Over the last 5 years of specialising in accessibility, I’ve noticed a pattern when I first speak to a business owner or marketing manager. They’re genuinely interested to hear about accessibility, because it’s not something they’ve ever considered when it comes to their business’s digital presence.
And about 5 minutes later, it’s seen as an add-on feature that they don’t need to worry about.
But legally, we all have a responsibility to meet accessibility standards.
This blog will discuss what the law actually says, who it targets, who gets a free pass, and what happens when businesses fall short.
The UK: The Equality Act 2010
The main piece of legislation for UK businesses, it's the law that protects people from discrimination across a whole range of areas - including websites and other marketing tools.
Under the Act, if you provide goods or services to the public (which, if you have a website, you do) you have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people can access them. That means removing barriers, modifying them, or providing an alternative way in. Think: an accessible PDF or Word document version of on-page content, a phone number or email address someone can use to request more information or complete a process, or adding an accessibility plugin to the site.
It’s worth noting that these alternatives are fallbacks, as the responsibility we have is to make the primary experience accessible first. Alternative routes should only come into play when that genuinely hasn’t been possible.
So, what counts as “reasonable adjustments”? Things like:
- Adding alt text to images
- Making sure your website can be navigated by keyboard
- Fixing low contrast text
- Ensuring your forms have proper labels
The “reasonable” part is the key factor here, because for the most common accessibility issues, these fixes are generally low cost. For the above issues (depending on how many images required alt text added), you’d be looking at paying a designers day rate to bring everything up to spec. So legally for businesses, that makes it pretty difficult to argue it was “too hard” to make changes.
The Equality Act is enforced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in Scotland, England, and Wales. They can investigate, issue unlawful act notices, and take businesses to court.
What about the public sector?
There’s an extra layer that the public sector has to comply with: The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018. This requires government websites, councils, NHS services, universities, and similar organisations to meet WCAG 2.2 level AA, and publish an accessibility statement. Private businesses aren’t legally required to publish a statement - but it’s best practice, and shows you’re taking accessibility seriously.
The EAA: The European Accessibility Act
“But we’re not in the EU anymore”
Correct, but even though the UK isn’t in the EU - this law still matters, because if your business would happily take on a client who’s based in Europe, then the EAA applies to you too.
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) came into force on 28th of June 2025, and it requires private companies across all 27 EU member states to comply with digital accessibility standards.
It also applies to companies who are selling to EU customers.
But here’s what a lot of accessibility experts forget to mention: the law doesn't apply to all businesses.
Micro Businesses are exempt from this
A micro business is defined as a business with fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover of less than €2million.
So if you’re the sole employee of your business, or have a small team then you don’t need to worry about this.
That said, I’d always still encourage any business to improve accessibility where they can - because user experience wise, it still matters.
What happens when businesses don’t comply with Accessibility Laws?
Are there actually any tangible consequences to accessibility failures?
In the UK
Under the Equality Act, individuals can bring discrimination claims - and large organisations have seen real reputational (and a small financial) fallout as a result of these.
One example would be in 2021, a blind student took legal action against the Student Loans Company after she couldn’t complete an online form due to accessibility barriers. The case resulted in a £5,000 settlement, plus the organisation having to make the form accessible and improve their content.
In 2023, the High Court ruled against The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in an accessibility case, resulting in a £7,000 settlement plus legal costs.
Similar cases have been settled in the £3,000 - £5,000 range, and that’s before you factor in:
- Legal fees (which can run into the tens of thousands)
- Court-ordered remediation works
- Reputational damage and negative press
- Loss of funding or contracts (particularly relevant for charities and third-sector organisations)
Now, these are not large amounts for organisations like The Student Loans Company or DWP, but they were time consuming, embarrassing, and did lead to improvements being made in their systems and processes.
Under the EAA
The EAA has seen some pretty juicy consequences in the last year. For businesses who've ignored requirements entirely, that's looked like:
- Fines up to €3million (or up to 4% of annual revenue)
- Products or services being removed from the EU market
- In severe cases, suspension of the right to do business in that market
Don’t let this panic you if you’re a business who’s trying their best. Authorities are really only focussed on businesses who blatantly ignore requirements, so if you’re actively working towards compliance, or can show that you’ve taken steps in the past to meet accessibility standards, then that context is taken into account. It’s only when ignored entirely, that it’ll really bite you.
Can't I just add an accessibility plugin?
If you don't know, Accessibility plugins are tools that sit on top of your website and give users adjustments like text resizing or contrast changes. But they don't automatically make a site (or your brand as a whole) accessible.
In fact, the EAA has stated explicitly that no automated tool can make a website fully compliant on it's own.
I'll be going into more detail about this in another article, but my advice would always be to make your core branding (colour palette and font choice) accessible, and follow best practices in your website build.
By doing that, you're 90% of the way there. No additional plugins needed.
Reality check for small businesses
Legally, you are expected to make reasonable effort to meet accessiblity standards, because that comes under the Equalities Act.
Realistically, as a small business you’re unlikely to face legal action - but you could, and I think that’s always worthwhile keeping in mind. Like insurance, it’s better to cover yourself, than to not have bothered.
And please please remember, there’s around a quarter of the UK’s population living with a disability. Those are people. People with income, people with buying power, people who might want to buy your product or services - so let them.
The bottom line
As a small business, it’s unlikely that you’re going to face legal action over an inaccessible website. Not impossible, because you are still legally obliged, but unlikely.
But here’s the shift I’d love people to make when they think about accessibility.
Instead of thinking “accessibility is just another thing I have to do, but don’t have time to”, or “I know it’s low contrast but I really love that colour and that’s that”, remember that behind every WCAG guideline, every contrast ratio, every form is a person. It’s someone who wants to get in touch with you, understand your services, read your blog post, listen to descriptions of your work, buy your product. When those standards are ignored, that person leaves your site.
If you’re not sure where your website currently stands, then an accessibility audit is a great starting point. I’ll tell you the main issues to focus on, in plain language, without the overwhelm.