Practical pathways to WCAG compliance for public sector legacy systems

Sarah is 58 years old and manages her business entirely online. Last month, a simple government form became impossible. Her macular degeneration meant text was too small, zoom broke the page layout, and drop-down menus ignored her keyboard. After an hour, she gave up and called her daughter to help.

Sarah's experience mirrors what Catalyst's web accessibility team has encountered many times when auditing and reviewing government websites, checking how well they are serving New Zealanders with disabilities.

The legacy system problem

When the Web Accessibility Standard 1.1 became mandatory on 1 July 2019, most government organisations had already built their digital infrastructure. Many legacy websites and applications had already been developed and designed without web accessibility best practices or guidance.

The result? Screen readers can't identify buttons. Keyboard users can't complete forms. People with colour blindness can't easily distinguish content. Navigation makes no sense to assistive technology.

Dan van Ammers, Manager of the web accessibility, business analysis and design team at Catalyst, says his team encounter similar conversations with clients like, "We know it matters, but we've got a ten-year-old platform serving 200,000 people daily. Where do we start?"

Unlike functional bugs that break for everyone, accessibility barriers are typically invisible to people without disabilities. Developers might test with a mouse and keyboard, or stakeholders reviewing changes on laptops. Everything looks fine, doesn’t it?

Starting points for legacy systems

Legacy systems present a choice: comprehensive documentation of every issue, or focused identification of critical barriers blocking actual user tasks?

After nearly 30 years of building digital services and being a Tier 2 supplier on the Government Digital Marketplace for web accessibility services, Catalyst can help you improve your web accessibility and user experience.

DIY tools

Identify common accessibility issues quickly with Axe DevTools, a trusted open source browser extension. Check for missing alt text, colour contrast problems, and other common barriers. It's a practical DIY option to understand where you’re at.

Full ecosystem audits

Our full ecosystem audits generate a WCAG 2.2 AA assessment across your entire platform. You receive clear recommendations in plain English and code. Implement findings yourself, or partner with Catalyst to handle fixes.

Digital experience reviews

Our Digital experience reviews are offered in three separate bundles, enabling you to target what you want to focus on first and high-impact fixes:

• Accessibility review tests three key user journeys against the latest WCAG standards. We'll confirm accessibility goals together, then you’ll receive a summary report showing percentage pass/fail, a prioritised backlog with actionable recommendations, and meet with our team to discuss your path forward.
• Usability & visual design review evaluates user experience against Nielsen's 10 heuristics whilst assessing layout, typography, colour, imagery, and brand consistency. Combined reporting shows both UX friction and visual engagement opportunities with prioritised improvements.
• CX bundle integrates accessibility, usability, and visual design assessment. Integrated insights reveal how changes in one area benefit others, with a comprehensive prioritised backlog and extended follow-up session, including a strategic roadmap.

Each review delivers clear scoring against standards, prioritised backlogs ranked by impact, and realistic options:

• which issues your team can fix quickly,
• which need deeper changes,
• and when platform replacement makes more strategic sense than endless remediation.

"The best strategy is building accessibility, usability, and visual design right from day one," van Ammers notes. "Our Digital experience reviews exist for legacy systems. But if you're starting fresh, build it in from the beginning. It's faster, cleaner, and better."

Improve your digital experiences for everyone

New Zealand's web accessibility regulations won't soften, and legacy systems aren't improving with age. 

Every sprint without addressing accessibility adds technical debt. Every quarter increases fixed costs. Every year makes the retrofit-or-rebuild question more urgent.

"Right now, people are working around your barriers, calling helpdesks for self-service tasks, or giving up entirely," says van Ammers. "We can help through Quick Win Reviews, training your team to fix issues themselves, or full ecosystem audits like we delivered for Inland Revenue – read more about our approach in this case study. Whatever works for you, we're ready to help you serve your community better."

Contact our team to discuss how we can help get you started with a full ecosystem audit or one of our Digital experience reviews.