Guide
Website accessibility for UK businesses
An accessible website works for people with disabilities, including those using screen readers, keyboards, voice control or magnification. In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 requires service providers to avoid discriminating and to make reasonable adjustments, and WCAG 2.2 level AA is the common practical benchmark. This is general guidance, not legal advice.
Please note
What this guide is
This guide gives practical, general information about accessible websites. It is not legal advice. How the law applies depends on your organisation and circumstances, and public sector bodies have extra specific duties that private businesses do not. For authoritative detail, see the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Government Digital Service accessibility pages on gov.uk, and the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Accessibility is also just good business. Millions of people in the UK live with a disability, and many more have temporary or situational limits, such as a broken arm, bright sunlight on a phone or a noisy train. An accessible site serves all of them better, and many fixes also help search engines and general usability.
The law
The Equality Act 2010 in general terms
The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination because of characteristics that include disability. It applies to those providing services to the public, which can include businesses with websites. A central idea is the duty to make reasonable adjustments, so that disabled people can use a service as far as is reasonable, and this duty is described as anticipatory, meaning you should think ahead rather than wait for a complaint.
The Act does not set out a technical checklist for websites. What counts as reasonable depends on factors such as the size and resources of the organisation, the practicality of the change and how important the service is. In practice, organisations use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as the recognised yardstick. If a customer cannot buy from you or contact you because of barriers on your site, you may be at risk of a complaint.
Northern Ireland has its own disability discrimination legislation, so if you operate there check the position with the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.
WCAG
The four principles behind WCAG
- PerceivableContent can be seen or heard in some form
- OperableIt can be used with keyboard and other inputs
- UnderstandableContent and controls are clear and predictable
- RobustIt works with browsers and assistive technology
WCAG explained
WCAG at a practical level
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG, are published by the W3C. They are organised under the four principles above, and each guideline has testable success criteria at three levels: A, AA and AAA. Level AA is the one most organisations aim for, and the one that public sector rules in the UK require. WCAG 2.2 is the current version at the time of writing, and builds on earlier versions.
You do not need to read every criterion to make progress. Most real-world problems on small business sites come from a handful of causes: images without text descriptions, low contrast text, forms without labels, links that say only "click here", content that cannot be used with a keyboard, and videos without captions. Fix these and you have dealt with most of the barriers people actually meet.
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Quick wins
Common barriers and how to fix them
| Barrier | Who it affects | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Images without alt text | Screen reader users | Add short, meaningful descriptions; leave decorative images empty |
| Low contrast text | People with low vision or colour blindness | Use strong contrast between text and background |
| Forms without labels | Screen reader and voice users | Give every field a visible, linked label |
| Links saying "click here" | Screen reader users | Use descriptive link text |
| Mouse-only menus | Keyboard users | Make everything reachable with the Tab key and a visible focus outline |
| Videos with no captions | Deaf and hard of hearing people | Add captions and a transcript |
| Tiny text and tap targets | People with motor or vision difficulties | Allow zoom and use larger buttons |
| Heading chaos | Screen reader users | Use headings in a logical order |
Content
Content habits that make a difference
Much accessibility is about the way content is written and structured, not about code. Use real headings, in order, to give pages an outline that assistive technology can navigate. Write in plain English, with short sentences and clear instructions. Make link text meaningful out of context, so "Download the price list" rather than "Click here".
Do not rely on colour alone to convey information. If errors on a form appear in red, also include a text message. Avoid content that flashes. Provide captions for video and a transcript for audio. When you upload an image, write alt text that conveys its purpose: what a sighted visitor would learn from it. In WordPress, the media library has a field for this, and filling it in takes seconds.
Test it
A simple accessibility check you can run yourself
Use only the keyboard
Press Tab through the page. You should see where focus is, reach every link and control, and be able to activate them with Enter or Space.
Zoom to 200 percent
Check the text is still readable and nothing is cut off or overlaps.
Check colour contrast
Use a free contrast checker on your main text and button colours.
Run an automated scan
Browser tools such as Lighthouse flag many issues. They find only some problems, so do not treat a pass as proof.
Try a screen reader
Use the one built into your phone or computer and listen to a key page, such as the contact form.
Ask real users
If you can, invite disabled customers to try your site and tell you what is hard.
Decision
Automated tools and manual testing
Automated tools
- Fast and free
- Catch missing alt text, contrast and label errors
- Good for regular checks
- Cannot judge whether alt text is meaningful
Manual testing
- Finds keyboard traps and confusing flows
- Shows the real user experience
- Takes longer
- Best for forms, checkout and navigation
Themes and plugins
Choosing accessible WordPress themes and plugins
If you use WordPress, your theme and page builder determine much of your starting point. Some themes are labelled accessibility-ready and have passed review, which is a good sign, but check key pages yourself. Be wary of heavily animated sliders, pop-ups that trap focus and menus that only work on hover.
Plugins that claim to make a site accessible with one click, often as an overlay, do not remove the need to fix the underlying site, and many accessibility specialists advise against relying on them. Spend the time on the real fixes instead. Keep the site fast and tidy as well, as covered in our speed guide, since slow, cluttered pages are harder for everyone.
Checklist
An accessibility checklist for a small business site
- Every meaningful image has alt text
- Text has strong colour contrast
- Headings follow a logical order
- Every form field has a label
- Links have descriptive text
- The whole site works with a keyboard
- Focus is always visible
- Videos have captions
- Text can be enlarged to 200 percent
- Error messages are written in text
- An accessibility statement or contact route exists
- Checks repeated after every redesign
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Next steps
Making accessibility part of normal work
Treat accessibility as a habit rather than a project. Add the checks above to your routine whenever you publish a new page or change the design, and ask anyone who builds or edits your site to follow them. It is far cheaper to build accessibly than to repair later. If you commission a new site, include accessibility in the brief and ask the designer how they will test it.
Consider publishing a short accessibility statement that explains what you have done, known limitations and how to contact you if someone struggles. It shows good faith and gives people a route to ask for help. Alongside it, keep your other legal information in order, as described in what to put on a UK business website. If a customer reports a problem, respond politely, fix it promptly and offer another way to do business with you in the meantime, such as a phone number or email.
FAQ
Common questions
Is website accessibility a legal requirement in the UK?
The Equality Act 2010 requires reasonable adjustments by service providers, and public sector bodies have specific accessibility regulations. Take advice for your situation.
What WCAG level should I aim for?
Level AA is the common target for UK organisations. WCAG 2.2 AA is the current version at the time of writing.
Can an accessibility plugin fix my site?
Not on its own. Overlays do not replace fixing the underlying content and code.
How do I test accessibility cheaply?
Try using your site with only a keyboard, zoom to 200 percent, check contrast and run a Lighthouse scan.
Does accessibility help SEO?
Often, yes. Clear headings, alt text, descriptive links and fast pages help both people and search engines.
Keep reading
Related pages
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