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Writing an accessibility statement

Accessibility statement example

This page gives an example of an accessibility statement with some explanatory guidance notes. It is based on GOV.UK's model accessibility statement and provides the minimum legal wording for what needs to be included.

The statement is also available as a Word document template. You can copy and paste this template to create your own accessibility statement. You'll need to replace the words that are in square brackets.

Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to [scope of statement, for example, website or domain to which the statement applies].

Note: Use this section to comment on the some of the things you've provided to help users access your service. Consider what you have included to improve the accessibility of the site. This doesn't need to be a comprehensive list.

This website is run by the [name of organisation, for example, Scottish Government]. It is designed to be used by as many people as possible. You should be able to:

  • use your web browser to change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without loss of information
  • navigate all of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate all of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
  • access the website using a mobile or tablet

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

Note: This section is a way of reassuring and explaining accessibility limitations to users. Write what you know isn't fully accessible on the site in plain English. This content is an example of what you could add but the section is optional and can be removed.

We know that some parts of this website are not fully accessible. For example:

  • most PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • at magnification of 200%, the menu button is not functional using the keyboard

Feedback and contact information

Note: You must provide a means for users to contact you. This would normally be the service owner.

We want to find ways to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: [email@gov.scot] with the details.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

[Name of organisation, for example, Scottish Government] is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

Note: Choose one of the following 3 options and delete the others.

This website is fully compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to [insert one of the following: ‘the non-compliances’, ‘the exemptions’ or ‘the non-compliances and exemptions’] listed below.

This website is not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard. The [insert one of the following: ‘non-compliances’, ‘exemptions’ or ‘non-compliances and exemptions’] are listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Note: Summarise the issues and group them into sub-headings if there are lots to mention. You could link to a recent audit if you wanted to share the full outline of the review but this isn't mandatory. The information in brackets relates to the failed success criterion in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Visibility of content

At magnification of 200%, the menu button (the 'hamburger' icon pattern) is not functional using the keyboard (Keyboard 2.1.1)

At magnification of 200%, the keyboard focus is missing on the banner section of the website (Focus visible 2.4.7)

In mobile view (320 x 256 pixels), the user has to scroll horizontally to see the full title of the latest news article (Reflow 1.4.10)

PDFs and other documents

Some document formats such as PDF, MS Word and Excel may not be fully accessible. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

Disproportionate burden

We are not claiming that any of our accessibility issues are disproportionate to fix.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and Office file formats

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services. Where documents are updated and new PDF documents published, they will meet accessibility standards.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Note: Show how and when you plan to improve accessibility on your website. This could be that the site uses the Scottish Government Design System.

Recent audits have identified a significant number of PDFs that do not meet accessibility guidelines.

As part of our work to improve the accessibility of this website, we are reviewing our policy on PDFs and other methods of delivering information with a view to making them as accessible as possible.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

Note: This section is legally required. Include the method of how the team tested the site and what tools were used.

This statement was prepared on [date when it was first published]. It was last reviewed on [date when it was last reviewed].

This website was last tested on [date] by [name of who carried out the test].

[name of who carried out the test] ran an automated test across the site, to detect compliance with WCAG 2.2 (AA). The automated tests were completed using the latest version of Axe. This was followed by a manual accessibility review of a representative sample of pages and content types and was conducted using assistive technology in accordance with the most used (JAWS and NVDA).

We are currently implementing changes based on this test and will update this page with new information about the improvements we make.

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