Giving voters confidence through an accessible digital service

The client

The Electoral Commission oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK. It plays a vital role in making sure voters have confidence in the democratic system. The Commission wants everyone to be able to access the information they need about how elections are run, so it is committed to improving its digital services.

Working with Numiko, an award-winning digital agency, the Commission overhauled its website to make it easier to navigate and easier to understand. The new content management system (CMS) reduced the amount of time it takes to update and publish content, particularly guidance content, increasing the entire organisation’s efficiencies. With a focus external users, the new website design was informed by user research conducted by the Commission and Numiko.

The challenge

Acting as an independent centre of guidance and expertise, the Commission wanted to demonstrate that the new website meets its diverse range of users’ needs effectively and its information is provided in an easy to use, accessible way; thereby ensuring it complies to Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 and the Equality Act.

Our solution

To support regulatory compliance and deliver a more accessible user experience, the Commission and Numiko partnered with Zoonou to carry out a comprehensive accessibility audit across their digital estate. Our approach combined expert evaluation with real-world feedback to identify and prioritise improvements.

The audit covered 20 Drupal templates alongside 10 key digital assets, including PDFs, Word documents, and Excel files, with a specific focus on PDF remediation and compliance with WCAG 2.1 standards. In parallel, we assessed core user journeys using a range of assistive technologies to understand how the experience performed in practice.

Working in collaboration with the RNIB (Royal National Institute for Blind People), we also conducted disabled user testing with 12 participants who had a variety of access needs. Each participant was asked to complete key tasks across the site, providing direct feedback on usability barriers and real-world accessibility challenges.

The results

In partnership with Numiko and Zoonou, the Commission launched its new website confident it is taking proactive steps to ensure a continued positive, accessible user experience. Understanding that creating an accessible digital space is an ongoing process, we are proud to continue our partnership with the Commission by working with its digital team to further their skills in inclusive design and accessibility knowledge base.

'The insight into user behaviours that Zoonou provided were extremely valuable in helping us develop an accessible new site. We’re committed to putting user needs at the heart of our digital communications, and our ongoing work with Zoonou is crucial to helping us achieve this ambition.'

- Tim Crowley, Head of Digital Communications at The Electoral Commission

We have a proven track record of delivering projects on time and within budget for a wide range of public sector organisations.

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