Website accessibility for small business owners can sound like a job for big brands with compliance teams. It isn’t. If someone can’t read your text, use your menu without a mouse or complete your contact form with a screen reader, you have lost an enquiry and may be falling short of UK law. This guide explains what the law expects, what to check first and how to fix it on a typical WordPress site without starting again.
What website accessibility means for a small business
An accessible website is one that disabled people can use as easily as anyone else: people who are blind or partially sighted, people with hearing loss, people who can’t use a mouse, and people with dyslexia, autism or a learning disability. It also helps someone with a broken wrist, an older customer who zooms in, or a visitor reading their phone in bright sunlight.
The audience is not small. The UK government’s Family Resources Survey puts the number of disabled people in the UK at around 16 million, roughly one in four. For a local business, that is a share of your customers, not an edge case.
Is website accessibility a legal requirement in the UK?
For most small businesses the honest answer is “yes, in principle”. Three rules matter:
- The Equality Act 2010. It applies to every business that serves the public, including sole traders. It requires reasonable adjustments so disabled people are not put at a substantial disadvantage, and the duty is anticipatory: you are expected to remove obvious barriers before anyone complains. It names no technical standard, but WCAG 2.2 Level AA is the benchmark most advisers use.
- The public sector accessibility regulations (2018). These make WCAG 2.2 AA and an accessibility statement firm requirements for public bodies. They don’t bind a private business, but they show what “good” looks like.
- The European Accessibility Act. Since 28 June 2025 it has covered e-commerce sold to consumers in the EU, including by UK businesses. Microenterprises (fewer than 10 staff and turnover or balance sheet of €2 million or less) are exempt for services, so check your size and where your customers are.
This is a practical summary, not legal advice. If you sell heavily into the EU or have had a complaint, speak to a specialist.
Start with the journeys that bring in money
Most accessibility guides hand you a list of 50 rules. A better starting point is to name the three or four tasks a visitor must be able to finish, then test those first:
- Finding your phone number or address.
- Sending the contact or quote form.
- Booking an appointment.
- Adding to basket and paying, if you sell online.
A barrier on your “About” page is worth fixing. A barrier on your contact form costs you enquiries every week. Fix in that order.
Website accessibility checklist: ten checks you can run today
You don’t need specialist software for a first pass. Set aside an hour and work through these on your homepage, one service page and your main form.
- Keyboard only. Put the mouse aside and press Tab. Can you reach every link, menu item and button, and get back out of pop-ups and the cookie banner?
- Visible focus. Each item you tab to should show a clear outline. Removing it because it looks untidy is one of the most damaging design tweaks there is.
- Colour contrast. Body text needs a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background (3:1 for large text). Pale grey on white usually fails; WebAIM’s free contrast checker tells you in seconds.
- Zoom to 200%. Text should reflow without overlapping or forcing sideways scrolling.
- Alt text. Images that carry meaning need a short description. Decorative images should have empty alt text so screen readers skip them.
- Headings in order. One H1 per page, then H2s and H3s that make sense as an outline. Never pick a heading level for its font size.
- Clear link and button text. “Read more” and icon-only buttons tell a screen reader user nothing. “Read our pricing guide” does.
- Form labels and errors. Every field needs a visible label, not just placeholder text, and errors should explain the problem in words, not only in red.
- Target size. WCAG 2.2 asks for tap targets of at least 24 by 24 pixels. Tiny social icons and close buttons often fail on mobile.
- Video and audio. Add captions to videos and transcripts to podcasts. That also gives search engines text to index.
Then run a free automated scan, such as WAVE or Lighthouse in Chrome. Treat its score as a prompt, not a pass mark: automated tools find only some issues, and a page can score well and still stop someone booking.
Accessibility overlays: why a plug-in won’t fix it
Some widgets promise “instant compliance” from one line of code. They add a toolbar for text size or contrast, but they don’t repair the underlying code, labels or structure. Many disabled users already have these settings on their own devices and find overlays get in the way. Spend the money on fixing the site itself.
How to make a WordPress website accessible
Most small business sites in the UK run on WordPress, and most accessibility problems come from three places.
The theme
Look for keyboard-friendly menus, a “skip to content” link and visible focus styles. If your theme fails on these, changing it during your next redesign is usually cheaper than patching every page. Our website redesign checklist shows how to plan that without losing rankings.
Page builders and plug-ins
Sliders, pop-ups and form plug-ins are common trouble spots. Turn off auto-playing sliders, make sure pop-ups close with the Escape key, and test your form with the keyboard checks above.
The content you add every week
Accessibility drifts as new pages go live. Give whoever updates the site a short house style: always write alt text, use real headings, avoid text inside images and never make a scanned PDF the only version of important information.
Accessibility helps SEO and conversions too
Descriptive headings, alt text, captions and clear link text give Google more context. Readable contrast, larger buttons and simple forms reduce drop-off on mobile, where most local searches happen. Our guide to mobile-first website design covers that side in more detail.
If you are commissioning a new site, put accessibility in the brief and ask designers how they test it. Our article on how to choose a website designer helps you compare their answers, and charities will find sector advice in our nonprofit website best practices.
Publish a simple accessibility statement
A private business isn’t obliged to publish one, but a short statement builds trust and gives visitors a way to report problems. Include the standard you are working towards (WCAG 2.2 AA), known issues and when you plan to fix them, how to request information in another format, and a contact email or phone number. Review it every six months.
Make your website easier for every customer to use
You don’t have to fix everything at once. Test your money-making journeys, work through the ten checks, replace any overlay with real fixes, and build accessibility into every new page. At Strategic Site Solutions we design responsive WordPress websites with accessibility, speed and search in mind from the first wireframe. Read more about how we work, then get in touch for a friendly review of your current site.