Intelligence Community Design System

All digital apps and services must follow at least some of these requirements. The type and age of the app or service changes what you need to do.

All documentation must be regularly reviewed, especially on substantial revisions to the app or service.

The team must create and commit to the Accessibility Statement . Use this to document and roadmap how you'll address any known issues.

The Accessibility Statement must be updated whenever the conformance of the app or service changes, when accessibility problems are raised, or at least once every 12-months.

The Accessibility Statement must be published within the app or service, and be discoverable for potential users.

New apps and services, or those that have been 'substantially revised' (see definition below) on or after 23 September 2019, must comply to all requirements.

These apps and services must:

Apps and services that haven't been 'substantially revised' since 23 September 2019 are subject to an abridged accessibility requirement. If an app or service is later 'substantially revised' then additional requirements will then apply.

These apps and services must regularly publish an Accessibility Statement (see above).

It's recommended, but not required, that these apps and services regularly complete and publish an Accessibility Conformance Report .

Apps and services in this category will still need to provide reasonable adjustments where required, if accessibility problems are known.

A modification to an app or service is considered a ‘substantial revision’ when at least one of the following is true:

You should re-test all parts of an app or service that could be affected by a substantial revision.

This requirement applies to commercial procurements or off-the-shelf (COTS) products.

In many cases, vendors or commercial organisations already publish the required documentation.

If you work for MI5, MI6 or GCHQ, search your intranet to learn more about our specific Policy Requirements.

This requirement also applies to public-facing websites managed by the Intelligence Community departments, such as this one. Read more about understanding accessibility requirements for public sector bodies on the GOV.UK website.