Search

Digital Inclusion Standard

Comprising 5 criteria for designing and delivering inclusive and accessible digital government services through best practice principles.
After completing the checklist

Determine if further action is required or whether an exemption could be requested.
Listen carefully for implicit and explicit needs: During user research, discuss their daily lives and observe their real-world actions to contextualise their needs. Use a discussion guide to capture all facets of their experience. While some needs or pain points will be stated explicitly, pay attention to small or superfluous details to recognise the implicit ones. Use at least two methods of user research (such as open-ended interviews and observing users completing relevant tasks) to ensure what they say matches what they do.
Begin with pain points: Identify and address the most common pain points your service should address. Prioritise them by most impactful (which isn’t necessarily the number of users affected). Adopt continuous improvement to address pain points which emerge after launch or upgrades.
Observe usage patterns: Use various data sources to identify how frequently different users might use your service. Stress test your solution for pain-points along task journeys and assess load-bearing capacity during peak periods.
Map experiences: Use visual aids to ensure the breadth of user interactions are captured and your team works from a shared understanding. Build, test and refine journey maps and job stories to understand users’ end-to-end journeys and behind the scenes processes, reduce unintentional duplication and communicate findings.
Please note that this will need to be done before 1 July 2025 for the Digital Service Standard, and before 1 January 2026 for the Digital Inclusion Standard. If you require more time or are unable to meet one of the requirements due to e.g. legacy challenges, you can apply for an exemption if applicable (information below).
Decide if your service needs an exemption
If you are unable to meet the requirements set out in the Digital Service Standard and Digital Inclusion Standard by their implementation dates, please seek an exemption.
You may seek exemptions to these standards for:
legacy technology barriers that cannot be reasonably overcome
substantial financial burden associated with modifying a service to meet requirements.
Exemptions vary in nature and can be permanent, temporary, partial or full and may apply to one or more criteria or the entire standard. Each exemption application will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and must be applied for through the DTA.
Please refer to the Compliance, reporting and exemption guide, for further information.
For further guidance on the exemptions process please see Digital Experience | digital.gov.au or contact standard@dta.gov.au.
Compliance
Congratulations on achieving compliance. Please email us at standard@dta.gov.au to let us know of your compliant services.
Also don't forget to review compliance annually.
Off
Additional assistance

For further guidance on the exemptions process please see Digital Experience | digital.gov.au or contact standard@dta.gov.au.
Additional assistance

For further guidance on the exemptions process please see Digital Experience | digital.gov.au or contact standard@dta.gov.au.
Digital Inclusion Standard checklist

Next page
Next page: Digital Inclusion Standard checklist
Uplift and exemption checklist

Next page
Conduct user research

Test your assumptions: Validate assumptions made in Criterion 1 (‘Have a clear intent’). Conducting qualitative user research directly with people who may be impacted by your service, will provide you with either confirmation that you’re on the right track, or that you are solving the wrong problem and need to adapt your approach.
Gather different perspectives: Undertake ethical and inclusive user research to capture a breadth of needs and capabilities. Zoom out and consider how your digital service interacts with your agency’s wider methods of service delivery. It is helpful to zoom in and out of your problem space to observe the different perspectives and impacts of the service you are designing, and to explore how the problem may manifest at macro and micro levels.
Off
The requirements for each criterion are listed below, along with a brief description and best practice guidance on how to meet the requirements.
Additional Assistance
For further guidance on the exemptions process please see Digital Experience | digital.gov.au or contact standard@dta.gov.au.
The Compliance, reporting and exemption guide helps government understand compliance, reporting and exemption processes for their digital service under the Digital Experience Policy.
The guide contains information about:
the Digital Experience Policy (DX Policy)
compliance and reporting under the DX Policy
standards that apply to existing and new or replacement digital services
compliance processes through the Investment Oversight Framework (IOF)
exemption types, exemption application processes and scenarios.
This guide provides information about DX Policy processes. It does not provide guidance on meeting the criteria set out within each standard. For information about criteria, visit digital.gov.au/policy/digital-experience.
Comply with the policy

Compliance with all 4 standards is not always required, but in certain instances compliance with all 4 standards is mandatory.
Exemption guidance

Exemptions should only be sought where there are genuine barriers in applying the standards to a digital service.
Guide content
Downloadable resource
Exemption guidance

Next page

Digital Inclusion Standard

After completing the checklist

Decide if your service needs an exemption

Additional assistance

Additional assistance

Digital Inclusion Standard checklist

Next page: Digital Inclusion Standard checklist

Uplift and exemption checklist

Additional Assistance

Comply with the policy

Exemption guidance

Guide content

Downloadable resource

Exemption guidance

Connect with the digital community