NIK's Audit of Local-Government Accessibility — None of 34 Polish Council Websites Met All 26 Digital Criteria

Between 2019 and August 2025 NIK, Poland's Supreme Audit Office, audited accessibility in 16 local-government units: two municipal offices and two county offices (starostwa) in each of four voivodeships (Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Zachodniopomorskie, Podkarpackie, Opolskie). Results were published in June 2026.
Digital accessibility: none of the 34 websites met all 26 statutory criteria. 19 sites failed two or three criteria, 10 failed four to six, 4 failed seven to eleven and only 1 failed a single criterion. On 24 sites (13 units) graphics and scanned documents could not be read by assistive tools; 10 sites lacked text or audio alternatives for multimedia; 10 lost content when magnified; 4 conveyed key information by colour alone.
Architecture and communication: 14 of 16 units (over 87%) did not meet minimum architectural or information-communication requirements. 17 of 21 buildings failed at least two of five required conditions and 12 of 21 lacked adequate evacuation arrangements for people with disabilities. Many sites lacked a Polish Sign Language recording (27 sites) or easy-to-read text (23 sites).
Governance: every unit appointed an accessibility coordinator by the 30 September 2020 deadline, yet in 12 units the mandatory accessibility reports did not match actual conditions, and 11 units (public-task agreements) and 12 units (procurement contracts) omitted accessibility conditions.
NIK recommended amending the statutory definition of accessibility, adding accessibility duties to contract templates for public tasks, and issuing ministerial guidance on procurement, navigation for blind users and the format of accessibility statements. This is a cautionary, independently audited case: compliance on paper (coordinators, statements) did not translate into accessible services. Limits: the sample is small (16 units) and the audit is a snapshot with no follow-up measurement yet.

Read the full analysis: https://www.nik.gov.pl/aktualnosci/dostepnosc-architektoniczna-cyfrowa-i-informacyjno-komunikacyjna-w-samorzadach.html