Microsoft Power Apps accessibility

Introduction

You should not use Power Apps as some accessibility issues cannot be fixed by us and there is no satisfactory plan from the supplier to provide fixes. If you are required to use Power Apps despite these issues, in the first instance you must follow the Canvas Controls Accessibility Guidance.

This practical guidance has been developed to help you identify which controls (building blocks that make up your application such as Date Pickers, Graphs etc.) have issues and the impact level of those issues so you can build the least inaccessible application possible with the platform.

If a control is marked as "Do not use" and your application requires it, you must contact the accessibility team for guidance and so that we can log and manage the risk.

If you are writing an accessibility statement for a Power Apps project, or require technical details of specific WCAG violations, further information can be found at Power Apps WCAG Conformance.

If you need help understanding how these issues affect your project or what your options are, email the accessibility team at accessibility@defra.gov.uk.

Current Status

The accessibility team has reported all known accessibility issues to Microsoft and is working directly with their Enterprise Disability Answer Desk (eDAD) team to help replicate and prioritise them. We do not have timescales or guarantees of any upcoming fixes currently and Microsoft are unable to provide them.

Microsoft Power Apps Overview

Defra has a legal duty under the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 to ensure all digital services meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2) at Level AA. If your team is building or maintaining an app using the Power Apps platform, it must meet this standard.

In 2024, the Defra accessibility team identified accessibility issues in Power Apps that would cause any app built using the platform to not meet the WCAG 2.2 Level AA standard. They launched a project to test which components (known as controls) do not meet the standard.

This guidance explains the known accessibility issues in Power Apps, which WCAG 2.2 criteria each issue would cause your app to fail, and why, as well as what you can do about managing in flight projects.

Get Support

If you are unsure how these accessibility issues affect your Power Apps project or what to do next, the Defra accessibility team and the Power Apps team can help.

You can request a triage workshop with the accessibility and the Power Apps teams. These focused sessions give you tailored advice, practical support, and a clear way forward.

In these sessions, we will:

• talk through what your project is trying to achieve
• explain how the accessibility issue affects your specific project
• confirm whether the issue is already known or needs investigating
• explore possible solutions based on what your team is trying to do and the skills you have
• agree next steps if there is no suitable solution

This approach helps you make informed decisions early and avoid blockers later in your project.

To request a triage session, email the accessibility team at accessibility@defra.gov.uk.