Performing an accessibility audit and user testing for Skills for Care

The Problem

Skills for Care required an accessibility evaluation of their Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) digital service. The service needed to meet the Government Service Standard and Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations. The scope of the accessibility evaluation included a WCAG compliance audit and assistive technology user testing with people with a range of disabilities and accessibility needs.

The solution

To understand the service and users’ needs, CDS accessibility experts undertook a preliminary review of the digital service, analysing relevant data and user research and working with the product owners to understand functionality, user journeys, and content types.

The team identified a representative sample of pages to include in the audit and a priority testing scope for key content and user journeys with the highest potential accessibility barriers. This ensured the review of crucial content for service users while meeting budget constraints.

For each page in the audit sample, CDS experts focused on WCAG compliance and adherence to Government Digital Service standards to thoroughly test the design, content, and code against the applicable WCAG 2.1 AA criteria.

The team also conducted testing to evaluate compatibility with common assistive technologies (e.g., mobile and desktop screen readers, voice recognition software, display adaptations, and mobile displays). The natural interaction testing included a broad range of users: people with different auditory, cognitive, learning, neurological, physical, speech, and visual disabilities. The findings were outlined in an accessibility audit report alongside effective technical solutions.

The result

Skills for Care received a meaningful, actionable report for the business that enabled them to secure further funding for broader testing. It included an executive summary of key findings, priorities, next steps, recommendations, and detailed results against WCAG standards.

CDS led on-site workshops with the design and development teams to present and discuss findings, scope, and next steps, including solution implementation advice. CDS also worked closely with senior stakeholders in a collaborative show-and-tell session that helped explain the impact of issues on different disabled users, address questions and concerns, discuss remedial options, and prioritise issues based on the impact and cost of implementation.

Following remedial work by the developer to fix the issues raised, the team re-tested to confirm the resolution. Finally, CDS drafted an accessibility statement for the ASC-WDS service, meeting the requirements of the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.