2024 Accessibility Deadline: Ensure your Council is Compliant
As many of you are aware, new website accessibility standards, known as WCAG 2.2AA, are set to come into effect next month. These standards are designed to ensure that all users, regardless of their physical, sensory, or cognitive abilities, can access and interact with your council's website effectively.
At GAPTC, we strongly recommend that councils take steps to update their websites to meet these new standards. Our web partner, Parish Online, has already updated all their customers' websites to be compliant with WCAG 2.2AA as of February. They offer a complete website and email service specifically tailored for local councils, ensuring that your site is not only high-quality and accessibility-compliant but also in line with Government policies. A bonus is that Parish Online’s service includes a .gov.uk domain name at no extra cost—a key recommendation for councils to present themselves as a professional tier of Government.
In addition to ensuring accessibility, moving to a .gov.uk domain name enhances your council’s credibility and security. There is government funding available to help councils transition to a .gov.uk domain, but please note that this funding is only available for the current financial year. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity promptly. If you need assistance, you can email Sandra and Tim from the Parish Council Domains Helper Service here.
We understand that the introduction of these new standards might seem daunting. However, we want to reassure you that there is no immediate threat of sanctions if your council is not fully compliant with the WCAG 2.2AA standards by next month. According to the Government Digital Service, enforcement will not be strict from the outset, allowing councils some time to make the necessary adjustments. While it is important to work towards compliance to ensure that your website is accessible to all, we advise you to approach this as a priority rather than an emergency.
For those who may have missed it, we hosted a networking session with clerks some months ago to discuss the benefits and process of transitioning to a .gov.uk domain. You can view the recording of that session here.
A note on Parish Meetings: While they are entitled to .gov.uk email addresses and some have used this funding to help them do that, they have more limited funds and may not have a website. Using a generic council email address as the main point of contact is still recommended for handling official business, rather than a personal email account e.g. gmail, hotmail etc.
We encourage all councils to take the necessary steps to ensure your website meets these new standards and to consider the benefits of adopting a .gov.uk domain. This is a great opportunity to improve your council’s online presence and ensure that it is accessible to everyone in your community.
If you have any questions or need further support, please do not hesitate to contact us.