Erm... create a role with no capabilities? On a more serious note, the roles system doesn't have an 'access_admin' capability. You will need to set up a redirection: function no_admin_access() { if ( is_admin() && current_user_can( 'a_role' ) ) wp_redirect( get_bloginfo('url') ); } add_action('init', 'no_admin_access'); -- http://scribu.net