Senior Accessibility Specialist

Job summary

Senior Accessibility Specialist
£65,000 per annum
Bedford
Permanent
Hybrid Working

Join us at the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) as a Senior Accessibility Specialist.
An accessibility specialist provides support, advice and guidance to other roles in the Money and Pensions Service about how to create accessible digital services.

You will use knowledge of accessibility guidelines, provide technical expertise and bring the voice of disabled users to ensure that product teams make digital services that can be used by everyone. In addition to providing expert guidance, this role will also take hands-on responsibility for accessibility assurance across digital learning outputs, ensuring compliance with agreed standards.

A senior accessibility specialist works with people at a range of role levels to embed accessibility into the output of teams.

Job description

As a Digital Accessibility Specialist at Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), you will contribute to improving engagement, customer satisfaction and ultimately the financial wellbeing of millions of people across the UK, particularly those most in need.

You will use your digital accessibility knowledge and skills to ensure our digital products and services are accessible and inclusive. You will be responsible for assuring our digital products not only meet legal accessibility requirements, but are also desirable, effective, and usable for users with access needs. You will also work with the rest of the UCD team to champion and evolve our accessibility assurance and inclusive design and research practices and align them with the Service Standard.

Your skills and experience will help MaPS achieve our mission of helping everyone in the UK make the most of their money and pensions. At this role level, you will work with service managers and product owners to ensure our digital products are delightfully accessible, have responsibility across complex services, help set direction and embed good practice within teams and make important decisions based on research and understand how this research impacts others.

• Coach and mentor more junior colleagues
• Input into accessibility strategy with business areas or teams
• Create and deliver accessibility training
• Engage with teams across different levels and capabilities
• Potentially manage or lead individuals or sub-teams
• Engage with and contribute to the cross-government accessibility community

Person specification

Essential Skills and Experience:

• Advise and coach product, design, research and engineering teams on building accessible digital services end to end, from discovery through live.
• Plan and conduct detailed accessibility testing (automated, manual and with assistive tech), interpret results, and prioritise fixes with teams.
• Champion compliance with WCAG 2 AA and related public sector accessibility regulations; maintain accessibility statements and evidence for service assessments.
• Embed accessibility in delivery practices, patterns and component choices in MaPS’ own design system; contribute to best practice guidelines
• Run workshops, critiques, and training to raise capability across disciplines; provide introductory awareness and training about accessibility; create practical guidance tailored to varied skill levels.
• Provide governance and assurance, including audits, risk articulation, test strategies, and clear recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Represent disabled users and people with access needs in decision making, ensuring user research and analytics inform accessibility priorities.

Skills & experience:

• Strong technical understanding of accessibility — practical knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript patterns and common barriers; fluent with assistive tech (screen readers, magnifiers, voice input).
• Demonstrable experience testing to WCAG 2 AA and guiding teams to resolve issues; confident selecting tools and methods at each stage.
• Clear, credible consultancy and communication with multidisciplinary teams and senior stakeholders, participating in agile “health checks” and translating findings into delivery plans.
• Ability to set direction, build consensus, challenge teams and lead accessibility across multiple services; ability to make decisions characterised by medium levels of risk and complexity
• Ability to identify, communicate and work within constraints; ability to challenge the validity of constraints and ensure standards are being met.
• Evidence of governance and assurance work — audits, statements, risk logs, and service assessment preparation.
• Strong user focus — ability to bring disabled users’ perspectives into design and delivery decisions.
• Experience training colleagues in accessibility.
• Experience creating accessible documentation (Word, PowerPoint, PDF) at scale.
• Familiarity with the GOV.UK Design System and patterns to accelerate compliance with WCAG 2.
• Understanding of the GOV.UK Service Standard and how accessibility intersects with discovery, alpha, beta and live assessments.
• Familiarity with building Assisted Digital services.
• Experience in the public sector or other regulated field (e.g. financial services, medicine, law).

We don’t require a portfolio, but if you have one we’d love to see it. Examples of accessible digital products or services you have contributed to or led on would be of interest. If not, we’d like a short statement (around 500 words or less) which shows how your projects or experience demonstrate the abilities in this job description.

Benefits

About Us
The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) is based in Bedford, in a recently renovated modern office. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to become an integral part of a dynamic organisation, working to help people across the UK.

At the heart of the Money and Pensions Service are our values – caring, connecting, and transforming, which are the foundation of our success. They permeate every area of our work and define all our business relationships and the way we work with each other. We’re not only looking for the best people to come and work for us, but we need people who align themselves with our values:

• Caring
  We care about our colleagues and the people whose lives we are here to transform.
• Connecting
  We will transform lives through our ability to make positive connections.
• Transforming
  We are committed to transforming lives and making a positive societal impact.

Our Inclusive Working Environment
By fostering our values, we are immensely proud of the inclusive working environment that we have created. The diversity of our people is a strength that we embrace and wish to build upon, so we are committed to attracting people of all backgrounds. We work hard to ensure that we have a progressive approach to inclusion, equity, and belonging. We really do want our colleagues to “bring their whole selves to work.”

Our colleague and ally networks encompass LGBTQ+, neurodiversity, women’s health, men’s health, ethnicity, and diversity.

What We Offer

• Generous Annual Leave – 30 days plus Bank Holidays
• Pension scheme – contributions matched 2 to 1 (up to 10% of your salary)
• Interest-free loan for season tickets for buses and trains
• Cycle to work Scheme
• Subsidised eye tests & flu jabs
• Life assurance scheme
• Give as you earn scheme
• Employee assistance programme (EAP)
• PAM Assist and PAM Life scheme (Wellbeing)
• Enhanced family and sick pay
• Paid volunteering (2 days a year)
• Recognition Scheme
• Discounts portal to numerous retailers

Flexible Working
At MaPS, we take pride in our flexible approach to work. As standard, we work on a hybrid basis with a minimum of 2 days in the office per week. Hybrid working is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and our headquarters in Bedford will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business needs, but personal and other relevant circumstances will also be considered. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Recruitment Process:

1. Initial Review: Our recruiter will review your CV. If it looks like a good fit, they'll reach out to arrange a call.
2. Hiring Manager Review: If the recruiter thinks you're suitable, your CV will be passed to the hiring manager, who will decide whether to invite you for an interview.
3. Interview: If selected, you'll participate in a virtual interview. This single-stage process allows you to demonstrate your skills and experience through competency-based questions. This will also require you to deliver a short presentation.

Career Development
In MaPS, we take career development seriously. We actively encourage and support applications from our existing MaPS colleagues. However, we do follow the Civil Service Commissioner recruitment principles, which means that you will be required to participate in a full, open, and fair process.

Reserve List
If you are successful at interview, we operate a reserve list where your details will be held for up to 6 months. Should a vacancy come available in that time with the same essential criteria, reserve list candidates will be offered that position with no further assessment required.

Application Process
The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact the Money and Pensions Service via email: recruitment@maps.org.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website.

Job Reference: MaPS01175
Close Date: 20/5/2026

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Marty Sikora
• Email : marty.sikora@reed.com

Recruitment team

• Email : moneyand.pensions@reed.com