UK Public Sector Announces Digital Accessibility Week 2026 Programme

The UK public sector will host Digital Accessibility Week 2026 as a cross-government online event running from Monday, 18 May to Thursday, 21 May 2026. The final day aligns with Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). The overall theme for the 2026 event matches GAAD: designing, developing, and delivering accessible digital services.

The sessions are organised by ministerial departments and arm’s length bodies from across the UK public sector. Participation is open to anyone employed in the UK public sector, including service designers, content designers, user researchers, developers, testers, product and delivery managers, service owners, policy personnel, and accessibility specialists.

Attendees must register using their official work email addresses, as personal and non-public-sector addresses will not be accepted for most sessions. Requirements for joining may differ across departments, and not all events will be recorded.

Monday, 18 May 2026

• 10:00 to 13:00 – Introduction to Accessibility (Home Office): A non-technical overview of basic accessibility and inclusion principles.
• 13:30 to 14:30 – An introduction to assistive software (Department for Work and Pensions [DWP]): An examination of screen readers, screen magnifiers/visual enhancements, and speech recognition software.
• 15:00 to 15:50 – WCAG 3 and what it means for you (Government Digital Service [GDS]): An overview of the upcoming Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, government preparations, and expected impacts.

Tuesday

• 10:00 to 11:00 – HTML and accessibility (DWP): An introductory explanation of markup language accessibility for non-programmers.
• 10:00 to 11:00 – Designing with autistic people: inclusive design that benefits everyone (HM Revenue and Customs [HMRC]): Principles of cognitive accessibility and designing for autistic users.
• 12:00 to 13:00 – From niche to necessity: the untapped power of accessible innovation (Ministry of Justice [MoJ]): How accommodating diverse access needs drives product innovation.
• 13:00 to 14:00 – Accessible services start with inclusive user research (HMRC): Methodologies for conducting user research with people using assistive technologies.
• 14:00 to 15:00 – From access to confidence: the spectrum of digital media literacy (HMRC and Ofcom): Presentation of Ofcom research into digital exclusion, access, and online participation.
• 15:00 to 16:00 – Accessibility testing for people who do not know how to do accessibility testing (Student Loans Company [SLC]): Basic testing methods covering automated tools such as WAVE and keyboard-only navigation.

Wednesday

• 10:00 to 11:00 – From access to empowerment: designing banking for real lives (HMRC and Lloyds Bank): Inclusive financial service design.
• 12:00 to 13:00 – Accessibility in gaming: what we can learn (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs [Defra]): Video game accessibility mechanisms and their application to digital services.
• 13:00 to 14:00 – How to test the accessibility of your service (HMRC): Practical application of evaluation tools and assistive software on live services.
• 13:00 to 14:00 – Common WCAG fails (DWP): A comparison of the five most frequent accessibility failures identified in the WebAIM Million report and UK government services.
• 14:00 to 15:00 – Summer holiday: an introduction to keyboard navigation (Companies House): An interactive session on navigation without a computer mouse.
• 15:00 to 16:00 – Running accessible meetings and events (MoJ): Best practices for organising accessible virtual and in-person events.

Thursday, 21 May 2026

• 10:00 to 11:00 – Creating an accessible PowerPoint template (DWP): Building accessible presentation templates using Slide Master.
• 11:00 to 12:00 – The quiet magic of accessibility regulations and guidelines (HMRC): Legal rules, enforcement mechanisms, and WCAG 2.2 implementation.
• 13:00 to 14:00 – Accessibility in service assessments (Department for Education [DfE] and SLC): The assessment process and the responsibilities of the Accessibility Assessor under the Service Standard.
• 14:00 to 15:00 – DfE Accessibility Statements Service (DfE): Practical usage and operation of the accessibility statement platform.
• 15:00 to 16:00 – The One Where I Become an Accessibility Specialist (DfE): An overview of training experiences in a Digital Accessibility Specialist apprenticeship.

Full details and schedule updates are available on the GOV.UK Accessibility Blog.