If you have heard the term WCAG and felt confused, you are not alone. Accessibility in web design gets talked about as though it is complicated, when the law is actually quite straightforward.
Here is what UK law says, who it applies to, and what you should actually be doing right now.
The Equality Act 2010 and your website
The Equality Act 2010 says that public sector organisations and private businesses cannot discriminate against people with disabilities. This applies to websites. Your site has to be accessible to people who are blind, deaf, colourblind, have mobility problems, or any other disability.
In plain terms, that means your website should work for everyone, not just people without disabilities. That includes older people with presbyopia (struggling to read small text), people squinting at a phone in bright sunlight, and anyone with temporary injuries or situational disabilities.
The law does not require perfection. It requires a good faith effort to make your site usable.
WCAG, compliance, and what actually applies to you
You may have heard of WCAG. That stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. It is a technical standard. If you work in a large organisation or the public sector, WCAG compliance might be a requirement written into your contract or your governance.
If you are a small business, WCAG does not directly apply to you. What applies to you is the Equality Act.
The Equality Act says you cannot discriminate. It does not say you have to follow a specific technical standard. The difference matters because it means you have flexibility. You are not ticking boxes against a checklist. You are making reasonable adjustments so your site works for the people who use it.
That said, WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the gold standard that most organisations aim for. If you follow it, you are doing the right thing. But compliance with WCAG is not the same as making a good website. You can tick all the boxes and still have a site that people do not want to use.
Legal compliance is a floor. Good practice is what sits above it. A site that is compliant but also makes sense to humans, has readable text, clear navigation and obvious buttons. You want that, not just the box-ticking version.
Who it applies to
Public sector organisations are legally required to meet certain accessibility standards. This includes local councils, the NHS, universities and public libraries.
Private businesses and charities are not under the same legal requirement, but the Equality Act still applies. If someone with a disability is unable to use your website and that causes them a disadvantage, you could be in breach of the law.
In practice, accessibility matters most if you are selling something online, collecting information, or serving the public. A local pub’s website matters differently than it did in 2015, but it still matters less than a charity’s.
What actually matters: start with the basics
If you are starting from scratch or fixing an existing site, two things will move the needle for most visitors.
Colour contrast. This is the difference between the text and the background. If the contrast is weak, people squint. On a phone in bright sunlight it becomes impossible. I see this every day on other people’s sites.
Text sizing. If your text is too small, people cannot read it. Neither can a screen reader, if the text is just an image of words.
Fix these two things and your bounce rate drops. People stay on the page. They read what you wrote. They take action. That is not a compliance win. That is a business win.
How to start
You do not need to hire an accessibility consultant or run a full WCAG audit right now.
Start by reading your site on a phone. Zoom in to 150 per cent. Is the text still readable, or does it wrap in weird ways? Can you tap a button without missing it three times?
Check your colour contrast. There are free tools online. Webaim has a contrast checker. Run your headings and body text through it. If the score is “pass”, you are good. If it fails, change the colour or the background.
Make your text bigger. If you are using a font size smaller than 16 pixels for body text, increase it. This is not optional for accessibility. It also improves readability for everyone else.
Test with a screen reader if you have time. On Mac, turn on VoiceOver. On Windows, use NVDA, which is free. Sit with your hands off the keyboard and listen. Does the site make sense when you cannot see it?
If you do these things, you have moved a long way toward compliance. You have also made a better website.
The law does not require perfection. It requires that you care. The fact that you are reading this tells me you do.
