By Angela Matthews
Business Disability Forum are seeking your views on Government Digital Service’s consultation on the EU Directive that requires public sector bodies to have accessible websites and apps, coming into force on 23 September 2018.
What does the Directive say?
Public sector bodies need to ensure that their websites and apps fulfil the following criteria:
- They should abide by the POUR principles (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust – further information on this here).
- They should publish an accessibility statement:
- listing the parts of the site/app that are not accessible (and why they are not accessible);
- the option to give feedback on the accessibility (for example, where an accessibility function is not working); and
- a link to a ‘complaints’ procedure.
- They should publish accessibility information of an app on third party app stores (such as Apple App Store or Google Play).
Public sector bodies are required to only action what does not cause “disproportionate burden” to them.
When do public sectors need to comply?
Current public sector websites and apps are required to comply with these changes from 23 September 2020. Public sectors websites that are created after 23 September 2018 need to comply with these changes from 23 September 2019.
What do you think?
Business Disability Forum is forming a response to this consultation. As the voice of business on disability inclusion, we always consult our Members, Partners, strategic alliances, and disabled stakeholders to inform our policy decisions. Inclusive technology remains a key focus for us at Business Disability Forum and we work with hundreds of organisations in the UK and across the globe to support businesses to produce products, services, policies, and practices that increase opportunities and remove barriers for disabled people.
Tell us what your think via our anonymous online survey (via Survey Monkey): Go to survey.
Or email policy@businessdisabilityforum.org.uk
The deadline for responses is 9am on Friday 25 May 2018. Please note the very tight deadline!
