Video accessibility

New accessibility regulations came into force for public sector bodies on 23 September 2018. Full name Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. These require us to make our website or mobile app more accessible, so UK public sector organisations need to comply. The standards state that:

• all new video content created must be fully accessible
• all videos must have subtitles or captions available
• a transcript needs to be supplied for video and audio content
• any existing content made before 23 September 2018 that provides a service (for example, a video guide on how to do something) will need to comply with these standards by 23 September 2020
• Learn more about the accessibility regulations on the GOV.UK website.

Who is responsible?

The video creator and/or commissioner is responsible for making sure video meets accessibility requirements.

Working with third-parties

When commissioning, make the agency/partner aware of accessibility regulations and your duty as a public sector organisation with regards to The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Conformance Level AA).

To make it clear that meeting WCAG 2.1 AA standards is part of their contractual obligations and this should be included in your procurement contract framework.

•  Many people who are Deaf can read text well. They get the audio information from transcripts or captions. Some people prefer sign language.
• Some people who are hard of hearing like to listen to the audio to hear what they can, and have captions to fill in what they can’t hear adequately.
• Some people who have difficulty processing auditory information also use captions. Many use transcripts so they can read at their own pace.
• Some people who are blind or have low vision can’t see videos well or at all. They use description of visual information to understand what’s going on visually. (Description is called audio description, video description, or described video.)
• Some people who are Deaf-blind use a screen reader and braille to read descriptive transcripts that include the audio and visual information as text.
• Some people cannot focus and comprehend auditory or visual information when there are changing visuals. For most videos, they also need descriptive transcripts.
• Some people cannot use their hands and use speech recognition software to operate their computer, including the media player. And people who are blind need the media player to work without a mouse.
• Some people use multiple accessibility features simultaneously. For example, someone might want captions, description of visual information as text, and description in audio.

Subtitles are only used as text for dialogue. They are often used to understand different languages.

Closed captions include text for dialogue, and they are also used for noises and sounds that are included in your audio, such as a crash or a phone ringing. This is the option for people who are hearing impaired.

Closed captions can be turned on and off, while open captions are burnt onto the video itself and can't be turned off.

Open captions (hard burned) mean the text is written on top of the image permanently. This is sometimes referred to as hard burned. They cannot be turned on or off and they only support one language per video.

There are accessibility issues surrounding open captions. Open captions on a video is the equivalent of saving a word file as a JPEG image. It cannot be interacted with once rendered and cannot be identified by accessibility tools. They cannot be automatically translated either. This restricts international audiences who prefer or require captions in an alternative language.

The use of subtitles, closed captions or open captions will depend on your content.

Examples of good practice 

• NHS 111 British Sign Language (BSL) Advert
• Making accessible resources for print diabled learners