You must have a link to the service or website accessibility statement on every page, in the footer.
For mobile apps, the statement should be available on the website of the public sector body that developed the app, or with other information available when downloading the app. The statement can also be made available from within the app.
Statement templates
The following statements are designed to make it easier to create the correct statement for your service, and it's level of compliance to WCAG 2.2 Level AA. To use the correct statement template, you should understand conformance requirements.
If you are unsure of what to put in your statement, speak to the DesignOps team.
As a general rule, if you have just 1 failing success criteria against Level A or AA, you should use the partially conforming template.
| Conformance | Use when | Template |
|---|---|---|
| Fully conforming |
All pages of the website or service, including every step in any transactional service, must meet all level A and AA success criteria in full. There are no exceptions to this level of declaration. |
Get template code for full conformance |
| Partially conforming | 1 or more, but less than half, of Level A and AA success criteria have failed to be met. | Get template code for partial conformance |
| Non-conforming | More than half of all Level A and AA success criteria have not been met. | Get template code for non conformance |
Contact DesignOps for guidance and support on understanding conformance criteria.
Disproportionate burden
You might judge that the benefits of making some things accessible would not justify the cost to DfE to resolve. In that case, you can claim it would not be reasonable for you to make those things accessible because it’s a disproportionate burden.
You cannot take things like lack of time or knowledge into account in your assessment - or argue that making things accessible is a disproportionate burden because you’ve not given it priority.
Out of scope content
- pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020
- live audio and video
- heritage collections like scanned manuscripts
- PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 - unless users need them to use a service, for example a form that lets you request school meal preferences
- 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
- content on intranets or extranets published before 23 September 2019 (unless you make a major revision after that date)
- archived websites if they’re not needed for services your organisation provides and they are not updated
Read full guidance about disproportionate burden and out of scope content (opens in new tab) on GOV.UK