How to get an accessibility audit in Defra Group

Overview

This guidance applies to Defra Group services only. It helps you to decide what type of audit you need and outlines the steps you need to follow to procure an accessibility audit.

See also Getting an accessibility audit - GDS guidance.

What the Defra Accessibility Team can do

The Defra Accessibility Team no longer performs audits. This is because we do not have the time (we are only 3 staff covering over 200 public websites) and because we think specialist external auditors will provide the independent assurance that you need.

We can do a quick accessibility review of your site to give you an overview of the likely issues that a full audit may find. This can help you get started on fixing issues before the audit. Request a Quick Check.

We can give help and advice about accessibility testing and help your team or QA staff do some of their own testing. We can also help you build testing into your ongoing QA as part of continuous development.

Why you usually need an external audit

There is a legal requirement to make Defra websites accessible. The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 require that services meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA accessibility standard and publish an accessibility statement documenting their conformance against the standard.

You need an audit to find the issues so you can fix them and also to include in your statement while you are fixing them.

When you don’t need an external audit

Most Defra services will need an external audit. In a few rare cases some of the following may apply:

• your team has sufficient expertise to carry out a basic audit (see Doing a basic accessibility check if you cannot do a detailed one - GDS guidance)
• the website will be closing soon and has relatively few users
• you are carrying out a major rebuild of the site and it does not make sense to audit the old site

You should contact us by email at accessibility@defra.gov.uk if you think any of these apply and we can advise if your approach is reasonable.

Requesting a external audit

We have a call-off contract with an external audit company so there is no need to run a tender.

You should fill in this form to request an external audit.

You will need the following details:

• URL of the service
• Any access required (passwords, VPN, etc.)
• Any test data required to proceed through
• Any journeys/test scripts that will help guide the testing
• Cost and Task Code (or project code) to recharge to if you're in Core Defra or the Environment Agency
• OR a Purchase Order (PO) we can invoice (for up to £20k) if you're in RPA, etc.
• Lead contact for this work
• Your “Finance Business Partner” contact
• Any relevant timescales (e.g., after July, before last week)

We’ll then pass it onto the auditor who will scope the work and provide a quote for you. If you’re happy with the quote the work will be scheduled in.

Depending on the complexity of your service the audit can take a day or more than a week, the quote will tell you. Once the audit is completed it will also take a few days to put together a report. Generally it will be around two working weeks from the start of the audit to the report being available.

Once complete you’ll get a copy of the audit report, a chance to speak with the auditor (if required) and an option to have a confirmation check of any changes you make to fix any issues.

Budget for an external audit

You should budget:

• £5,000 to £10,000 for a small, simple site
• £10,000 to £20,000 for a more complex website
• the same amount for any additional URLs such as administration backends, or if your website has separate parts

You should also budget for:

• developer (or supplier time) to fix issues found - you may not have to pay for this if your supplier contracted to build an accessible site (which you should have previously included in the contract or requirements)
• team or project management time to manage the audit, fixes and re-testing