The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 requires agencies to ensure people with disabilities have the same access to information and services as others in the community. It is a requirement for all Government sites to meet WCAG AA guidelines.
This process will help guide you through the process for handling pages that do not meet government accessibility requirements.
Process summary for accessibility failures
alert the content editor via email that the page does not meet our standards using the pre-written email template. The editor then has the option to:
update the page to meet the standards, or
proceed with the publishing. Before publishing, the content owner will need to provide the following:
an email to acknowledge that they are in breach and would still like to proceed with publishing
contact details (to be published) for any accessibility requests
accessibility disclaimer added to page
page details and exception reason added to the table below.
update the Jira ticket, set the due date and place it on hold.
review the ticket at the due date to ensure the page meets standards. Send a reminder email if it hasn’t been resolved.
Alerting the content owner of the breach
This email should be sent from the digital@dpc.vic.gov.au mailbox
For ease of use, a copy of this email is saved in the Drafts folder in the digital inbox.
Hi ______,
Unfortunately, the page you have submitted for review does not meet our accessibility requirements and is unable to be published at this time.
[Describe where the standards are not being met]
The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 requires agencies to ensure people with disabilities have the same access to information and services as others in the community. It is a requirement for all Government sites to meet WCAG AA guidelines.
We request that you update your page to meet the accessibility requirements before it can be published. Details on how to make your page accessible can be found on our Single Digital Presence website.
If you are unable to make your page accessible at this time and would still like to proceed with publishing, we require you to respond to this email with the following acknowledgement. A disclaimer notice will also be placed on the page.
I understand that the following page does not meet WCAG AA standards and is in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. I accept the responsibility for any action that may be initiated by failing to comply. I also agree to provide contact details for anybody seeking an accessible version of our information. These contact details will be published publicly on the web page, along with an accessibility disclaimer.
I commit to providing an accessible version by: [date]
Page title & link:
Reason for exception:
Contact email:
Contact phone number:
Authorised by:
Date:
If you have any questions, please email digital@dpc.vic.gov.au and a member of the content team will be able to assist.
Many thanks,
[your name]
Updating the page revision notes in the CMS
Once the email has been sent, set the page back to Draft with the following revision note. This will let the team know that this person has already been contacted:
This page does not meet accessibility requirements and cannot be published. It includes a number of documents without a HTML version available. Please see my email for further detail.
Jira - how to action in the ticket
Change the ticket status to On Hold
Change the Component to accessibility Issue. Note: you need to open the ticket to change this field.
Change the Date required to the date the editor has committed to fix the issue.
View all current accessibility issues in Jira for examples
Jira workflow
The day before the Date required, Jira will email the Assignee to let them know the date has arrived.
Check to see if the issue has been resolved:
if resolved, you can close the ticket
if not resolved, send them a reminder email.
Escalating non-compliance or other issues
Content team meeting
Outstanding accessibility issues are discussed in the weekly content team meeting. This is an opportunity to discuss any challenges you are having with editors.
If the editor replied to your email/hasn’t committed to resolving the issue
If you’ve attempted to contact the editor twice (via email) and haven’t received a reply, escalate the email to Emma. Emma will contact the editor to discuss the breach further
Accessibility disclaimer - page callout
For non-Accessible pages, the following notice is to be placed on the page in a callout:
The Victorian Government is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. This page may not meet our minimum WCAG AA accessibility standards.
If you are unable to read any of the content of this page, you can contact the content owners for an accessible version:
Contact email:
Contact number:
Page exception list
The following pages do not meet WCAG AA standards. The content owners acknowledge and accept that they are in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and have requested to have their page published anyway.
Accessibility exceptions
In some instances, there are exceptions to creating an HTML document. Generally, this includes:
fact sheets
grant guidelines
video transcripts
forms - visit the Design forms digital guide for designing best-practise online forms
speeches
newsletters
In some instances, a separate discussion can be had with a department or agency if the content is niche or HTML summaries can be added for large documents to cover key messages.
If an exception has been discussed and approved, update the Decision log - exceptions tab on the accessibility process and register spreadsheet.