GPSJ - SPRING 2025 - Flipbook - Page 34
GPSJ
DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
Making mail accessible to all
As millions of UK citizens live with sight loss, learning disabilities and di昀케culties, or age-related conditions,
Datagraphic’s public sector expert, Gemma Tappenden, looks at how organisations can meet rising demand for
communications in accessible formats.
According to the Royal National
Institute of Blind People (RNIB),
over 2 million people in the
UK live with sight loss that
impacts their daily lives – a 昀椀gure
projected to double by 2050.
Additionally, data gathered by
Mencap suggests around 1.2
million UK adults have a learning
disability. While peer-reviewed
data is limited, several additional
sources estimate 10-20%
of the UK population to be
neurodivergent, with learning
di昀케culties including dyslexia and
dyscalculia.
Add to these statistics, 昀椀gures
by RNIB that the majority of
people with sight loss (80%)
are over 65 years old, and an
O昀케ce for National Statistics
(ONS) population projection
that the number of people aged
over 85 could nearly double to
3.3m by 2047, and you begin to
understand why demand is rising
for essential public sector printed
and digital mail in accessible
formats.
Why accessibility is nonnegotiable
As any team sending out mail
to members of the public
knows, providing information
in accessible formats is a
requirement to comply with
regulations and standards such
as the Equality Act 2010, Public
Sector Bodies Accessibility
Regulations 2018, and for health
and social care providers, the
Accessible Information Standard
(AIS).
Equally, when sending
mail such as council tax
statements or healthcare
appointments, inclusive design
and accessible formats aid
recipients’ understanding and
improve engagement, which
is especially important for
expected communications, for
example, a better understanding
of a bill drives prompt payment,
and more accessible medical
correspondence reduces
the risk of Did Not Attends
(DNAs) – helping patients meet
appointments to ensure clinical
time isn’t wasted and waiting
list patients can be seen more
quickly.
The challenge with
accessible formats
Unfortunately, in a world that’s
becoming more automated and
digital, providing alternative
format communications can be
challenging, due to long-standing
internal manual processes and
legacy systems that lack the
昀氀exibility to present inclusive
digital options.
A reliance on the ‘best
Gemma
Tappenden,
Public Sector
Solutions
Consultant at
Datagraphic
34
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL AUTUMN
2017
SPRING 2025
endeavours’ of public sector
employees and the ‘goodwill’
of individuals has seen many
services ‘cope’ to date with
processing accessible formats.
However, work昀氀ows are often
fragmented across internal and
external teams, adding delays
in sending correspondence,
compromising response
times and vitally the customer
experience.
Innovation is needed and
available
For many organisations,
working with a good hybrid mail
supplier like Datagraphic is now
key to successfully delivering
documents in accessible formats.
Such suppliers streamline
production of Accessible
Standard formats – like large
print, Braille and easy-read
documents. They often have
昀氀exible capacity and can
automate the production of daily,
weekly or ad hoc quantities,
making accessible formats
as easy to deliver for a public
sector team as the default
correspondence.
Moreover, a good hybrid mail
supplier will bring innovation
to accessibility requests
and e昀케ciency in reaching
underserved groups.
Datagraphic’s accessibility
commitments
At Datagraphic, we lead the
way by embedding accessibility
options into client projects
across secure digital and printed
communications at every stage.
Clients value our ability to
automate their once very manual
production and delivery of
accessible formats, including
large print, braille, easy read and
clear print, and our willingness
to suggest simple, but e昀昀ective,
innovations. As one example, to
support a sub-group of recipients
with learning di昀케culties, we
use dyslexia-friendly colour
palettes, adjusting paper
colours to improve readability
– a small change but one that
delivers signi昀椀cant accessibility
improvements.
Regarding digital mail,
accessibility is also at the front
of our minds. For example,
in Aceni, recipients of secure
digital envelopes we produce
and distribute online, see a
‘magnify’ feature to scale the
digital documents’ content to
their needs. Given that many
of these digital documents are
created from legacy client system
昀椀les, which would previously only
be output as standard printed
mail, it marks a step change in
accessibility.
Plus, our inclusive approach
to accessibility goes beyond
external communications; it also
considers the needs of clients’
employees using Aceni Mail.
Working with independent
provider Shawtrust, they tested
Aceni Mail following the Web
Content Accessibility Guideline
(WCAG), a globally recognised
standard that makes digital
content more accessible to
people with disabilities. Aceni
Mail was tested and certi昀椀ed
to meet the latest standard
version requirements. WCAG 2.2
goes beyond earlier guidelines,
improving access for individuals
with cognitive disabilities, low
vision, and users on mobile
devices.
By providing digital and
physical accessible options,
we ensure that accessibility
goes hand in hand, helping
organisations meet inclusion
goals and regulatory obligations.
Now is the time to assess your
organisation’s communication
practices. Partnering with
providers like Datagraphic
ensures your messages reach
everyone, accessibly, securely,
and sustainably.
