How to Write an Accessibility Statement

An accessibility statement is a public declaration by an organisation
describing the accessibility of its website or application — what standards
it aims to meet, what is known to be inaccessible, how to report problems,
and who to contact if the accessibility needs of a user are not being met.
Accessibility statements are a legal requirement for public sector
organisations in the UK and EU, and best practice for all organisations
publishing digital content.
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Legal requirements

UK public sector
The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 require public
sector bodies to publish an accessibility statement for each website and
mobile application. Statements must be reviewed and updated at least every
twelve months.

EU public sector
The Web Accessibility Directive requires public sector bodies in EU member
states to publish accessibility statements conforming to the EU model
accessibility statement template.

Private sector
Accessibility statements are not currently a legal requirement for most
private sector organisations, but are strongly recommended as evidence of
good faith effort toward compliance with equality and anti-discrimination law.
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Required content

A complete accessibility statement should include:

1. Conformance status

State the level of conformance with WCAG:

• Fully conformant — the content fully conforms with WCAG at the stated level
• Partially conformant — some content does not fully conform
• Non-conformant — the content does not conform with WCAG

Be honest. A claim of full conformance that is easily disproved undermines
trust and may create legal exposure.

2. Known accessibility issues

List specific known issues that have not yet been resolved. For each issue:

• Describe the problem clearly
• Identify which WCAG success criterion it relates to
• Explain any workaround available to users
• State when you expect to fix it

3. Technical information

State the technologies the website relies on — HTML, CSS, JavaScript,
PDF, and any other content types. State which assistive technologies
and browsers the site has been tested with.
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4. How to report problems

Provide a clear mechanism for users to report accessibility problems:

• An email address dedicated to accessibility queries
• A contact form that is itself accessible
• A phone number where appropriate

Commit to a response time — the UK regulations suggest responding within
a reasonable period.

5. Enforcement contact

For public sector organisations, include the contact details for the
relevant enforcement body:

• UK: Equality Advisory Support Service and the Cabinet Office
• EU: The national monitoring body in the relevant member state

6. Date of last review

State when the statement was last reviewed and when it will next be
reviewed. A statement that has not been updated in years signals neglect.

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How to assess your site before writing the statement

A credible accessibility statement should be based on a genuine assessment:

1. Run automated scans across all key pages and template types
2. Conduct keyboard-only testing of all interactive functionality
3. Test with at least one screen reader
4. Test any PDFs or documents published on the site against PDF/UA

Tools such as a11ytest.ai can provide structured scan results covering
WCAG 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, Section 508, and EN 301 549 to inform the conformance
status and known issues sections of the statement.
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Where to publish it

• Publish the statement on a standalone page, ideally at /accessibility-statement
• Link to it from the footer of every page
• Link to it from the site's main navigation or in the site map
• For UK public sector, the URL must be provided to the Cabinet Office
  monitoring body

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References

1. UK Government. Making your website or app accessible and publishing an accessibility statement. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/make-your-website-or-app-accessible-and-publish-an-accessibility-statement ↑
2. W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. Developing an Accessibility Statement. https://www.w3.org/WAI/planning/statements/ ↑
3. A11YTEST.AI LTD. a11ytest.ai — Automated Accessibility Scanning. https://a11ytest.ai ↑