Foundations
Part of Employer branding careers site best practices: accessibility & consent
Employer branding careers site best practices: accessibility & consent
UK careers sites need employer branding, mobile-first layouts, Equality Act accessibility and lawful cookie consent. These checks keep applications flowing.
What to take away
- A careers page is employer branding in action, and it serves one reader and one action: start an application.
- The Equality Act 2010 covers England, Scotland and Wales, and WCAG 2.2 level AA is the technical benchmark for accessibility.
- Cookie banners must gather consent under PECR before any non-essential tracking runs.
- Test the whole apply flow on a phone and with a screen reader before you publish.
- Measure the completion rate and the step where candidates stop.
Decide the reader's task before anything else
A careers site that sells the employer, hosts the blog and runs the applicant tracking system usually does none of those jobs well. Write down the one task the page serves. For most UK employers that task is simple: understand the role, trust the claims, start an application.
The job advert that feeds the page carries the same duty. Our guide to how to write job adverts that attract talent sets out the order to follow, from the first line to the apply button.
Accessibility is a duty in England, Scotland and Wales
The Equality Act 2010 places duties on employers in England, Scotland and Wales, and a recruitment website that shuts out a disabled applicant falls inside them. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) enforces and guides on that duty. The technical benchmark is WCAG 2.2 level AA, and EN 301 549 sets out accessibility requirements for ICT. Public sector employers also have specific duties under the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018, including publishing an accessibility statement. Northern Ireland follows separate disability discrimination law, so a Great Britain template needs a second look.
Accessibility checks for careers sites
- Keyboard-only navigation works
- Readable colour contrast
- Alt text on images
- Labelled form fields
- No fixed time limit on forms
- Publish accessibility statement with contact
Colour contrast, heading order and video captions are checked against WCAG 2.2 AA, and automated tools such as axe, WAVE and Lighthouse catch only part of the job. Test the apply journey with a screen reader such as NVDA, JAWS or VoiceOver as well, because a form that depends on visual layout alone will fail a screen reader user.
Consent comes before the tracking script
Careers pages load analytics, social pixels and video embeds. In the UK, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) govern cookies and similar technologies, and no non-essential script should fire before consent. The ICO's cookies and similar technologies guidance sets the standard: consent must be freely given, specific, informed, and as easy to refuse as to accept. UK GDPR sits alongside PECR for personal data, but PECR is the rule that requires consent before those cookies are set.
Consent before tracking
- Page loads
- Cookie banner appears
- User accepts or refuses
- Non-essential scripts fire only after consent
- Click-to-load placeholder for video
Use a consent management platform such as Cookiebot, OneTrust or CookieYes to block non-essential scripts until a choice is made, and put the banner somewhere it cannot swallow the apply button. Candidates who cannot dismiss a cookie notice on a small screen will leave, and the application you paid to attract goes with them.
A YouTube or Vimeo player can set cookies on load, so a click-to-load placeholder keeps the page lawful and faster on mobile data.
Check the labour market data before you write claims
Before you describe who works shifts, part-time or remotely, check the ONS employment and employee types series rather than a competitor's careers page.
Pay claims need the same care. ONS publishes earnings and working hours data, so any figure should name the measure, the geography and the date.
Check the labour market data
| Page element | Source to check | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Apply form | Equality Act 2010 | Labelled fields, clear errors, no fixed time limit |
| Cookie banner | ICO UK GDPR guidance | Refuse as easily as accept, nothing pre-ticked |
| Pay or shift claims | ONS earnings and working hours | Measure, geography and date stated |
| Mobile layout | Your own testing | The full journey works one-handed |
Five checks before the page goes live
- Walk the apply journey on a phone, then with a screen reader such as NVDA, JAWS or VoiceOver.
- Run axe, WAVE or Lighthouse, then confirm every field has a visible label and an error message that says what to fix.
- Refuse all cookies, then check the browser for scripts that still load.
- Delete any claim you cannot evidence from your own records or a named source.
- Set a monthly reminder to review completion rate and drop-off.
Measure the page, not the visit
Traffic tells you little. Completion rate, the step where candidates stop, and the time between landing and submitting are the numbers that change decisions. Our guide to recruitment marketing metrics every UK team should track explains how to set a baseline before you change the page.
Ask shortlisted candidates what nearly stopped them. A two-question survey at the end of the application, sent by the applicant tracking system, gives you the reasons behind the drop-off figures.
Report the same three numbers monthly, in the same order, so page changes can be read against application changes.
Common questions
Does a UK careers site need an accessibility statement?
Public sector employers must publish one under the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018. Private employers are not covered by that regulation, but the Equality Act 2010 still applies, and an accessibility statement is good practice. Whichever route you take, it should name a person and a contact route.
How do we handle cookie consent for job applicants?
Treat applicants as you would customers: under PECR, no non-essential script before consent. Keep the banner clear of the apply form and keep a record of when consent was given.
Should the application form sit on the careers site or in the applicant tracking system?
Either works if the candidate stays on one domain and keeps their progress. Redirects, new logins and re-typing are where good applicants disappear.
What should we measure first?
Completion rate, then the step with the biggest drop. Both need a baseline before you redesign anything.
