Executive summary

What we found, and the option we've prepared

Cotswold District Council is managing a substantial digital estate, with nearly 6,000 PDFs comprising more than 134,000 pages. Checking and correcting documents falls largely to Beth alongside wider website and communications responsibilities. The demonstration highlighted underlying accessibility issues that can remain undetected through the current checks, despite the work already being undertaken.

Based on the scale of this estate and the investment required, our recommendation is to prioritise new documents through a three-year Keep Up remediation programme. Remediating the entire historic backlog now would, in our view, be a disproportionate initial investment.

With approximately 17,000 new PDF pages projected annually, Keep Up would establish a funded programme for addressing accessibility as documents are published. Remediation reports and review of the outputs would provide evidence of improvements, reduce repetitive administration and support more consistent access for disabled and vulnerable residents. The three-year term also lowers the annual price compared with the initial estimate.

Historic content would remain subject to a separate review, including what should be retained, removed or prioritised because residents need it. Where the Council’s documented assessment supports a disproportionate burden claim, this should be explained in its accessibility statement, with accessible alternatives available when needed. Historic remediation could be added later as priorities and resources change.

• —Will Batchellor, Recite Me

Your estate

Visits a month Pages PDFs

Pages 60,000 across the estate

PDF pages 134,688 ≈ 17,000 new a year

72,000 60,000 5,901

across 1 website

documents found

Your exposure: High

Set by PSBAR 2018 and Equality Act 2010.

PSBAR 2018

Public sector websites and apps must meet set accessibility standards and publish an accessibility statement.

Equality Act 2010 Public sector websites and apps must meet set accessibility standards and publish an accessibility statement.

A legal duty to make reasonable adjustments so disabled people are not disadvantaged, online included.

Prices exclude VAT and are based on the estate figures we've agreed with you. Remediation volumes are reviewed with your customer success manager at renewal.

Recite Me · Proposal RM-20261104-CDC v1