A plain-English guide for clerks

Parish council websites and accessibility: what actually applies to you

There is a lot of half-remembered advice about council websites, the law, and the annual return. Here is what is genuinely required, what is not, and a checklist you can run through in an afternoon.

Written for parish and town clerks in England and Wales. Last reviewed July 2026. This is practical guidance, not legal advice.

1. What the accessibility law actually requires

The rules come from the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. In short, if you are a public sector body and you have a website, it must:

• meet the WCAG 2.2 AA standard as far as reasonably possible;
• publish an accessibility statement, in a set format, saying how accessible the site is and how someone can report a problem or ask for content another way.

Parish and town councils are public sector bodies for this purpose. The accessibility statement has been required since September 2020, and the technical standard was updated to WCAG 2.2 in 2024.

2. Where AGAR Assertion 10 comes in

Every year, as part of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR), the council signs a set of governance assertions. Assertion 10 is the one about publication and transparency: the council confirms it has published the information it is required to, including online where the Transparency Code or Accounts and Audit Regulations apply.

A website is not the only way to meet this, but for most councils it is the practical one. If your website is broken, insecure, or inaccessible, the honest answer to the publication assertion gets harder to give with a straight face. A clean, accessible, working site makes Assertion 10 a simple "yes".

3. Three things that are often got wrong

• Myth: "A parish council must have a website." Not quite. A website is not itself compulsory. But the Transparency Code (for smaller authorities under £25k) and the Accounts and Audit Regulations require certain information to be published, and online is the sensible route. If you have a site at all, the accessibility rules apply to it.
• Myth: "A platform provider means we are automatically compliant." No. Many platform templates only reach "partially compliant", which is why so many councils' own accessibility statements list known issues year after year. The duty sits with the council, not the supplier.
• Myth: "The accessibility statement is a one-off." It should be reviewed and dated regularly, and it must reflect the site as it actually is. A statement dated 2020 citing WCAG 2.1 is a flag, not a shield.

4. The checklist

Tick these off on your own site as you go. The count updates as you tick, and anything left unticked is worth looking at.

0 of 10 ticked

• Secure. The site loads with https and a padlock, with no "Not secure" warning.
• Accessibility statement. There is one, it is easy to find, it is dated recently, and it names WCAG 2.2 AA.
• Works on a phone. The site resizes on a mobile without pinching and zooming.
• Images described. Meaningful images have alternative text for screen-reader users.
• Keyboard usable. You can reach every link and menu with the Tab key, and see where you are.
• Clear headings. Each page has a proper heading structure, not just big bold text.
• Readable links. Links say where they go, not "click here" or "read more".
• Documents. PDFs of minutes and agendas are readable by a screen reader, not just scanned images.
• Current. The site is up to date, on supported software, with this year's information.
• Contactable. There is a clear way to report an accessibility problem, as the statement requires.

5. What to do if your site falls short

You have three broad options. First, ask your current provider to fix the gaps; if they are a platform, ask specifically whether they will get you to full WCAG 2.2 AA in writing. Second, live with a documented "partially compliant" statement, which is honest but not comfortable to sign against year after year. Third, replace the site with one built to the standard from the start.

If you want the third option done simply: I rebuild parish and town council websites as a fixed-price, one-day job. Fully accessible to WCAG 2.2 AA, with the accessibility statement written for you, working on every phone, and the council owns the domain, the site and every file outright, with nothing monthly to pay. It is £650 to £850 depending on size, and I only invoice once the site is live and the council has approved it.

You can see councils I have already built, run the free check, generate a free accessibility statement for your site, or just email me at greg@launchwell.co.uk and I will send you exactly what I would fix on your site, no charge and no obligation.