EdLaw
Scope, accessibility requirement and statement
Which bodies and services are covered (and the exemptions), the accessibility requirement itself (perceivable, operable, understandable, robust via the harmonised standard), the disproportionate-burden gate, and the accessibility-statement duty.
Regulation 3 — Interpretation
Verbatim from legislation.gov.uk (consolidated text, valid as at 2025-06-03).
In these Regulations—
- “accessibility requirement” means the requirement to make a website or mobile application accessible by making it perceivable, operable, understandable and robust;
- “accessibility statement” means a detailed, comprehensive and clear statement produced by a public sector body on the compliance of its website or mobile application with these Regulations;
- “bodies governed by public law” means bodies that have all of the following characteristics—they are established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character;they have legal personality; andthey have any of the following characteristics—they are financed, for the most part, by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law;they are subject to management supervision by those authorities or bodies;they have an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law;
- they are established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character;
- they have legal personality; and
- they have any of the following characteristics—they are financed, for the most part, by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law;they are subject to management supervision by those authorities or bodies;they have an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law;
- they are financed, for the most part, by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law;
- they are subject to management supervision by those authorities or bodies;
- they have an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law;
- ...
- ...
- ...
- “mobile application” means application software designed and developed by or on behalf of a public sector body for use by the general public on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, but does not include the software that controls those devices (mobile operating systems) or hardware;
- “model accessibility statement” means an accessibility statement published electronically by the Secretary of State;
- ...
- “public sector body” means—the State;regional or local authorities;bodies governed by public law; orassociations formed by one or more of the authorities in paragraph (b) or one or more of the bodies in paragraph (c), if those associations are established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character;
- the State;
- regional or local authorities;
- bodies governed by public law; or
- associations formed by one or more of the authorities in paragraph (b) or one or more of the bodies in paragraph (c), if those associations are established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character;
- ...
- “time-based media” means media of one or more of the following types: audio-only, video-only, audio-video, audio and/or video combined with interaction.
Regulation 4 — Application
Verbatim from legislation.gov.uk (consolidated text, valid as at 2025-06-03).
1 These Regulations apply to a website or mobile application of a public sector body, except a website or mobile application of—
- a public service broadcasters and their subsidiaries, and of other bodies or their subsidiaries fulfilling a public service broadcasting remit;
- b non-governmental organisations, unless they provide services that—
- c schools or nurseries, except for the content of their websites or mobile applications relating to essential online administrative functions.
2 These Regulations do not apply to the following content of a website or mobile application of a public sector body—
- a office file formats published before 23rd September 2018, unless such content is needed for active administrative processes relating to the tasks performed by the public sector body;
- b pre-recorded time-based media published before 23rd September 2020;
- c live time-based media;
- d online maps and mapping services, as long as essential information is provided in an accessible digital manner for maps intended for navigational use;
- e third-party content that is neither funded nor developed by, nor under the control of, the public sector body;
- f reproductions of items in heritage collections that cannot be made fully accessible because of either—
- i the incompatibility of the accessibility requirement with either the preservation of the item concerned or the authenticity of the reproduction; or
- ii the unavailability of automated and cost-efficient solutions that would easily extract the text of manuscripts or other items in heritage collections and transform it into content compatible with the accessibility requirement;
- g content of extranets and intranets published before 23rd September 2019, until such websites undergo a substantial revision; and
- h content of websites and mobile applications qualifying as archives.
- a “archives” means a website or mobile application which—
- b “extranets and intranets” means a website that is only available for a closed group of people and not to the general public;
- c “items in heritage collections” means privately or publicly owned goods presenting an historical, artistic, archaeological, aesthetic, scientific or technical interest and that are part of collections preserved by cultural institutions such as libraries, archives and museums; and
- d “office file formats” means a document in a format that is not intended primarily for use on the web and that is included in web pages, such as Adobe Portable Document Format, Microsoft Office documents or their open-source equivalents.
Regulation 6 — Obligation to make websites and mobile applications accessible
Verbatim from legislation.gov.uk (consolidated text, valid as at 2025-06-03).
Subject to regulation 7, public sector bodies must comply with the accessibility requirement.
Regulation 7 — Disproportionate burden assessment
Verbatim from legislation.gov.uk (consolidated text, valid as at 2025-06-03).
1 Regulation 6 does not require a public sector body to comply with the accessibility requirement if doing so would impose a disproportionate burden on the public sector body.
2 A public sector body must perform an assessment of the extent to which compliance with the accessibility requirement imposes a disproportionate burden.
3 In undertaking such an assessment, a public sector body must take account of relevant circumstances, including—
- a the size, resources and nature of the public sector body; and
- b the estimated costs and benefits for the public sector body in relation to the estimated benefits for persons with disabilities, taking into account the frequency and duration of use of the specific website or mobile application.
4 If, following the assessment, a public sector body determines that compliance with the accessibility requirement would impose a disproportionate burden, it must—
- a explain in its accessibility statement the parts of the accessibility requirement that could not be complied with; and
- b where appropriate, provide accessible alternatives to documents held by that public sector body that are not available on their website or mobile application.
Regulation 8 — Accessibility statement
Verbatim from legislation.gov.uk (consolidated text, valid as at 2025-06-03).
1 A public sector body must provide an accessibility statement in accordance with the model accessibility statement, and keep that statement under regular review.
- a provided in an accessible format; and
- b available on the website of the public sector body or alongside other information available when downloading the mobile application.
- a an explanation of those parts of the content that are not accessible and the reasons why;
- b where appropriate, a description of any accessible alternatives provided;
- c a description of, and a link to, a contact form which enables a person to—
- d a link to the enforcement procedure set out in Part 5 of these Regulations to which recourse may be had in the event of an unsatisfactory response to the notification or the request.
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk — PSBAR 2018 (UKSI 2018/952)
- gov.uk — Understanding accessibility requirements for public sector bodies
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All regulation text above is reproduced verbatim from the consolidated PSBAR 2018 on legislation.gov.uk, extracted mechanically from the official XML. Each provision carries its official identifier as a trailing attribute anchor.