Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Accessibility Specialist
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This role may be located in one of the following locations; Birmingham, Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle or Sheffield.
Please find further information on the Corporate hub locations here.
Please note that for candidates requesting to work in Newcastle, the role will initially be based at Benton Park View. It will then move to 1 Pilgrim Place in Newcastle city centre by the end of 2027.
Job Summary
Are you a skilled and experienced Accessibility Specialist?
Do you have experience working with third-party suppliers to ensure digital products and services meet accessibility standards?
Corporate Centre Services is responsible for many of the digital systems used by colleagues across DWP. We are a team of digital professionals who procure, deliver and support technology solutions that enable our colleagues to do their jobs effectively.
We are looking for an Accessibility Specialist to join our team. You'll work closely with suppliers, service teams and stakeholders to embed accessibility throughout the procurement and delivery lifecycle, helping to ensure that the digital services our colleagues rely on are accessible and inclusive for everyone.
Job Description
You will work across DWP Digital, with colleagues at a range of role levels to embed accessibility into all products, services and communications.
You Will:
- Work with third-party suppliers, service teams and stakeholders to ensure digital products and services meet accessibility standards and deliver inclusive user experiences.
- Provide expert accessibility advice and assurance throughout the procurement, delivery and maintenance of digital services.
- Review and assess accessibility evidence, including audit reports, Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs) and accessibility statements, identifying risks and recommending improvements.
- Develop accessibility capability across Corporate Centre Services through guidance, coaching, training materials and awareness activities.
- Engage with and contribute to cross-government accessibility communities, promoting best practice and continuous improvement in accessibility.
Roles And Responsibilities:
- Raise awareness and provide support, training and auditing to improve compliance with relevant legislation.
- Coordinate support and consultancy for third party suppliers, using your knowledge of programming languages, frameworks and techniques, to make content accessible for all users.
- Review and verify the validity of Accessibility Conformance Reports to ensure that products and services are accessible from go-live.
- Coordinate technical testing and user testing of digital products for accessibility or assistive software.
- Coordinate the delivery of procured digital products to meet accessibility requirements.
- Keep up to date with technological developments and take responsibility for own professional development.
- Identify training needs and monitor completion of professional development activities for Accessibility Specialists.
Person specification
See selection process for further details.
If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact oliver.canham1@dwp.gov.uk
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
Technical Understanding of Accessibility
Alongside your salary of £44,447, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £12,876 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
We also have a broad benefits package built around your work/life balance which includes:
- Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
- Generous annual leave – at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
- Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
- Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
- Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
- Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
- An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.
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Hybrid Working
This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work.
If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office.
If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert.
Salary Information
New entrants to the Civil Service will join on band minimum.
Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer will maintain their current substantive salary.
Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion will move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or receive a 10% increase applied to their current substantive salary, whichever is greater.
Any temporary allowances that you are currently in receipt of will not form part of the calculation to determine your pay. Any allowances that are in payment will cease when you move into your new role.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.
Stage 1: Application
Your Application Will Consist Of Four Parts:
- A Personal Details application form.
- Employment history - this should contain your work experience and any skills, qualifications and accomplishments relevant to the jobs you have completed.
- Personal statement - up to 750 words. This statement should be used to provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria below:
- Good understanding of how to make web content accessible, using HTML, CSS, ARIA and JavaScript.
- Use of a range of assistive software (screen readers, screen magnifiers & voice recognition software) and automated tools for testing and demonstrating.
- Influence stakeholders and external vendors to adopt and improve the accessibility of services.
- Analysis of audit findings to help make difficult decisions and give advice about accessibility.
- Technical statement (up to 250 words). The following statement is aligned to the required technical skill of Technical Understanding of Accessibility. This statement should be used to provide example(s) of how you meet the criterion below:
- Assessing websites and documents against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), investigating the cause of defects, and explaining the impact on end users.
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Ensure that all examples provided in your statements are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. If you choose to use gen-AI to support your statements, you must follow the guidelines outlined in the Artificial intelligence and recruitment guide.
The sift panel will use the information in your employment history, personal statement, and technical statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge.
An initial sift will be conducted using the technical statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to a full sift.
If you do progress to a full sift, you will be provided with one combined overall assessment score for both your employment history and Personal Statement.
For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.
Important Information
- You will be asked to complete your employment history. Any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form.
- Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered.
- If your employment history, personal statement or technical statement contain any personal details your application will be withdrawn.
Stage 2: Interview
If you’re successful at the sift stage, you’ll be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams. During the interview, you’ll be assessed against the experience criteria listed under both the essential criteria and technical skill.
You will be asked to do a 10 minute presentation on a specific topic. Further details will be provided to candidates invited to interview.
To help you prepare and settle into the interview you will be sent the interview questions in advance of the interview, at least 5 days prior to your interview. These questions should be treated as confidential and should not be shared. The interview panel may ask you other questions which will not be shared in advance, including follow-up questions, and those about your experience and abilities. Candidates may be asked further probing questions if their response is deemed to require further information to determine suitability for the role.
Candidates are strongly encouraged to secure their interview slot promptly to ensure fairness in preparation time with the questions provided in advance.
Interviews will take place from mid October 2026. Interview dates to be confirmed.
Other Information:
- If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.
- All successful candidates and those placed on
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