5 common accessibility issues on local government sites
Local governments need an accessible website that is usable and understandable for everyone. Website design and content have many different aspects that make them accessible to people with disabilities. While compliance with website accessibility requirements is important, it can often feel like a never-ending challenge.
Although website accessibility can seem complex, at ALYKA, we often encounter common accessibility issues with relatively straightforward fixes. We’ve put together a list of the top 5 and how you can address them to create a local government website that works for everyone.
Top 5 accessibility issues in local government sites
1. Low colour contrast
Colour contrast defines how one colour stands out from another. Accessibility guidelines dictate that there needs to be adequate contrast between text and background colours to make it easy to read. This includes text on images, icons, and buttons. Although it sounds simple, it's one of the most common accessibility issues we come across on local government sites.
Sufficient colour contrast ensures that your content is legible for people with visual impairments. However, everyone benefits from having easier-to-read content.
How to fix it:
- Select colours that have sufficient contrast during early design phases
- Check the colour contrast of existing designs using tools such as Adobe Color Contrast Analyzer or Figma Color Contrast Checker
2. Missing or inadequate alt text and metadata
Alt text and metadata are crucial pieces of information that help people with assistive technology to understand content. They are also used to provide context to search engines and other devices. Alt text is a short written description of an image for people who cannot see the image. It should explain the essential content or purpose of the image. Metadata is background information about a webpage that helps users find, understand and use the content.
Missing, duplicate, or poor-quality alt text makes websites harder to use for people who rely on screen readers. Without meaningful descriptions, users with vision impairments can miss essential information or context. Duplicate alt text can make navigation confusing, while inaccurate descriptions can mislead users about the content or purpose of an image. This creates barriers to understanding and reduces a site's overall accessibility.
Incomplete or incorrect metadata can also limit accessibility by making it harder for assistive technologies, search engines, and devices to identify, organise, and present content in a useful way. Missing page titles or vague descriptions can impact both navigation and comprehension.
How to fix it:
- Write clear, concise image alt text that reflects its purpose
- Ensure metadata accurately describes and categorises the content
- Do regular accessibility checks to keep content inclusive
3.Unclear links
Website accessibility issues with links often occur on local government websites when link text is vague, such as “click here” or “read more,” or when clickable elements like buttons and boxes are not visually obvious as interactive. Users relying on screen readers may struggle to understand where a link will take them, and sighted users may overlook important actions if there’s no clear visual cue that something is clickable. This can make navigation frustrating and, in some cases, prevent people from accessing important content or completing tasks.
Clear and descriptive links are essential for accessibility on local government sites because they help all users, especially those with vision impairments or cognitive differences, understand the purpose of each link without needing extra context. For example, a link that says “Download the annual report (PDF)” instantly communicates what will happen when clicked. This benefits screen reader users, keyboard-only users, and people scanning a page quickly, ensuring they can navigate efficiently and confidently.
How to fix it:
- Make sure link text is descriptive and meaningful on its own
- Ensure clickable elements like buttons and boxes are visually distinct, using colour, borders, or underlining
- Regularly test your site with screen readers and keyboard-only navigation
4. Inaccessible PDFs
PDF accessibility issues often arise when documents are not structured for assistive technologies. Common problems include missing tags that define headings, lists, and tables; images without alt text; and text saved as an image rather than real, selectable text. These issues mean that screen readers cannot interpret the content properly, making the PDF difficult or impossible for people with vision impairments or other disabilities to navigate.
Accessible PDFs are important because they ensure everyone can read, navigate, and understand the content, regardless of the device or software they use. Clear structure and properly tagged elements help screen readers present the information in a logical order, while searchable text and descriptive alt text for images make the content more usable for all. This is especially important for local government documents like forms, reports, and guides, which people may rely on for essential information.
How to fix it:
- Create PDFs from properly structured source documents in programs like Word or InDesign
- Ensure headings, lists, and tables are formatted correctly
- Add alt text to images, set the document language, and use proper tagging for reading order
- Run an accessibility check in Adobe Acrobat or similar tools to find and fix issues before publishing
- Regularly review PDFs helps keep content inclusive and compliant with accessibility standards
5. Overly complex information
Readability issues on local government websites occur when content is written in overly complex language, presented in large unbroken blocks of text, or formatted in a way that makes it hard to scan. This can make information difficult to understand for people with cognitive disabilities, low literacy levels, or those for whom English is not a first language.
Clear and readable content is important because it ensures information can be understood quickly and accurately by the widest range of people. Well-structured, plain language content supports those with different reading abilities and learning styles and benefits everyone by making information easier to absorb. When content is simple, scannable, and visually clear, users are more likely to engage with it, complete tasks, and retain key information.
How to fix it:
- Write in plain language, using short sentences and paragraphs, and break text into sections with clear headings.
- Use lists, bullet points, and white space to make content easier to scan
- Test your content with readability tools such as Readability and Grammarly
Want to improve your website’s accessibility and not sure where to start? We are happy to run an audit of your homepage and one internal page using Silktide. We use Silktide to audit your website’s compliance with WCAG accessibility requirements and provide a baseline score. We then use this information to identify accessibility issues and implement on-the-spot fixes for simple problems. Get in touch to find out more.