Web Accessibility Training

Guidelines E: Commissioning a third party to create a website

These guidelines are not a formal regulatory procedure, but provided as a framework and broad outline of the steps needed to achieve regulatory compliance for accessibility.

If the website will contain any database-driven content, then these Guidelines should be used in conjunction with Guidelines C.

A note about maps

Maps require special consideration, so if you're working with these please email the Digital Team at digitalteam@exeter.ac.uk for advice.

In this context, 'third party' means an individual or organisation that is not part of the University.

  1. The website designer's familiarity with current regulatory requirements for accessibility, and their ability to meet them, should be considered as part of the process that selects them for the task.
  2. Accessibility requirements should be included in the design brief when work is commissioned.
  3. Provision should be made for how the content will be edited, and who by, after the third-party is no longer involved.
  4. The finished website must be covered by an accessibility statement. This will mean establishing if it can be covered by an existing statement (as a single statement can cover multiple sites). If not, a new statement will need to be created specifically for it.
  5. The accessibility of the finished website will need to be assessed. The objective should always be to remedy any non-compliant aspects before the website is launched, whenever possible. In some cases it may not currently be technologically possible to create a website that both delivers the required functions and perfectly fulfills WCAG criteria, but the objective is the optimal available solution.
  6. If there are any non-compliant aspects when the website is launched:
    1. they must be listed on the accessibility statement in the form of failed WCAG criteria.
    2. a plan must be put in place to remedy them.
    3. for specific instances of non-compliant content (e.g. a document), the page containing the item should include either:
      • a compliant alternative
        or
      • contact details where a compliant alternative can be requested.
    4. the accessibility statement should also include contact details where an accessible alternative of non-compliant content can be requested.
    5. the accessibility statement should be updated whenever a non-compliant element is resolved.
  7. If the content is to be edited, there should be a plan in place for ongoing accessibility reviews. There should also be a plan in place for potential design updates as and when accessibility regulations change. For these and other considerations for the launched site, please refer to the ongoing maintenance section of Guidelines A: Editing a stand-alone website.
  8. It should be noted that even where content is fully compliant, an alternative version (e.g. braille) can still be requested under the Equality Act, and this alternative must be supplied, if doing so constitutes a reasonable adjustment. Staff handling requests for alternative versions should be made aware of this.