A podcast is only accessible if
everyone can access it.
Professional podcast production for Scottish public sector and corporate organisations — with edited transcripts, accurate SRT captions, and an accessibility-first production workflow built in as standard, not as an afterthought.
Audio content without a transcript is not accessible content.
It is content that excludes people by design.
Accessibility is not a feature you add at the end
For Scottish public sector organisations, accessible digital content is not optional. The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 require that audio and video content published on public sector websites and apps meets WCAG 2.1 standards. For pre-recorded audio, that means a text alternative. Without one, publishing the episode means publishing inaccessible content.
But the accessibility case for properly produced podcasting goes well beyond legal compliance. An edited, accurate transcript alongside a podcast episode serves deaf and hard-of-hearing staff, employees with processing differences, non-native speakers, and anyone in an environment where audio is not possible — all simultaneously, without requiring separate formats or separate production processes.
Podcast Studio Glasgow builds the accessibility workflow into every production. The transcript is not an add-on. The SRT caption file for YouTube is not something the client has to source separately. They are part of what we deliver with every episode.
What Scottish public sector organisations are required to do —
and what that means for audio and video content.
These obligations apply to NHS boards, local councils, Scottish Government agencies, universities, colleges, housing associations, and any body that receives public funding. If you publish audio or video content on a public-facing or staff-facing digital platform, these requirements apply to that content.
The regulatory framework for accessible digital content
- Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 — requires public sector websites and mobile applications to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. For pre-recorded audio-only content, this requires a text transcript as a minimum. For video with audio, captions are required.
- Equality Act 2010 — places a duty on public bodies to make reasonable adjustments to ensure services are accessible to disabled people. Publishing audio content without a transcript may constitute a failure to make a reasonable adjustment for deaf and hard-of-hearing employees or service users.
- BS 8878 Web Accessibility Code of Practice — the British Standard for web accessibility, which extends the duty of care beyond the minimum WCAG requirements and applies to all digital communications.
- WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.2.1 — pre-recorded audio-only content must have a text alternative that presents equivalent information.
- WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.2.2 — captions must be provided for all pre-recorded video content that contains audio.
This page provides general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Organisations should consult their own legal and accessibility teams to confirm their specific obligations. PSG recommends working with your digital accessibility lead to ensure your podcast publishing workflow meets your organisation's accessibility policy.
What this means in practice
If your organisation publishes a podcast episode — whether on a public website, an intranet, or a staff communications platform — and that episode does not have an accompanying transcript, you are publishing content that fails WCAG 2.1 Level AA. For a public sector body, that is a compliance gap.
Auto-generated captions from YouTube or podcast platforms do not meet the standard. They contain errors, miss proper nouns, and are not reviewed for accuracy. An unreviewed auto-transcript is not equivalent to the audio content it describes.
What is required is an accurate, human-reviewed text alternative — one that a deaf or hard-of-hearing employee could read and receive the same information as a hearing colleague who listened to the episode.
PSG's production workflow delivers exactly that. Every episode comes with an edited transcript reviewed for accuracy by our team and then by your communications staff, plus a frame-accurate SRT caption file ready to upload to YouTube. No separate process. No extra cost. It is built into every production.
A podcast with an edited transcript and accurate captions
reaches people that audio alone cannot.
Accessibility is not a single accommodation for a single need. The combination of professionally produced audio, an edited transcript, and accurate YouTube captions serves a wide range of access needs simultaneously — without requiring separate formats or separate production runs.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing
An edited transcript provides a complete text equivalent of the audio content. Accurate SRT captions on YouTube allow lip-reading support and context. Auto-generated captions consistently fail this audience — edited transcripts do not.
Neurodivergent employees
Dyslexia, ADHD, and other processing differences affect how people consume information. Some employees process audio better than text; others need both simultaneously. A podcast with an accompanying transcript serves both without requiring anyone to declare a need.
Non-native English speakers
Scotland's public sector workforce includes many people for whom English is a second language. A transcript allows re-reading, use of translation tools, and comprehension checking that real-time audio does not permit.
Staff in noisy or restricted environments
Frontline workers, site operatives, and anyone in an open-plan environment or a patient-facing role may not be able to play audio. A transcript delivers the same information in a format that works in any environment.
Search and reference use
A transcript is searchable. An audio file is not. Employees who want to find a specific piece of information from a leadership episode, a policy update, or a team briefing can search the transcript rather than re-listening to a 30-minute episode.
Screen reader users
Employees who use assistive technology including screen readers can navigate and read a properly formatted transcript. An audio file without a text alternative is invisible to a screen reader — and to any employee who depends on one.
How we produce an accurate, publication-ready transcript
for every episode we deliver.
Auto-transcription alone does not meet accessibility standards. Our workflow combines AI-assisted transcription with human review at two stages — producing a transcript accurate enough to publish and an SRT file ready to upload to YouTube.
Clean, broadcast-quality audio capture in our acoustically treated studio dramatically improves transcription accuracy from the start. Background noise, room reverb, and inconsistent levels are the primary causes of transcription errors — we eliminate them at source.
Broadcast audio fileWe run the edited audio through Descript, which produces a time-stamped transcript at high accuracy. Clean studio audio consistently achieves 95%+ word accuracy before any human review — significantly higher than auto-transcription from recordings made in untreated rooms.
Draft transcriptOur team reviews the transcript against the audio, correcting any remaining errors, formatting speaker labels, and ensuring the text reads clearly as a standalone document — not just as a rough audio transcription. Punctuation, paragraph breaks, and readability are all addressed at this stage.
Edited transcriptWe deliver the edited transcript to your communications team for a final review. You check organisation-specific terminology, staff names, project names, and any internal references that our team would not have context for. This typically takes 20–30 minutes for a 30-minute episode.
Publication-ready transcriptFrom the reviewed transcript, we generate a frame-accurate SRT caption file ready to upload directly to YouTube. The SRT file is synchronised to the video timeline — captions appear at the correct moment, at a reading speed that meets accessibility guidelines. No further work required on your side.
SRT caption file + transcriptFour other ways professional podcast production
improves accessibility for Scottish organisations.
The transcript and SRT file are the core accessibility deliverables. But there are four other dimensions where professionally produced podcasting supports accessibility that most organisations have not considered.
The podcast format discourages jargon. When a director is speaking into a microphone rather than drafting a written document, they naturally use simpler, more direct language. This benefits employees with lower literacy levels, non-native speakers, and anyone who finds formal written communications hard to process — which in a large dispersed workforce is a significant proportion of staff.
Scotland's geographic dispersal creates a digital access gap that written online communications cannot bridge. A community nurse in Argyll with poor broadband can download a podcast episode on a mobile connection and listen offline. A PDF newsletter or an intranet article requires a sustained connection to load and read. Audio content is structurally more accessible to staff in rural and remote locations.
A single PSG recording session produces an audio episode, a video episode with captions, and a text transcript — three different formats serving three different access needs from one production process. Organisations that rely on a single channel (email, intranet, all-staff meeting) accept by default that some staff will not receive the communication. Podcast production with full accessibility assets removes that structural exclusion.
A well-produced podcast episode has a clear structure: an introduction, a defined topic, logical sequencing, and a summary. This structure — which we build into every episode at the scripting and editing stage — supports employees with cognitive disabilities, acquired brain injuries, or concentration difficulties who struggle with dense written documents that lack clear navigation cues.
Scottish public sector and publicly funded organisations
with a legal duty to publish accessible content.
The accessibility regulations apply broadly across the Scottish public sector. If your organisation publishes audio or video content on any digital platform — public-facing or staff-facing — these requirements apply to that content.
NHS boards and health bodies
NHS Scotland bodies including health boards, special health boards, and NHS Education Scotland. Patient-facing content, staff communications, and training material all fall within scope.
Local authorities
Scotland's 32 local councils, their arms-length external organisations, and any body that receives the majority of its funding from local government. Staff communications and public-facing content both apply.
Universities and colleges
Scottish higher and further education institutions. Student-facing content, staff communications, and externally published academic or promotional content are all within scope of the regulations.
Housing associations
Registered social landlords in Scotland that receive public funding. Tenant communications, staff briefings, and any externally published audio or video content falls within the accessibility requirements.
Utilities and public corporations
Scottish Water and other publicly funded utilities and corporations. External communications and internal staff content both require accessible formats when published digitally.
Third sector and funded organisations
Charities and third sector organisations that receive public funding from Scottish Government, local authorities, or NHS bodies and publish audio or video content on digital platforms.
"An auto-generated caption is not an accessible caption. It is a caption-shaped object that gives the appearance of compliance without delivering it."
Accessibility assets included as standard in every package
Every PSG production package includes an edited transcript and SRT caption file. Accessibility is not an upgrade tier — it is part of what we deliver.
A four-episode pilot to establish the format and test the workflow before committing to a regular series.
- 4 episodes recorded in one half-day session
- Full audio and video edit
- Edited transcript for each episode
- SRT caption file for YouTube
- Client review stage included
- Private hosting setup if required
A regularly produced podcast series with full accessibility assets delivered alongside every episode, ready to publish.
- 2 episodes per month (up to 60 mins each)
- Full audio and video post-production
- Edited transcript — PSG-reviewed, client-finalised
- Frame-accurate SRT file for YouTube
- Audio and video published to your platforms
- Quarterly listener engagement report
- Minimum 3-month initial term
Already producing a podcast but lacking accessible transcripts? We can provide edited transcripts and SRT files for existing episodes recorded elsewhere.
- Descript AI transcription of your audio
- PSG editorial review for accuracy
- Client review stage included
- Publication-ready transcript delivered
- Frame-accurate SRT file for YouTube
- Priced per episode, no minimum commitment
All prices exclude VAT. See our full B2B packages page for corporate retainer options.