Policy paper

British Sign Language 5-year plan: HM Treasury (English and BSL versions)

Published 28 August 2025

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

BSL version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrVmDClUEaA

Introduction

In 2022, the British Sign Language (BSL) Act became law. It states that government departments should actively consider BSL in their public announcements. 

The act requires relevant government departments to report what they have done to promote or facilitate the use of BSL in their communications with the public.

We support the government’s vision that everyone in our country should:
* have access to important information from the government
* be able to engage with the government on issues that will affect them

HM Treasury is committed to carrying out our duties under the BSL Act, and to continuously review and improve the accessibility of our communications.

How we already use BSL

We have worked with government-approved BSL interpretation providers, such as Barefoot and Sign Solutions, to improve our BSL communications.
BSL is now part of our social media live streams and conferences, with an interpreter signing in real time directly in the video. This enables our main live streams to be accessible to a broader audience. 

For the Chancellor’s speech at the Siemens Factory in January 2025, we worked with Sign Solutions and Barefoot to provide a BSL-compliant stream that ran on our social media channels. This allowed hundreds of thousands of people to engage with the stream across Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and X.

Over the last year, significant speeches from the Chancellor have all been BSL-compliant on HM Treasury channels. These include her:

• Mansion House Speech (15 July 2025)
• Regional Growth Speech (4 June 2025)
• speech to back the expansion of Heathrow Airport (29 January 2025)

HM Treasury is striving towards this kind of accessible, BSL-compliant communication as default.

A BSL-compliant live stream was also provided for the Chancellor’s press conference following the spring statement. HM Treasury signposted to BSL-compliant communications for the Chancellor’s speech to the House of Commons on the same day. 

Over the last year, for speeches and events outside of HM Treasury’s control, such as those taking place in the House of Commons and House of Lords, we have signposted audiences to BSL compliant communications from the relevant House of Commons and Lords channels.

The next 5 years

We are proud of the work we have done so far to support the accessibility of our communications for the Deaf community. We are committed to building on this work over the next 5 years.

To do this, we will:

• expand the use of BSL within our digital and social media content – including in livestreams and video content on our YouTube, Discord, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and Facebook accounts

• develop our support for policy teams to incorporate BSL in their publications through promotion of Government Communication Service BSL guidance and ‘Accessible by Default’ guidance, to make our communications as simple, clear, and accessible as possible

• ensure teams within HM Treasury are aware of the opportunities to incorporate BSL into their work, for example through working with our partners at Barefoot and Sign Solutions, and empower them to plan ahead and make the most of the routes available to them

• require producers of videos to consider accessibility to the Deaf community from the start, which could involve the use of BSL or subtitles, and incorporate this requirement into the approval process – this means that a video product will not be approved for release if it does not take appropriate steps to be accessible

• review our communications every year to test and improve our BSL offering – this includes a commitment to explore how we can incorporate new approaches and technologies such as AI to make our online communications accessible by default

What we’re doing to ensure BSL is at the heart of our planning

We will take the following steps to ensure we facilitate inclusive communication in every aspect of our work:

• build on our engagement internally with the Treasury Disability Action Group, ensuring colleagues can have their views recognised on the accessibility of both internal and external communication

• build on our engagement externally with stakeholders across the Deaf community, including the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, gathering feedback and insight as to how we can develop our accessibility

• run an internal communications campaign to increase awareness of the vital role BSL plays in making our work accessible to the UK’s BSL users, and the resources available to help colleagues make their work accessible to BSL users

• celebrate Deaf Awareness Week and British Sign Language Week, and use these as opportunities to run teach-ins within the department to continually refresh colleagues’ knowledge of the importance of incorporating BSL, and how and when to do so

• work with the Cabinet Office Disability Unit and the government’s BSL Advisory Board to identify and incorporate best practice across HM Treasury’s areas of work, and ensure they are involved in the regular review of our BSL approach

• encourage and incorporate feedback from external and internal stakeholders on the delivery of this 5-year plan, embracing continuous improvement and opportunities to build on our ambition to make our work as accessible and inclusive as possible