If you have ever tried to read a website in bright sunlight, or tap a tiny button with one hand while holding a pushchair, you have had a small taste of what poor accessibility feels like. For millions of people it is not a passing annoyance. It is the difference between being able to use a business and being shut out of it.

An accessible website is one that everyone can use, whatever their abilities, devices or circumstances. That includes people who are blind or have low vision, people who cannot use a mouse, people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and people with dyslexia, autism, ADHD or other cognitive differences. It also helps people who are simply tired, stressed, on a slow connection or squinting at a phone on a train.

In this guide we explain, in plain English, what makes a website accessible, what the law expects from UK businesses, and the practical fixes that make the biggest difference. You do not need to be a developer to follow it. If you run a business and want to know where you stand, this is for you.

Why an Accessible Website Matters for UK Businesses

Around 16 million people in the UK live with a disability or long-term health condition. That is roughly one in four of us. Add older visitors whose eyesight or dexterity is changing, people with temporary injuries, and anyone using a phone in awkward conditions, and the audience who benefit from good accessibility is far bigger than most business owners expect.

There are three solid reasons to care.

First, it is the right thing to do. Your website is a shopfront, and nobody wants a shop with a step at the door and no ramp.

Second, it is good business. Visitors who cannot use your site will leave and spend their money elsewhere. Making things easier for them nearly always makes things easier for everyone else too, which tends to lift enquiries and sales.

Third, there are legal expectations, which we cover in the next section.

What the Law Says About Website Accessibility in the UK

We are not lawyers, so treat this as a friendly overview and not legal advice. The key points are these.

The Equality Act 2010 requires businesses and organisations that provide services to the public to make reasonable adjustments so disabled people are not placed at a disadvantage. This applies to services offered online as well as in person. There is no rule that names a specific technical standard for private businesses, but a website that locks disabled people out is a risk.

Public sector bodies, including councils, schools, universities and the NHS, have a stricter duty under the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018. They must meet a recognised standard and publish an accessibility statement.

If you sell to customers in the European Union, the European Accessibility Act, which began applying in June 2025, may also affect your online shop or booking system.

The standard everyone points to is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, usually shortened to WCAG. The current version is WCAG 2.2, and the level most organisations aim for is called AA. If your site meets WCAG 2.2 AA, you are in a strong position both practically and legally.

The Four Principles Behind an Accessible Website

WCAG is built on four simple ideas. If you remember these, the detail starts to make sense.

Perceivable. People must be able to see, hear or otherwise sense your content. A photo needs a text description for someone who cannot see it. A video needs captions for someone who cannot hear it.

Operable. People must be able to use your site with whatever tools they have. Many people navigate with a keyboard, voice control or a switch device rather than a mouse. Every menu, button and form must work for them.

Understandable. Your content and controls must be clear. Plain language, consistent navigation and helpful error messages all count.

Robust. Your site must work with the technology people use, including screen readers, older browsers and new devices. Clean, well-structured code is what makes that possible.

What Makes a Website Accessible? Eight Practical Fixes

Here are the changes that make the biggest difference on most small business websites. Many of them cost very little to fix.

1. Use headings properly

Headings are not just big text. Screen reader users jump from heading to heading to scan a page, much as sighted users skim. Use one main heading per page, then sub-headings in a logical order. Do not pick a heading level because you like how it looks.

2. Write useful alt text for images

Alt text is a short description that a screen reader reads aloud in place of an image. Describe what the image shows and why it matters, in a sentence or less. If an image is purely decorative, it should have empty alt text so screen readers skip it. This also helps search engines understand your pictures, which we cover in our guide to image file types.

3. Check your colour contrast

Pale grey text on a white background looks stylish and is very hard to read. WCAG asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text and 3 to 1 for large text. Free tools will check your brand colours in seconds. Never rely on colour alone to carry meaning either, such as a red border as the only sign of an error.

4. Make everything work with a keyboard

Try this now: put your mouse aside and use the Tab key to move around your website. Can you reach every link, menu and button? Can you see where you are? A visible focus outline is essential, and it is one of the most common things to be switched off by a design theme.

5. Build forms that explain themselves

Every form field needs a clear label that stays visible, not just placeholder text that vanishes when you start typing. Say which fields are required, and write error messages that explain what went wrong and how to fix it. Contact forms are where enquiries happen, so this is where accessibility problems cost you real money.

6. Write link text that makes sense

Links that say “click here” or “read more” mean nothing to someone listening to a list of links. Use descriptive text such as “read our guide to content marketing and SEO”. Make links easy to spot too, ideally underlined within body text.

7. Add captions and transcripts to video and audio

Captions help deaf and hard of hearing visitors, and they also help anyone watching on a train or in an office with the sound off. A transcript gives screen reader users and search engines the full content too. If you publish video, our guide on creating videos for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube covers getting the most from it.

8. Make buttons and links easy to hit

WCAG 2.2 introduced a minimum size for tap targets, because tiny buttons are hard for people with tremors, limited dexterity or large thumbs. Give buttons and links room, and space them so you do not hit the wrong one by accident.

How Assistive Technology Uses Your Website

It helps to picture how people actually browse. A screen reader, such as NVDA, JAWS or VoiceOver, reads the page aloud in the order the code is written. Voice control software lets people say “click contact” to follow a link. Switch devices and keyboards replace the mouse. Browser tools can enlarge text, change colours or simplify the layout.

Every one of these tools relies on your site being built with proper structure. Fancy effects, pop-ups that trap focus, and menus that only open on hover can break them. The best test is to try a few of these tools yourself, even for ten minutes. It is quietly eye-opening.

Does an Accessible Website Help Your SEO?

Yes, and the overlap is bigger than most people realise. Search engines are, in effect, blind visitors who cannot see your design. They read your headings, your alt text, your link text and your page structure, which are the same things that screen readers rely on.

A clear heading structure, descriptive links, fast loading pages and well-labelled images all help both people and search engines. If you want to see how this fits with the rest of your search strategy, read our piece on how content marketing and SEO work together.

Accessible sites also tend to keep visitors for longer, because they are easier to use. That shows up in lower bounce rates and more completed enquiries, which are exactly the signals you want.

How to Check If Your Website Is Accessible

You do not need to hire anyone for a first look at whether your accessible website really works. Here is a simple routine you can run in an afternoon.

Start with automated checks. Free tools such as WAVE, Lighthouse in Chrome and the axe browser extension will flag missing alt text, low contrast and unlabelled form fields. Be aware that automated tools only catch around a third to a half of real issues, so treat them as a starting point.

Next, do the keyboard test described above. Then zoom your browser to 200 percent and check nothing breaks or disappears. Finally, switch on a screen reader on your phone and try to complete your main enquiry form with your eyes closed. If you can do that, you are in good shape. If you cannot, you have found your priority list.

If you would like a proper audit against WCAG 2.2 AA, a specialist can test your site thoroughly and give you a clear list of fixes. Many problems turn out to be theme or template settings that can be corrected in one go.

Common Accessibility Mistakes on Small Business Websites

After looking at lots of business sites, the same problems keep appearing.

Text over images with no overlay, so it becomes unreadable on some photos. Sliders and carousels that move too fast to read and cannot be paused. Contact forms with no visible labels. Menus that only work with a mouse. PDFs of brochures or price lists that screen readers cannot read at all. Cookie banners that trap keyboard focus so visitors cannot get past them.

The good news is that most of these can be fixed without a rebuild. A few hours of sensible changes often lifts a site from poor to decent.

Should You Use an Accessibility Overlay Widget?

You may have seen tools that promise instant compliance by adding a small icon to your site. Be careful. These overlays cannot fix underlying problems in your code, and many disabled users find them intrusive or even harmful to their own assistive tools. Several have attracted criticism and legal challenges. Fixing the site itself is always the better route.

Where to Start With Your Accessible Website

You do not have to fix everything at once. Here is a sensible order that gives the most benefit for the least effort.

First, fix colour contrast and make sure focus outlines are visible. Second, add alt text to your important images and tidy up your headings. Third, label every form field and test your contact form with a keyboard. Fourth, caption your videos. Fifth, check any new page or article against this list before it goes live, so you stop new problems appearing.

If you are planning a new website or a redesign, build accessibility in from the start. It is far cheaper than patching things afterwards, and it means every visitor gets a good experience from day one.

If you would like help making your site easier for everyone to use, we would be glad to talk it through. You can get in touch with the Delivered Social team, or have a look around the rest of our work on the Delivered Social home page.