Designing services that stay accessible over time

Theme: Accessibility

Accessibility debt is a shared problem across government, and it should not be something only specialists understand.

In this session, Calum will explain how accessibility debt builds up in long‑running services like GOV.UK, and how sharing design skills across teams helps people spot and fix issues earlier. He will show simple ways for teams to find, prioritise and reduce accessibility debt, and how everyday habits can stop new debt from forming. 

By giving more people the confidence to take part in accessibility work, we can keep services inclusive and easier to maintain.

Participant takeaways:

• how accessibility debt builds up in public services as they change over time, and how to spot it early
• helpful approaches for spotting and managing accessibility debt in day‑to‑day work
• how sharing accessibility knowledge across roles helps teams prevent new debt and keep services inclusive over time