's accessible. This includes internal services only used by employees.

By content, we mean:

  • web page content, including text and images
  • documents uploaded to one of our public facing websites, intranet or SharePoint sites
  • video and audio-only content (like podcasts)

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

Make creating content accessibly business as usual. Make a plan to review existing content people use on our websites and if you need to, fix it.

Things you need to fix

Your will need to fix content if it has not been made accessible. This includes content published on our:

  • public websites, even if it's been outsourced to an external supplier
  • intranets or extranets after 23 September 2019
  • intranets or extranets before 23 September 2019 when 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 some content because it's exempt from the accessibility regulations.

This includes:

  • 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
  • pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020
  • live audio and video
  • maps - but you’ll need to provide essential information in an accessible format like an address
  • third party content that’s under someone else’s control if you did not pay for it or develop it yourself - for example, social media ‘like’ buttons
  • heritage collections like scanned manuscripts
  • archived websites if they’re not needed for services your organisation provides and they are not updated

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 Understanding accessibility requirements for public sector bodies (GOV.UK)