The Department of Social Protection is committed to making the information on all its websites accessible to all, regardless of ability. In order to achieve this, we have designed our websites to follow guidelines set out by the W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium). The W3C WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) produces accessibility guidelines that are an internationally recognised benchmark of accessibility. Our sites currently comply with Level Double-A of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0.
The Department is committed to inclusive design, enabling websites which can be used by all users including those who may have cognitive or physical impairments. This means that our sites can be used with assistive technologies such as screen readers or by using a keyboard for navigation, but also that the design of our sites supports cognitive and visual impairments such as dyslexia, colour blindness or those short of sight, to ensure for all users that there is a smooth journey and experience through our website.
The Deartment has accessibility statements on three of our websites, MyGovID, WelfarePartners and JobsIreland and will shortly add an accessibility statement to MyWelfare. The Department is aware of the new requirement for Public Body websites to meet the new WCAG 2.1 standard. Following the completion of audits of our sites, the websites’ accessibility statements will include a statement of commitment and a compliance status statement as required under the European Union (Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Sector Bodies) Regulations 2020.
The Department has three agencies under its remit that have websites, the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Authority and the Pensions Council.
The Citizens Information Board’s websites meet the requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 as set out in the accessibility statements on citizensinformation.ie, citizensinformationboard.ie and mabs.ie. CIB is currently finalising a tender for a full accessibility audit of its websites and following the completion of the audits, the websites’ accessibility statements will include a statement of commitment and a compliance status statement as required under the European Union (Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Sector Bodies) Regulations 2020.
The Pensions Authority website meets the requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and currently has an accessibility statement. The Pensions Council website is currently being reviewed and as part of this process an accessibility statement will be added to this site.
