WCAG Compliant Websites - Why Is It Important?
What is WCAG?
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (known as WCAG 2.1) are an internationally recognised set of recommendations for improving web accessibility. They explain how to make digital services (such as websites) accessible to everyone, including users with impairments to their vision, hearing, mobility (those who find it difficult to use a mouse or keyboard) and thinking and understanding - for example, people with dyslexia, autism or learning difficulties.
At least 1 in 5 people in the UK have an impairment or disability such as those listed above.
These impairments can all affect how visitors interact with your website – is your website set up to support them?
In the US, companies already face legal action if their websites aren't accessible as shown in this recent ruling against Domino's Pizza.
In the UK, companies who do make their websites accessible can benefit from what's known as the ‘Purple Pound’ - estimated to be worth £249 billion per year to UK businesses.
Parish Councils, Schools and the Public Sector
New regulations which came into force for public sector bodies (including parish and town councils, charities and schools) on 23rd September 2018, state that their websites must be 'perceivable, operable, understandable and robust'.
The cut off date for making sure your website is compliant is September 23rd 2020.
Many organisations have currently failed to carry out the necessary updates to ensure they hit the deadline, leaving them open to fines.
Accesibilty Widget Integration
In addition to the above, we can also add a UserWay accessibilty widget. UserWay offers advanced accessibility solutions to ensure that everyone can access your digital content.
Adding this widget is a simple task with the it'seeze website editor.
How It'seeze Hull can help
We're already working with a number of Parish Councils on new websites that hit the requirements of WCAG.
If you're a Clerk or member of a Parish Council in East Yorkshire or North Lincolnshire who still hasn't started the process of updating your website, we can help.
From just £450* you can have a brand new, fully compliant website that includes the following features as standard:
A fully bespoke and hand coded website based on your requirements (no templates)
Your domain name purchased and your yearly renewals paid for (.co.uk or .com)
Up to 5 business email addresses if required
Add unlimited extra pages, news pages and blog pages
Up to 5000 images
Add videos, notices and announcements
Upload meeting PDFs and documents
Unlimited use of the website editor (make changes and updates to the site yourself)
Initial Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for all pages (page titles / meta descriptions) to help you get found on Google
Access to built-in SEO and performance tools
Access to our Getty Images Stock Library for your website images during the build
Secure UK based hosting providing fast page loading speed
Daily website back-ups and the ability to restore previous versions of your site
SSL security certificate (green https padlock to denote a secure and trusted website)
GDPR compliant (privacy/cookies/consent) plus ongoing GDPR updates
Ongoing support and help (email, phone, online videos and guides)
Training on how to update and edit your website
Ongoing tech updates for the website including adding new features as they're rolled out
Contact Us
The deadline for UK public sector and parish council websites is fast approaching. To avoid falling foul of the law and receiving a fine you'll need to move fast.
How we can help:
We are an award winning local East Yorkshire website company
We have a proven track record in helping schools, parish and town councils
We provide everything you need and support you at every step
If you'd like to arrange a no obligation video call, phone call or meeting with us to talk through options, please get in touch.
*Excluding vat and mothly subscription
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