At Sitemorse we published our 2020 Q2 UK Government and Public Bodies INDEX this week.

The INDEX has been published quarterly since 2006 and ranks the websites of over 330 Government and Public Bodies for digital compliance, based on User Experience, Search Engine Optimisation and Governance, Risk and Compliance.

The revamped Q2 INDEX was compiled following over 395 million tests, checks and measures across over 1.2 million URLs.

Congratulations to the Boundary Commission of Northern Ireland for taking first place and to UK Legislation for being the most improved, rising 118 places up the table.

Since Q1, 25 organisations have improved the accessibility of their website, whilst 24 have seen it decline.

No organisations passed the WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA tests on 100% of their web pages and 9 organisations failed the level A and AA tests on every page.

European Union Directive 2016/2102/EU, creating a set of standards for EU public sector bodies, using European standard EN 301 549 V1.1.2 (2015-04) was approved on October 26, 2016. It came into force for in the UK on 23 September 2018. The aim of the regulations is to ensure public sector websites and mobile apps can be used by as many people as possible.

This includes those with:

• impaired vision
• motor difficulties
• cognitive impairments or learning disabilities
• deafness or impaired hearing

New public sector websites have needed to be complaint since 22 September this year, all other public sector websites need to be compliant by 22 September 2020.

If we focus on accessibility, 4 organisations; NHS Digital, Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, Natural Resources Wales and Office for Nuclear Regulation scored highest, with 8 (out of 10) - they should be congratulated for taking the lead in this sector on accessibility.

As for the rest of the organisations in the INDEX:

• 34% of organisations scored 5 or 6 (out of 10) for accessibility
• 33% of organisations scored between 1 and 4 (out of 10) for accessibility
• 29% of organisations scored zero for accessibility

In the event of 2 organisations being tied then the organisation who scored higher in the previous quarter’s INDEX is ranked higher.

Top ten websites

1. Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland
2. Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists
3. Natural Resources Wales
4. National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) Corporation
5. Office for Students
6. Utility Regulator Northern Ireland
7. NHS Digital
8. Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland
9. National Infrastructure Commission
10. Crossrail International

Five Most improved websites

• UK Legislation
• Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre
• Transport for London
• Plaid Cymru
• Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science

The full UK Government and Public Bodies Q2 2020 results can be found here: Sitemorse UK Government and Public Bodies INDEX