5. Make sure everyone can use the service

This guidance will help you apply standard point 5.

Everyone is responsible for meeting the Service Standard. This standard point is most relevant to:

Accessibility specialistsService designersContent designersInteraction designersUser researchers

Why it's important

Everyone who works on DfE digital services has a role to play in making them accessible and inclusive.

If your service isn't accessible to everyone who needs it, you may be breaking the 2010 Equality Act.

Accessibility regulations say that public sector websites must meet accessibility standards and publish an accessibility statement. You can find out more about the regulations on GOV.UK.

Discovery

Things to consider:

  • time and money allocated for accessibility testing and audits at future phases
  • plan your approach to recruiting users with access needs
  • evidence talking to people who use assistive technology
  • user research with people with access needs
  • explore the context of your users' environment
  • understand the non-digital or offline processes and their impact or relationship to the service
  • start a content strategy based on user needs and policy intent
  • propose a working name for your project
  • plan what you might test at alpha

Things to avoid in discovery

  • overlooking a potentially key user group

  • research findings about user preference, not user behaviour

  • no user research or limited research has taken place

  • no hypotheses for alpha

Alpha

Things to consider:

  • test the user journey with users
  • plan your approach to recruiting users with access needs
  • explore the support model, for example, consider the offline user journey and whether there is a phone number or email address for service support
  • start accessibility testing
  • design inclusively, consider how age, gender, and culture might impact your service
  • plan accessibility testing at beta
  • design and test content with users
  • identify the context of your users' environment, for example, a noisy classroom, slow internet connection, and what devices they use
  • how your service fits into wider DfE services
  • test how assistive digital support will work
  • research with users across the digital inclusion scale
  • write content in plain English

Things to avoid in alpha

  • not enough testing of hypotheses about how people will use your service

  • not testing different ways of delivering content

Beta and live

Things to consider:

  • continue to test with users with access needs
  • plan your ongoing approach to recruiting users with access needs
  • understand the context of your users' environment, for example, a noisy classroom, slow internet connection, and what devices they're using
  • how you've tested -and continue to test -with users who need assistive digital support
  • an accessibility audit and any issues fixed, this is a mandatory requirement
  • how the service meets the latest accessibility standards
  • an accessibility statement that explains how accessible your service is. This needs to be published when your service moves into public beta
  • continue to iterate your service based on insights from user research
  • test changes to make sure they meet accessibility requirements
  • review non-digital or offline processes and consider their impact or relationship to your service

Things to avoid in beta and live

  • not enough people with access needs invited to use the private beta

  • not having or testing an assisted digital route

  • not enough research to understand how users with access needs might interact with your service

  • accessibility testing being an afterthought