Parish council website accessibility is a legal duty, not a nice extra. The accessibility regulations for public sector websites cover parish and town councils, and in practice that means two things: making your website meet the standard GOV.UK’s guidance sets, WCAG 2.2 AA, and publishing an accessibility statement that says how well it does and how people can ask for help.
Most of what that asks of a council day to day is straightforward, and a lot of it comes down to how minutes, agendas and notices go onto the site. This guide explains the rules in plain English, with links to the official guidance. It’s general information, not legal advice.
1. Do the rules apply to parish councils?
The short answer
Yes. The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 apply to public sector bodies, and the regulations count local authorities as public sector bodies. In law, a parish council in England is a local authority, and the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) has said plainly that the regulations apply to local councils.
There’s no exemption for being small. The bodies left out of the regulations are things like public service broadcasters, and charities and other non-government organisations unless they’re mostly publicly funded or provide essential services or services for disabled people. Schools and nurseries are only partly covered. A small council can take its size and budget into account in other ways, which section 2 covers.
What counts as your website, documents included
The rules cover the whole website, including the documents on it. PDFs and Word files count. So the minutes, agendas, notices and policies you upload are covered, not just the pages around them.
What’s exempt
Some content doesn’t have to meet the standard:
- PDFs and other documents published before 23 September 2018, unless people need them to use a service
- pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020, and live audio and video
- maps, as long as the essential information (such as an address) is given in an accessible way
- content from someone else that the council hasn’t paid for, developed or controlled, such as a social media “like” button
- archived websites that aren’t needed for council services and aren’t updated
You still need to say in your accessibility statement which exempt content you haven’t made accessible.
2. What the rules ask for
The standard GOV.UK’s guidance sets
GOV.UK’s guidance, Understanding accessibility requirements for public sector bodies, says a public sector website meets the legal requirements if it meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA and publishes an accessibility statement. You may see older guidance, including some written for councils, that mentions WCAG 2.1. GOV.UK’s guidance now refers to 2.2, and NALC’s 2026 guide for councils treats 2.2 AA as the expected standard.
WCAG is a long list of checks. In plain terms, it asks whether people can see or hear your content, use your site with whatever they use to get around it (a keyboard, a screen reader, voice control), understand it, and rely on it working with the tools they use.
When it’s too much for a small council
The rules allow for a “disproportionate burden”. If fully meeting the standard would cost more than an organisation can reasonably take on, given its size and resources, against how much disabled people would benefit, the council can decide it doesn’t have to fix those things yet. But it has to make that assessment properly, it can’t count lack of time or knowledge, and it has to say what it hasn’t fixed in its accessibility statement.
GOV.UK gives an example that will sound familiar to a lot of parish clerks: if an accessibility audit would cost £10,000 and your yearly budget after essential running costs is £2,000, you could argue the audit is a disproportionate burden and do a basic check yourself instead. It even suggests a very small organisation might find a volunteer to help.
An accessibility statement
Every council website needs an accessibility statement, written to the government’s model. GOV.UK publishes a sample accessibility statement you can adapt; some of its wording is legally required. Your statement should say:
- whether the site is fully, partly or not compliant with the standard
- which parts aren’t accessible yet, and why
- how people can get information in another format
- how to contact the council about a problem, and where to go if they’re not happy with the answer
Publish it as a web page rather than a PDF, and it’s good practice to link to it from every page (the footer is the usual place). Review it at least once a year and whenever the site changes a lot.
A way for people to ask for help
Whatever the website does, the council still has a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments, such as giving someone a document in large print or another format when they ask. That applies even to content that’s exempt, or that you’ve judged a disproportionate burden.
3. What it means day to day for a clerk
Minutes, agendas and notices
In our view this is where most council sites struggle, because new documents go up every month. A few habits make a big difference:
- Avoid scans. A scanned page is a picture of text. A screen reader can’t read it, and nobody can search it. Save documents from Word or your accounts software as a PDF instead of printing and scanning them.
- Use proper headings and styles in the document before you save it, so its structure carries across.
- Consider a web page instead of a PDF for things like agendas and minutes. A page is usually easier to read on a phone and easier to make accessible.
GOV.UK’s guidance says the people who publish on a site are responsible for making new PDFs and documents accessible, along with writing good link text and structuring content well.
Photos, headings and links
- give every meaningful image a short description (alt text), such as “the village hall from the green”, and mark purely decorative images as decorative (in most website systems, by leaving the alt text box empty)
- use real headings, in order, rather than bold text
- write links that make sense on their own: “Minutes of the March meeting”, not “click here”
- keep text readable against its background
- make sure the site can be used with a keyboard alone
- add captions to videos you publish
Maps, bookings and other things you embed
If you embed something you don’t pay for or control, it may be exempt, but if the council pays for a booking system or a form, that exemption doesn’t apply. It’s worth asking any supplier for their accessibility statement before you sign up. With maps, give the essential information, such as the address and how to get there, in text as well.
4. Who checks, and what happens if a site falls short
The Government Digital Service (GDS) monitors public sector websites, testing a sample every year, and can ask a council for information. Enforcement is by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in England, Scotland and Wales, and the Equality Commission in Northern Ireland. A site that doesn’t meet the requirements, or a council that doesn’t give a satisfactory response to a request for an accessible format, is treated as failing to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 (the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in Northern Ireland), and the commissions can investigate and take action.
If someone can’t use your site, they should contact the council first, using the details in your statement, and if they’re not happy with the reply, they can get help from the Equality Advisory and Support Service.
5. Other parish council website requirements
Accessibility isn’t the only rule. In England, the Transparency Code for smaller authorities applies to parish councils with an annual turnover of £25,000 or less and requires them to publish key spending and governance information online.
Each year, councils also confirm their IT and data arrangements in the annual governance statement. Assertion 10 of the Practitioners’ Guide expects every council website to meet WCAG 2.2 AA and the accessibility regulations where they apply, and to publish the documents the Freedom of Information Act and, where it applies, the Transparency Code require. It also expects the council to have a generic email address on a domain it owns. It’s worth checking your site against it before the year-end return.
Parish councils in England can also use a .gov.uk address for their website. No law makes it compulsory, but the Practitioners’ Guide calls it best practice, and GOV.UK’s guidance for parish councils explains the benefits and how to move.
6. How we build council websites
We plan accessibility into a council website from the start: clear headings, good colour contrast, readable text and menus that work with a keyboard, and we check the site before it goes live. The aim is a site residents can use without ringing the office.
We also set council sites up so the clerk or team can add minutes, agendas and notices themselves, as and when they need to, and we hand over with simple instructions. That matters for accessibility too, because most of what goes onto a council site after launch is documents.
You can see a parish council website we built, where residents find meetings, minutes and local information on the council’s own .gov.uk address.
Three checks you can do this week
- Find your accessibility statement and check when it was last reviewed. If it’s more than a year ago, or it still mentions an old website, it needs updating.
- Try your site with a keyboard only. Press Tab to move through the page and Enter to follow links. Can you reach the menu, the latest minutes and the contact details?
- Run a free automated checker over your homepage and one page of minutes. It won’t catch everything, because automated tools only test part of the standard, but it’s a quick way to spot the obvious things.
If you’re thinking about a new site, have a look at the council websites we build. For more on accessibility in general, our guide to accessible, inclusive web design covers the basics.
You can email us at hello@thesocialbay.co.uk, fill in our start a project form, or call or message us on 07441 918230.
Frequently asked questions about parish council website accessibility
Do parish councils have to follow the accessibility regulations?
Yes. A parish council is a local authority, and the regulations cover local authorities. Being small doesn’t take a council out of the rules, though size and budget count when deciding what’s a disproportionate burden.
Does our council need an accessibility statement?
Yes, based on the government’s model and reviewed at least once a year. GOV.UK’s sample statement is the easiest place to start.
Do the rules cover PDFs?
Yes, along with Word files and other documents. Those published before 23 September 2018 are exempt unless people need them to use a council service.
What is WCAG 2.2 AA?
WCAG is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by the W3C. Version 2.2 is the one GOV.UK’s guidance points public sector bodies to, and AA is the level they’re expected to meet. W3C’s WCAG 2.2 quick reference lists every check.
Is website accessibility a legal requirement in the UK?
For public sector bodies, including parish councils, yes, under the 2018 regulations. Every UK service provider, public or private, also has a duty under the Equality Act 2010 (or the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in Northern Ireland) to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.
Can a parish council have a .gov.uk website address?
Yes. Parish councils in England are eligible for a .gov.uk domain for their website and email. No law makes it compulsory, but the sector’s guidance calls it best practice, and GOV.UK has a step-by-step guide for clerks.