Public-sector digital accessibility

Digital accessibility for government, built around the people who use it.

We help public-sector organisations assess digital accessibility, navigate regulatory requirements, engage people with disabilities, prioritise improvements, and build accessibility into the way digital services are designed and governed.

Human-centred accessibility expertiseU.S. public-sector delivery capabilityWCAG 2.1 AAADA Title II

Talk to our government accessibility team How we work

Why this matters now, and keeps mattering

Accessibility has become a government operating requirement, not a one-time project.

Across the United States, Europe, the UK, India and beyond, governments are facing growing legal and policy expectations for accessible digital services. The rules differ by jurisdiction, but WCAG has become a common technical reference point across many accessibility regimes. The underlying goal is the same: people should be able to use the public services they depend on. Government services are human systems, and an accessible one simply does its job for every resident. That expectation doesn't expire on a deadline; it becomes the way public services are built.

The HCD difference

Most accessibility programmes check a standard. We ask whether the service works.

Most programmes ask

"Does the website meet WCAG?"

HCD asks

"Can people actually use the service?"

Compliance

Evidence

Human experience

Institutional capability

Accessibility is a research discipline before it is a checklist.

Services · The HCD Government Accessibility Method

Assess. Plan. Engage. Sustain.

Not fifteen services: one method in four steps, from first assessment to sustained capability. Simple enough for a city manager, sophisticated enough for a procurement officer.

01 · Assess · Know where you stand.

Digital Accessibility Assessment

WCAG 2.1 AA assessment · Automated + manual testing · Assistive-technology testing · Website & app assessment · Document accessibility · Gap analysis · Risk prioritisation

02 · Plan · Know what to do next.

Accessibility Strategy & Roadmaps

ADA Title II readiness · Accessibility roadmap · Remediation planning · Accessibility policy · Governance · Accessibility standards · Procurement requirements · Vendor evaluation

03 · Engage · Test with the people who use the service. Our distinctive strength.

Human-Centred Accessibility

Disability-inclusive research · Focus groups · Usability testing · Stakeholder workshops · Service-journey research · Accessibility co-design. We test real government journeys with the people who use them: screen-reader, keyboard, magnification, voice-control and cognitive-accessibility users.

04 · Sustain · Make accessibility part of how government works.

Accessibility Governance & Capability

Accessibility policies · Training · Content governance · Procurement guidance · Acceptance criteria · Monitoring · Re-testing · Continuous improvement

The test that matters

Accessibility isn't about pages. It's about whether a resident can complete the journey.

A page can pass a scan while the task fails. We follow the whole journey, the way a resident actually experiences it, and ask a simple question at every step: could they finish?

Find information

Understand it

Complete the form

Submit

Receive confirmation

Application · Accessible Website Refresh Advisory

Planning a website refresh? Build accessibility in; don't check for it at the end.

Modernising a public website is the moment to get accessibility right. We advise public agencies through the whole refresh, so the new site is accessible on launch day, not retrofitted after a complaint. We guide the work; your team or your web vendor builds it, with us setting the bar and verifying it.

DiscoveryRequirementsVendor selectionDesign reviewStakeholder & resident engagementAcceptance testing

Why public agencies work with HCD

The qualities that shape every engagement.

Human-centred

We involve the people who rely on public services.

Evidence-led

Findings are grounded in research, testing and WCAG criteria.

Government-aware

We understand procurement, stakeholders, governance and public accountability.

Disability-inclusive

People with disabilities aren't an afterthought in testing.

Built to last

We build internal capability, not just fix today's violations.

United States

ADA Title II Digital Accessibility.

ADA Title II · WCAG 2.1 AA

For U.S. state & local government.

ADA Title II makes accessible digital services a requirement: conformance to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. We take you the whole way: assess the estate, plan the path, engage the residents who use your services, guide remediation, and build the governance to sustain it.

Assess · WCAG 2.1 AA
Engage · Residents & people with disabilities
Sustain · Governance & procurement

Explore U.S. government accessibility

Part of a global practiceIndia: RPwD Act & GIGW, through Universal Access

Expanding to the EU, UK, Canada and Australia.

Experience

Selected work across delivery and accessibility.

Public-sector delivery · Enfin: Radiology & pathology report integration

ClientA public-sector healthcare organisation in radiology and pathology, with decades of patient care.
ChallengeEvaluate concordance between structured radiology and pathology reports and integrate the findings into one unified report.
What we didDesigned and ran a proof of concept; systematic data extraction and comparative analysis; built a streamlined, unified report, from concept to deployment.
OutcomeMore accurate, comprehensive diagnostic information; redundancies removed; improved concordance and efficiency.

Accessibility & universal design · HCD Institute: Building accessible, inclusive systems

Universal AccessAccessibility audit & certification practice (India).→
Universal Design diplomaWith MG University & IUCDS.→
GUDC 27Global Universal Design Conference.
CurriculumHCD innovation curriculum & universal-design programmes; human-centred design curriculum adopted by MG University.

Research

State of Government Digital Accessibility.

Forthcoming

HCD Institute is building an evidence base on accessibility across public-sector digital services: assessing a sample of U.S. government websites against WCAG, by tool and by hand, across the resident journeys that matter.

We compare what automated tools find against what human testing finds, and answer the question no dashboard does: can a resident actually complete the task?

Built for public procurement

We work the way government buying actually works.

Work with us directly, through an existing contract vehicle, or as part of a prime contractor team. Government procurement doesn't run like commercial sales, so we're set up for cooperative purchasing vehicles, master agreements, eProcurement portals and prime partnerships.

Procurement-ready documentation

ACR / VPAT where applicable, WCAG conformance reporting, accessibility statements, acceptance criteria and vendor evaluation.

Request our capabilities

Who delivers this

HCD Institute, with U.S. delivery capability.

Methodology & research

HCD Institute

Accessibility methodology, disability-inclusive research and human-centred design: the framework, the testing discipline, and the standard every engagement is delivered to.

U.S. delivery capability

Delivery partner · Enfin

United States delivery and public-sector engineering capability, brought in for U.S. engagements. The contracting structure is set to fit each opportunity.

Insights