How to ensure digital accessibility compliance

To make your website, app, or software legally compliant and accessible to everyone, you must ensure it meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at the AA standard. This is your primary responsibility under the Equality Act 2010, which protects people with disabilities from discrimination. Getting this right not only prevents legal challenges but also opens up your business to a wider audience and improves the user experience for all your customers.

Why is digital accessibility so important?

Thinking about accessibility from the start isn't just a box-ticking exercise. It’s a core part of running a responsible and successful modern business.

• Legal Compliance: The Equality Act 2010 legally requires you to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to ensure your services aren't impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use. A website that can't be navigated by a screen reader, for example, could be seen as discriminatory.
• Wider Audience: Around 1 in 5 people in the UK have a long-term illness, impairment, or disability. By making your digital services accessible, you are ensuring this significant portion of the population can become your customers.
• Better for Everyone: Good accessibility practices often lead to a better experience for all users. For example, clear colour contrast helps people in bright sunlight, and video captions are useful for anyone in a noisy environment. It also generally improves your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

Understanding the WCAG 2.1 Guidelines

WCAG is a set of technical standards that provide a blueprint for making web content more accessible. It’s organised around four main principles, often remembered by the acronym POUR.

1. Perceivable: Can users perceive the information being presented? It can't be invisible to all of their senses. This means providing text alternatives for images (alt text) and captions for videos.
2. Operable: Can users operate the interface? The interface cannot require interaction that a user cannot perform. This includes making sure your entire site can be used with a keyboard alone and that there are no ‘keyboard traps’ where a user can’t navigate away from an element.
3. Understandable: Is the information and the operation of the user interface clear and easy to understand? This involves using plain language, providing clear instructions, and creating predictable and consistent navigation.
4. Robust: Can the content be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies like screen readers? This is about writing clean, standards-compliant code.

Within WCAG, there are three levels of conformance: A (basic), AA (intermediate), and AAA (advanced). For most businesses, Level AA is the recognised target and what you should be aiming to achieve.

How to Check Your Digital Service for Compliance

A full accessibility audit is a detailed process, but you can get a good initial understanding by performing a few key checks yourself. Focus on the most important pages and user journeys, like your homepage, contact page, and checkout process.

1. Start with Automated Tools

Use free browser extensions like WAVE or axe DevTools to scan your pages. These tools are great at finding common issues like missing alt text on images or poor colour contrast. They provide a quick overview but be aware they can only catch around 30-40% of potential issues.

2. Perform Manual Checks

This is the most critical part of an audit. Try to use your website in different ways:

• Keyboard-Only Navigation: Unplug your mouse and try to navigate your website using only the Tab key to move forward, Shift+Tab to move back, and Enter to select links or buttons. Can you reach every interactive element? Can you see a clear visual indicator (like a box or an outline) showing where you are on the page?
• Screen Reader Testing: Screen readers are software that read out the content of a screen for visually impaired users. VoiceOver is built into Apple devices, and NVDA is a free option for Windows. Turn on a screen reader and listen to your key pages. Does the content make sense? Are links clearly described?
• Check Colour Contrast: Use an online colour contrast checker to ensure your text is readable against its background colour. This is vital for users with low vision.
• Zoom the Page: Zoom your browser in to 200%. Does the text wrap correctly without forcing you to scroll horizontally to read sentences? This is known as ‘reflow’ and is essential for partially sighted users.

3. Create an Accessibility Statement

This is a page on your website that declares your commitment to accessibility. It should be easy to find, usually in the footer of your site. Your statement should include:

• The accessibility standard you are committed to (e.g., "We are working to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA").
• Any known issues or parts of your site that are not yet fully accessible.
• Contact information (an email address or form) for users to report any accessibility problems they encounter.

Top Tip: Don't aim for perfection immediately. Accessibility is an ongoing journey, not a one-off task. The key is to show you are aware of your responsibilities, are actively working to improve, and provide a way for users to give you feedback.

By embedding accessibility into your processes, you build a more robust, professional, and inclusive service that benefits you and all of your customers.