Head of accessibility

Band 8b · Accessibility specialist · 596 job evaluation points

UK GDaD PCF level: Head of accessibility

Most often performed at Civil Service grade G7 or G6.

A head of accessibility is an expert practitioner who can create an accessibility vision or strategy for an organisation.
At this role level, you will:
define and assure best practice while influencing, leading and mentoring others
influence and develop organisational strategy and priorities, working with counterpart colleagues across government
ensure the right conditions and environment for accessibility specialists to work effectively
develop departmental capability by supporting internal movement of staff between roles, shaping career paths and recruiting talent
understand and own the overall approach to accessibility risk (including how accessibility risk is communicated and how corporate legal compliance risk is managed within the organisation)
engage with and contribute to the cross-government accessibility community

Contains public sector information from the UK Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework (https://understand-digital-data-roles-skills.service.gov.uk/), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.

Responsibilities

Set the organization's accessibility vision, strategy, and standards, for patient-facing and internal services.
Assure compliance with accessibility law and standards across services, and report on it to senior leaders.
Make sure accessibility requirements are part of procurement and supplier contracts for clinical systems.
Influence organizational priorities so that disabled patients and staff are not excluded.
Lead and develop the accessibility team and community of practice.

Skills

Skill	Expected level	What this level means
Communicating informationUK GDaD PCF	Expert (4)	You can: mediate between people and mend relationships, communicating with stakeholders at all levels manage stakeholder expectations and host or moderate discussions about high risk and complexity, even within constrained timescales speak on behalf of and represent the community to large audiences inside and outside of government
Governance and assurance (accessibility)UK GDaD PCF	Expert (4)	You can: analyse governance and assurance systems and add appropriate measures to ensure accessibility is built into all project, programme and change activity
Leadership and guidanceUK GDaD PCF	Expert (4)	You can: change organisational structures to fixable and sustainable designs lead on the strategy for the whole organisation, marrying business needs with innovative analysis make and justify decisions characterised by high levels of risk, impact and complexity build consensus between organisations (private or public) or highly independent and diverse stakeholders solve and unblock issues between teams or departments at the highest level understand the psychology of a team and have strong mediation skills coach the organisation on team dynamics and conflict resolution
Technical understanding (accessibility)UK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: demonstrate knowledge and communicate the requirements of accessibility standards and legislation advocate appropriate technical solutions to a range of accessibility issues perform detailed audits of websites, services and documents, and document findings clearly for others to work from be an advocate for the people affected by accessibility barriers across the department provide introductory awareness and training about accessibility demonstrate confidence using one or more assistive technologies, and knowledge of others
TestingUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: manage the planning of system and acceptance tests, co-ordinating both functional and non-functional specifications provide authoritative advice and guidance on test planning identify process improvements and contribute to the definition of best practice
User focusUK GDaD PCF	Expert (4)	You can: give direction on which tools or methods to use demonstrate experience in meeting the needs of users across a variety of channels bring insight and expertise in how user needs have changed over time to ensure they're met by the business apply strategic thinking to provide the best service for the end user
Understanding health and care servicesThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: analyze how a service fits into care pathways across organizations work with clinicians, care staff, and patients to shape digital services explain the effect of digital decisions on care, safety, and staff workload
Equality, diversity, and inclusionThis reference	Expert (4)	You can: set inclusion strategy and hold the organization to account for it lead culture change on equality, diversity, and inclusion
Clinical risk managementThis reference	Working (2)	You can: take part in hazard workshops and contribute to a hazard log follow the clinical risk management process for your work provide evidence for a clinical safety case, such as test results
Designing for clinical safety and human factorsThis reference	Working (2)	You can: design interfaces that make the safe action the easy action, for example by reducing ambiguous labels and needless alerts test designs in realistic clinical scenarios, including interruptions and time pressure raise design-related hazards with the clinical safety officer and record how designs control them
Corporate governance and complianceThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: run the governance cycle for boards and committees review policies and advise on compliance
People managementThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: line manage a team, setting objectives and running appraisals support wellbeing and manage attendance, performance, and conduct plan the team's development and succession

Typical qualifications and experience

Extensive experience of leading accessibility in a complex organization.

Band 8b outline

Knowledge: Expert knowledge across several disciplines or a large service.
Autonomy: Shapes policy and strategy for a large area.
Scope: Several services or teams, or a principal-level discipline.
Leadership: Manages managers, or is the principal authority in a discipline.
Accountability: Several services, their staff, and their budgets.

Job evaluation (illustrative)

Factor	Level	Level summary	Points
Communication and relationship skills	5	Gives highly complex or contentious information needing developed persuasion and negotiation, presents to large groups, or communicates where there are significant barriers to acceptance.	45
Knowledge, training, and experience	7	Highly developed specialist knowledge across the range of the specialism (master's level or equivalent).	196
Analytical and judgmental skills	5	Judgments on highly complex facts or situations needing analysis, interpretation, and comparison of options.	60
Planning and organizational skills	5	Forms long-term strategic plans, with uncertainty and effects across the organization.	60
Physical skills	2	Skills gained through practice, such as standard keyboard use or driving.	15
Responsibility for patient and client care	1	Helps patients, clients, or relatives during incidental contact.	4
Responsibility for policy and service development	5	Implements and develops a range of policies or services for a directorate.	45
Responsibility for financial and physical resources	3	Authorizes payments, buys some assets or supplies, monitors or holds a delegated budget, or maintains assets.	21
Responsibility for people	4	Line manages a function or department, designs training programs as a main duty, or delivers a full range of HR services.	32
Responsibility for information resources	5	Designs and develops major information systems, or runs information systems for several services as the main duty.	34
Responsibility for research and development	2	Regularly does research, development, trials, or equipment and system testing as part of the job.	12
Freedom to act	5	Works within general policies, and in most cases decides how to interpret them.	45
Physical effort	1	Sitting, standing, and walking, with little physical effort.	3
Mental effort	3	Frequent concentration on unpredictable work, or occasional prolonged concentration.	12
Emotional effort	1	Rare exposure, or occasional indirect exposure, to distressing circumstances.	5
Working conditions	2	Occasional unpleasant conditions, frequent travel or outdoor work, or near-continuous screen use on most days.	7
Total (Band 8b: 585 to 629)			596

There is no Band 8a level, because the UK GDaD PCF places head of accessibility at G7 or G6 and this reference follows the suggested Band 8b.