Address
Form of work
SalaryDo you know WCAG inside out?
If you have very strong communication skills that allow you to engage with people and teams across different levels and capabilities, then this is the job for you!
This is a new role to DWP and will be part of the newly formed Digital Corporate Services User Centred Design (UCD) Support team.
We are looking for an experienced and passionate advocate for accessibility issues. You will be the 'face of accessibility', and will lead on accessibility work, ensuring that products we design for colleagues are fit for purpose, and fully accessible from day one.
The ideal candidate will have a strong personality and good negotiation and diplomatic skills, sometimes being able to withstand challenge from third parties.
The successful candidate will be part of the design process wherever needed and be a champion for accessibility. As well as designing and testing products, there is also an element of coaching too. As a newly formed directorate and adopting a product lead approach, this is a new way of working for a lot of its members so there will be an emphasis on explaining why accessibility is important to colleagues but also senior stakeholders too. This will involve explaining the risks of not being accessibility compliant as well as implementing the DWP Digital Accessibility Policy.
As a Senior Accessibility Specialist, you will lead on:
- Defining and implementing accessibility standards across the Department
- Managing accessibility products and services within the Department
- Communicating risk, articulating it clearly and working with senior stakeholders to manage that risk across the Department.
- You will oversee and support the work of Accessibility Specialist and Associate Accessibility Specialists, ensuring team resources are effectively managed and results monitored.
You will support users, making sure they can access products and services, and will help teams, portfolios, and programmes across the department to meet:
- The Government Service Standard
- The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2
- The Equality Act (2010)
- The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (2018).
As a Senior Accessibility Specialist, you will also help ensure that citizen facing services and internal systems cater for the needs of all users by being:
- accessible to everybody, including those with disabilities
- usable by those who are digitally excluded due to skills, confidence, willingness, or lack of resources.
You will engage with a variety of teams and senior stakeholders to influence decisions based on data. You will be able to explain and demonstrate accessibility issues clearly and lead on the resolution of these issues. You will guide others and increase awareness and capability in teams.
As a Senior Accessibility Specialist, you will lead on the management of departmental legal risks and potential reputational damage associated with a lack of accessibility compliance, which will entail engagement with a variety of senior stakeholders.
You will work to proactively change the culture in the department and keep accessibility and inclusion at the forefront of everything we do.
Role and Responsibilities
Lead on delivering our accessibility strategy to improve compliance, culture, and education in the Department. Assessing services and reporting corporate risks regarding accessibility and inclusion with reference to policies, standards, rulings, and legislation. Manage, support and co-ordinate a team of Accessibility Specialists, overseeing and completing assurance activities. Provide expert advice and upskill delivery teams and stakeholders on achieving channel shift goals whilst meeting diverse users’ needs with digital interfaces, offline channels, and support models. Create, maintain and disseminate guidance, and best practice on accessibility, acting as an expert consultant and driving corporate understanding across a wide range of delivery teams. Stay up to date and communicate any changes to the relevant standards, to ensure Departmental compliance. Drive the transformation of DWP's approach to accessibility and digital inclusion in line with the Government Service Standard. Contribute to, support, and share the work of the accessibility and inclusion communities across government. Build capability by developing and delivering training on a range of accessibility and digital inclusion topics to a variety of delivery teams. Implement mechanisms to ensure quality, consistency, effectiveness, and efficiency of accessibility requirements across DWP products and services. You will encourage and coach colleagues through the career pathways and work with them (and their line managers as appropriate) to develop strategies to achieve their career goals.
