Guide: Web accessibility

At least 1 in 5 people in the UK have a long term illness, impairment or disability. Many more have a temporary disability. At the same time 2.2m people in the UK are still offline in a digital-by-default health system and those left offline are more likely to be older or in ill health.

Accessibility is built into the PIF TICK criteria for trusted health information. PIF’s latest Health and Digital Literacy Survey report made five recommendations to help overcome the health and digital literacy challenges faced by the UK population. This included that organisations must consider the equalities impact of digital tools.

This guide provides practical support to help make sure health information websites are accessible to all. It offers guidance based on guidelines set by the World Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

WCAG 2.1 global accessibility guidelines are based on the four POUR principles of accessibility:

• Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.
• Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable.
• Understandable: Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable
• Robust: Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

WCAG 2.2 guidelines build on these principles to improve accessibility guidelines. A working draft of WCAG 3 guidance is currently under review. Goals include making the guidance easier to understand, covering more user needs and being more flexible.

Public sector bodies in England and Wales must meet Accessible Information Standards.

• View the standards for England here.
• View the standards for Wales here.

It is good practice for other organisations to meet these standards. NHS Scotland Boards and public sector bodies must meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.

Making your website accessible can also help boost its performance in a modern AI search environment. Read more in our Optimising your website for AI search guide.

This guide supports the following PIF TICK criteria:

• 6.0 Health inequalities: Information is written to meet health literacy, digital inclusion, language and accessibility needs of the audience.

Published June 2022. Reviewed September 2026. Next review date: September 2029.