WCAG 2.2 is here
It's official! WCAG 2.2 is now the recommended version of the accessibility guidelines. Here's what you need to know...
On 5th October 2023, W3C pushed live the latest iteration of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), v2.2. This has been a long time coming and an exciting day for the world of digital accessibility!
What are the changes?
WCAG 2.2 adds 9 additional success criteria to the existing iteration of WCAG, v.2.1. This includes 2 new success criteria at Level A, 4 newbies at Level AA and 3 new Level AAA criteria.
These do not supersede what has gone before but build on the existing criteria, meaning there is now more we need to consider to ensure our websites are compliant with the guidelines.
The only significant change to the existing guidelines is that SC 4.1.1 (Parsing) has been marked as obsolete and removed from WCAG 2.2.
Check out our blog post to read more about the difference between 2.1 and 2.2
What does this mean for you?
If you are actively monitoring the accessibility of your website, and are not doing so already, you should now add the new 2.2 criteria to your list of checks.
If you are not actively monitoring the accessibility website, you should start doing so and use WCAG 2.2 as your baseline.
For public sector organisation, it looks like the new success criterion are quickly being written into the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations and GDS are giving everyone one year to bring all websites and apps in line with WCAG 2.2:
“The Government Digital Service (GDS) is working on how to assess the new success criteria in WCAG 2.2 and will start monitoring for the extra criteria in October 2024. Until October 2024 we will monitor accessibility of websites and apps to WCAG 2.1 level AA”
For help getting your digital services up to speed with WCAG 2.2, get in touch!