If you manage a parish or town council website, you will have heard the term WCAG. It stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and it is the international standard that defines what makes a website accessible. In October 2023, version 2.2 became the official current standard, replacing WCAG 2.1, which had been in place since 2018.
Why Does This Matter for Your Council?
UK public sector bodies, including parish and town councils, are required by the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. The government has not yet updated the regulations to mandate WCAG 2.2, but WCAG 2.2 is backwards compatible, meaning a site that passes 2.2 automatically passes 2.1. Forward-looking councils and their suppliers are already building to 2.2.
What Changed in WCAG 2.2?
WCAG 2.2 added nine new success criteria and removed one (4.1.1 Parsing, which was made redundant by modern browser behaviour). The new criteria are split across Level A and Level AA, the two levels relevant to legal compliance.
The Criteria Most Likely to Affect Your Website
2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) - Level AA: When a user presses Tab to move through your website, the currently focused element, a button, a link, a form field, must not be completely hidden behind a sticky header or cookie banner. Many council websites fail this because their fixed navigation bar sits on top of focused elements without adjustment.
2.4.12 Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced) - Level AAA: The full focus indicator must be visible. Councils aiming for best practice (rather than just compliance) should target this.
2.5.3 Target Size (Minimum) - Level AA: Buttons and interactive elements must be at least 24×24 CSS pixels. This primarily affects mobile users and people with motor impairments. Small "X" close buttons and tightly packed navigation links frequently fail this criterion.
3.2.6 Consistent Help - Level A: If your website offers a help mechanism, a phone number, a contact link, a chat widget, it must appear in the same location on every page. Placing the phone number in the footer of your home page but removing it on the planning application page fails this criterion.
3.3.7 Redundant Entry - Level A: If a form asks a user for information they have already provided earlier in the same session, that information must either be pre-populated or the user must be able to select it from a list. This primarily affects multi-step forms, such as planning objection submissions or event booking forms.
A Common Misconception
"We built the site to WCAG 2.1 - surely it already complies?"
Not necessarily. WCAG 2.2 added requirements that 2.1 did not have. A site that passed 2.1 may fail on focus visibility, target size, or consistent help placement.
The practical implication for councils: if your website was last audited before October 2023, the audit results are now out of date. A new audit against WCAG 2.2 is the only reliable way to know where you stand.
How to Check Your Council Website
You do not need a technical background to do a basic check. Here are three things any clerk can verify in five minutes.
- Press the Tab key on your home page and count how many times the focused element is hidden behind your header
- On a mobile device, try tapping the smallest buttons on the page and note whether you can hit them accurately first time
- Check whether your contact details appear in the same position on your home page, your minutes archive, and your planning pages
For a thorough assessment, a professional WCAG 2.2 audit is the most reliable approach. Nene Digital offers accessibility audits tailored to parish and town council websites, with clear remediation reports you can hand to your web supplier.