Digital Accessibility Advisory
Advisory  /  Accessibility Governance
BluveIT Advisory

Accessibility

Governance

Build the policies, ownership structures, and organisational frameworks that make accessibility a sustained, scalable practice — embedded into procurement, product lifecycle, vendor management, and culture.

Start building your governance framework → Assess your maturity
73%
of organisations have no documented accessibility policy
5×
higher audit pass rate in organisations with formal governance
4+
regulations now require documented governance processes
12mo
typical time to move from reactive to proactive accessibility practice
The governance gap

Why compliance alone is not enough

Most accessibility programmes focus on fixing what audits find. Without governance, the same issues return with every release. Governance is what transforms a reactive audit cycle into a proactive practice that scales with your organisation.

Policy
Documented standards and commitments your organisation makes to accessibility — referenced in procurement, vendor selection, and product development
Ownership
Named roles and responsibilities for accessibility across engineering, design, legal, procurement, and leadership
Process
Defined review gates, sprint ceremonies, release checklists, and audit cycles that make accessibility a routine part of every team's workflow
Accountability
Reporting structures, dashboards, and KPIs that surface accessibility health to leadership and create organisational consequences for non-compliance

Accessibility without governance is a sprint — not a strategy. Governance is what makes every team, every product, and every release consistently accessible over time.

BluveIT Digital Accessibility Advisory
Four governance pillars
Policy & standards
Written accessibility policy aligned to WCAG 2.2, ADA, EAA and organisational commitments
Ownership & roles
Named accountability across teams with defined RACI for accessibility decisions and reviews
Process & lifecycle
Review gates, sprint integration, and release checklists that embed accessibility into delivery rhythms
Measurement & reporting
KPIs, dashboards, and audit cadences that give leadership visibility into accessibility health over time
What we build with you

Governance
deliverables

Every governance engagement produces tangible, documented frameworks your organisation can use immediately. We don't deliver presentations — we deliver working artefacts your teams can adopt, adapt, and maintain.

Accessibility policy & commitment statement
A documented organisational accessibility policy aligned to WCAG 2.2, ADA, Section 508, and the EU Accessibility Act — ready for publication, procurement reference, and internal governance. Includes a public-facing accessibility commitment statement tailored to your organisation.
RACI & ownership framework
Defined roles and responsibilities for accessibility across engineering, design, QA, product, legal, and procurement — mapping who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed at each stage of the product lifecycle.
Audit cadence & review schedule
A scheduled audit cycle aligned to your release cadence, procurement timelines, and regulatory requirements.
Vendor & procurement requirements
Accessibility requirements for third-party vendors and technology procurement — including VPAT requirements, contractual clauses, and evaluation criteria for software selection processes.
KPIs, dashboards & reporting framework
Defined accessibility KPIs (violation counts by severity, conformance rates, open vs resolved issues, regression rates) plus a reporting template for leadership and board-level accessibility reporting. Paired with a configured monitoring dashboard for real-time visibility across products and teams.
Training & awareness programme
Role-specific accessibility training for developers, designers, content authors, procurement, and leadership — building organisation-wide awareness of responsibilities and practices.
Sprint & release integration checklist
Accessibility checkpoints for sprint planning, design review, development, QA, and release — ensuring accessibility is considered at every stage and cannot be overlooked before shipping.
Maturity roadmap
A phased 12–24 month roadmap for advancing your organisation's accessibility maturity level — from initial compliance through to embedded, self-sustaining practice.
Regulatory foundation

Standards your
governance must
address

Effective accessibility governance isn't just an internal practice — it's a legal necessity. Our governance frameworks are built to satisfy the compliance obligations of every major jurisdiction your organisation operates in, with evidence structures that satisfy legal and procurement scrutiny.

"A governance framework that satisfies WCAG 2.2 AA, ADA, and EAA simultaneously is not three separate compliance exercises — it is one well-structured programme."

US
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III
Governance requirements: written accessibility policy, documented remediation process, named accessibility contact, evidence of good-faith compliance effort.
US
Section 508 — Rehabilitation Act
Governance requirements: VPAT documentation for all ICT products, procurement evaluation criteria, conformance reporting for federal contracts.
EU
EU Accessibility Act (EAA) — 2025
Governance requirements: documented conformance process, market surveillance readiness, named responsible party, accessibility statement, complaint handling procedure.
EU
EN 301 549 — European ICT Standard
Technical standard referenced by EAA. Governance aligns procurement, product development, and documentation processes to this harmonised standard.
UK
Equality Act 2010 & PSBAR
Governance requirements for public bodies: accessibility statement publication, monitoring reporting, WCAG 2.1 AA conformance evidence for all public-facing digital services.
INTL
WCAG 2.1 & 2.2 — W3C
The technical backbone of all governance frameworks. Our programmes target WCAG 2.2 Level AA as the baseline conformance target across all jurisdictions.
Why governance pays off
5×
higher audit pass rate in organisations with formal accessibility governance versus those without documented process
70%
reduction in reactive remediation costs once governance is embedded — issues are caught earlier and resolved at lower cost
12mo
typical engagement length to advance an organisation from reactive to managed accessibility practice

What your organisation
gains from governance

Legal risk substantially reduced
A documented governance programme demonstrates good-faith effort in ADA and EAA proceedings. Courts and regulators consistently treat organisations with formal accessibility programmes more favourably in litigation and enforcement.
Procurement qualification unlocked
Government, enterprise, and public-sector buyers increasingly require documented accessibility governance, VPATs, and conformance statements. A strong governance programme is a competitive differentiator in procurement.
Reactive fire-fighting replaced by proactive practice
Organisations with governance don't scramble before audits — they maintain accessibility as a continuous operational standard. The cost and disruption of emergency remediation is replaced by routine maintenance.
Internal capability compounded over time
Governance builds organisational memory — documented standards, trained teams, and embedded processes that don't disappear when key individuals leave. Accessibility capability becomes institutional, not personal.