Forum Home → Discussion → Other benefit issues → Thread
New regulations on public sector duty to ensure equality of access to websites and mobile applications
The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (published on Friday) revoke July’s Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 due to drafting errors in those regs.
The new regs implement an EU Directive requiring public bodies to take the necessary measures to make their websites and applications accessible by making them ‘perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust’.
Just wondering how the DWP’s web content stands up to this requirement?
Just wondering how the DWP’s web content stands up to this requirement?
yeah right.
If one were being scrupulously fair it ought to be observed that DWP do a fair amount of user testing behind the scenes (I know as I’ve participated in several sessions) and there’s pretty rigorous attention to detail and they certainly do more user testing than most local authorities for example. For the latter accessibility translates as
- “do we have an accessibility statement?”
- “do we comply with web standards?”
- “have we tried it with at least 1 person who uses a screen reader?”
Few test actual real world accessibility in the way that DWP do. Many/most sites have an accessibility statement, comply with web standards and yet are woeful when it comes to real world accessibility. A good acid test on this is to ask a learning disabled or hearing impaired person to use a site. It’s most revealing.
Obviously the issue with DWP is that the above testing is not consistent and across the board yet and is hamstrung by lots of legacy stuff getting in the way.
The fascinating thing about this legislation is that I suspect it’s been drafted (with no irony whatsoever) using their new digital drafting process of which they are inordinately and unjustifiably proud and, yes, it has had to be redone because of a mistake! Even more worryingly there seems once again to be a huge amount of time spent on accessibility statements as opposed to accessibility and it seems to me that the disproportionate burden section is already covered by EA 10 and is purporting to give an additional get out clause. The exclusion of mapping is also of concern.
At present the DWP are outside their public sector equality duty as they haven’t published their Equality Objectives or fulfilled all of the aims of the last one. It’s a requirement of the public sector duty to publish every 4 years and the last ones they published were 2012. Also the only equalilty impact assessment I can find on UC is using data from before they reduced work allowances, the consultation for UC was done based on studies that included the higher work allowance too.