Sitemorse, in conjunction with Socitm, have published their 2^nd State of the Sector report that assesses the progress that UK Local Government organisations are making to ensure that their websites are accessible. 

The 23 September 2019 was the day that all UK Public Sector Bodies needed to publish accessibility statements for all of their new websites which must now meet WCAG 2.1 Levels AA conformance.

Public Sector Bodies are legally responsible for their website meeting accessibility requirements, even if they have outsourced their website to a supplier. More than that they have a social and moral responsibility to make sure that everyone can access their content. More information about the new regulations can be found from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sample-accessible-document-policy It is important to note that Levels A and AA tests have to be met independently. 

Each quarter Sitemorse assesses the main websites of over 400 local authority websites for adherence to WCAG 2.1, which it publishes in its UK Local Government INDEX. The INDEX covers the main website of each organisation however, the law applies to all websites operated, directly or on behalf of the organisation.

Only three local authorities scored 10 (out of 10) for accessibility, whilst 82% didn’t achieve the target score of 7.

• Pages passing accessibility level A: 14%
• Pages passing accessibility level AA: 79% 
• Of the 3,552 PDF’s assessed, 41% passed the accessibility tests.

The report can be obtained by contacting Adam Turner at Sitemorse: aturner@Sitemorse.com