Manage a session timeout

Accessibility

This pattern helps services meet the Extend condition of WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.2.1, 'Timing Adjustable'. This says that to meet level AA a service must warn users before a session timeout occurs and allow them to extend the time limit.

Implementing this pattern will help your service to meet this requirement, and the code for the modal dialog itself is compliant with WCAG 2.2 level AA.

To meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.2.6, 'Timeouts', which is required for level AAA compliance, you also need to warn users about timeouts at the start of a task or process. However services that have implemented this have found that users struggle to understand the warning: see [Research][BROKEN LINK] (/research).

We recommend reading the guidance 'Understanding Guidelines 2.2: Enough Time' for other ways to help make sure users have enough time to read and use your service's content.

For more about building accessible services, see the DWP Accessibility Manual

WCAG success criteria

When testing, pay particular attention to the following WCAG success criteria:

• 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable (A)

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Last updated: 1 August 2021