If your organisation is in the public sector, or you run a charity or nonprofit, website accessibility is not optional. WCAG 2.1 AA has been a legal requirement for UK public sector websites since 2018, and it is increasingly specified in tenders, funding applications, and procurement processes. If your website does not meet the standard, it can affect your ability to win contracts and demonstrate that your services are genuinely open to everyone.
- For private businesses, the picture is slightly different. WCAG 2.1 AA is not currently a blanket legal requirement for every commercial website in the UK.
- However, the Equality Act 2010 requires businesses not to discriminate against disabled people, and an inaccessible website can put you on the wrong side of that.
- The European Accessibility Act, which came into force in June 2025, has also extended requirements to businesses selling products or services into the EU.
Whatever your situation, the direction of travel is clear. Accessibility requirements are expanding, and building an accessible website is good practice for every organisation regardless of where the law currently sits. Here is what WCAG 2.1 AA actually means, what genuine compliance looks like, and what to watch out for.
What is WCAG 2.1 AA?
WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. It is the international standard that defines how accessible a website needs to be for people with disabilities, including those who are visually impaired, deaf, use a keyboard instead of a mouse, or rely on a screen reader to navigate the web.
The standard is published by the W3C, the body that sets the rules for the web. It has three levels:
- A — basic accessibility
- AA — the standard almost everyone refers to, and the one required by law
- AAA — the highest level, rarely required in full
AA is the standard that matters for most businesses and organisations. It covers things like:
- Text having enough colour contrast to be readable by people with low vision
- Every image having descriptive alt text so screen readers can describe it
- Videos having captions for deaf and hard of hearing users
- The entire website being navigable using a keyboard alone, without a mouse
- Forms having proper labels, not just placeholder text that disappears when you click
- Links making sense on their own, so “click here” and “read more” are out
It is not a vague aspiration. It is a set of 50 specific, testable criteria and you can look at the full document here.
Why does WCAG 2.1 AA matter right now?
For a long time, accessibility was something many businesses knew they should probably think about but rarely did. That is changing, and quite quickly.
- In the UK, public sector websites have been legally required to meet WCAG 2.1 AA since 2018. That covers councils, NHS organisations, government agencies, schools, and any organisation substantially funded by the public sector.
- The European Accessibility Act came into force in June 2025, extending requirements to a much wider range of businesses selling products or services across the EU.
- Around one in five people in the UK live with a disability of some kind. An inaccessible website is not just a compliance problem. It is a portion of your potential customers who simply cannot use your website properly.
- Many of the things that make a website accessible, such as clear heading structure, descriptive link text, and properly labelled images, are the same things search engines reward. Accessibility and SEO go hand in hand.
If you are working with public sector organisations, bidding for contracts with them, or selling to customers across the EU, compliance is no longer optional.
So what about those WCAG badges and certificates?
Here is the thing. The W3C, which publishes WCAG, does not issue certificates, badges, or logos. There is no official body that stamps your website as approved.
Some companies sell overlay widgets, tools that bolt onto your existing website and claim to fix accessibility issues automatically.
Here’s a website that explains more about these usability overlay options.
They often come with a badge you can display to signal compliance. The problem is:
- These widgets do not fix the underlying code. They apply a layer on top of it.
- That layer frequently fails to work correctly with real screen readers and assistive technology.
- In 2025, a significant proportion of digital accessibility lawsuits involved websites using one of these overlay products. The badge was there. The compliance was not.
What actually counts as evidence of compliance, especially if a tender or procurement process asks for it, is a proper accessibility statement published on your website, and potentially a formal audit report produced by a qualified accessibility specialist.
What does a genuine accessibility statement look like?
An accessibility statement is a page on your website that covers:
- Your commitment to accessibility
- Which standard you are working to meet
- Any known issues you are aware of
- How users can contact you if they encounter a problem
The UK government has a free tool to help you generate one. Publishing it and linking to it from your footer is the credible, honest way to signal that you take this seriously. It is not a magic document that makes your website compliant overnight, but it is the recognised starting point and it is what anyone who genuinely understands accessibility will look for.
What should you ask your web designer?
If you are commissioning a new website, or reviewing an existing one, these are sensible questions to raise:
- Has the website been tested against WCAG 2.1 AA? Not just run through an automated scanner, but actually tested manually. Automated tools catch around 30 to 40 percent of issues. The rest require human eyes and keyboard testing.
- Does the colour scheme pass contrast requirements? Your brand colours might look great and still fail the contrast ratio test for body text. A good designer will check this at the design stage, not after the site is built.
- Are all images properly described? This includes photos, icons, buttons with images, and any image that contains text.
- Can the whole website be used with a keyboard? Tabs through menus, forms, pop-ups, and cookie banners should all work without touching the mouse.
- Will you publish an accessibility statement? If a designer looks blank at this question, that tells you something.
Free tools to check if your website meets WCAG 2.1 AA
Before commissioning a full accessibility audit, it is worth running your website through one or more of these free tools to get a sense of where you stand. They will not catch everything, but they are a useful starting point.
Browser extensions
- WAVE (wave.webaim.org) is probably the most beginner-friendly option. It overlays icons directly onto your page showing errors and warnings so you can see exactly where issues are. Available for Chrome and Firefox.
- axe DevTools (deque.com/axe) is more technical but very thorough. Used widely by developers. The free browser extension catches a solid range of issues.
- Siteimprove Accessibility Checker is a free Chrome extension that gives a page-by-page report with clear explanations of each issue.
- Lighthouse is built into Chrome, so no installation needed. Right-click any page, choose Inspect, go to the Lighthouse tab, and run an accessibility audit.
Online scanners
- WAVE online (wave.webaim.org): just paste a URL directly into the website and get a report without installing anything.
- Silktide (silktide.com) offers a free single-page accessibility check with a clear breakdown of issues.
Colour contrast checkers
- WebAIM Contrast Checker (webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker): Simply paste in two hex colour codes and it tells you instantly whether they pass the WCAG contrast requirements.
- Colour Contrast Analyser is a free desktop app from TPGi, useful for checking colours on images and non-web content as well as web pages.
A word on what these tools can and cannot do
Automated tools are a useful first step, but they will only catch around 30 to 40 percent of accessibility issues. Things like logical reading order, meaningful link text in context, and keyboard navigation all require a human to check properly. If your project requires formal evidence of WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, for example for a tender or procurement process, you will need a manual audit carried out by a qualified accessibility specialist, not just an automated scan.
How Business Image can help
At Business Image, we build websites for businesses across the UK and factor accessibility in from the start, rather than trying to retrofit it afterwards.
If your project brief or tender specifies WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, we can build to that standard. If you have an existing website and are not sure where it stands, we can carry out a review and give you a clear picture of what needs to change.
We are not going to sell you a badge. We will help you build a website that genuinely works for everyone who visits it.
If accessibility compliance is on your radar, get in touch and we can talk through what your project needs.
Business Image is a web design and SEO agency based in Dunfermline, Fife. We have been building websites for UK businesses since 2004.
Frequently Asked Questions around WCAG 2.1 AA
What is the difference between WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2?
WCAG 2.2 is the newer version, published in October 2023. It builds on 2.1 and adds nine additional criteria, mainly around users with cognitive disabilities and mobile users. The two versions are backwards compatible, meaning a website that meets 2.2 automatically meets 2.1. Most legal requirements still reference 2.1, but building to 2.2 keeps you ahead of where regulations are heading.
Does WCAG apply to PDFs and documents as well as web pages?
Yes. If you publish PDFs, Word documents, or other downloadable files on your website, those are expected to meet accessibility requirements too. This is a commonly overlooked area, particularly for public sector organisations and charities that publish a lot of reports and forms.
Can an overlay widget make my site compliant?
No. Overlay widgets bolt onto your existing website and claim to fix accessibility issues automatically, but they do not fix the underlying code. They are widely criticised by accessibility professionals and have been cited in legal cases. Genuine compliance requires the accessibility to be built into the website itself.Diversify your marketing. Share your expertise on social media, grow an email list, collaborate with local partners, and use QR codes on packaging or flyers to link people directly to your site. Paid ads on Google or Facebook can also help you stay visible when organic traffic dips.
Is there an official WCAG certificate or badge I can display?
No. The W3C, which publishes the WCAG standard, does not issue certificates or badges. Any company selling you a compliance badge is not offering anything recognised in law or by any regulatory body. The credible way to demonstrate compliance is through a published accessibility statement and, where required, a formal audit report.
How long does it take to make a website WCAG 2.1 AA compliant?
It depends on the current state of your website. A well-built modern website may only need targeted fixes. An older site with structural issues may need more substantial work. The best starting point is an audit to identify what needs to change, which gives you a clear picture of the scope before any work begins.
Is there an official WCAG certificate or badge I can display?
No. The W3C, which publishes the WCAG standard, does not issue certificates or badges. Any company selling you a compliance badge is not offering anything recognised in law or by any regulatory body. The credible way to demonstrate compliance is through a published accessibility statement and, where required, a formal audit report.
How much does it cost?
Again, this depends on what your website needs. Some fixes are straightforward, such as updating alt text or adjusting colour contrast. Others, such as restructuring navigation or rebuilding forms, take more time. Get in touch and we can carry out a review and give you an honest picture of what is involved.
Does my website need to be rechecked after a redesign?
Yes. Any significant change to your website, whether a redesign, new pages, or new functionality, can introduce new accessibility issues. Compliance is not a one-off exercise. It is something that needs to be maintained as your website evolves.
What should an accessibility statement include?
Your accessibility statement should confirm which standard you are working to meet, list any known issues you are aware of, explain what users can do if they encounter a problem, and provide contact details. The UK government provides a free model accessibility statement at gov.uk that you can use as a starting point.
If my site scores 100 on Lighthouse, does that mean it is fully compliant?
Not necessarily. Automated tools like Lighthouse catch around 30 to 40 percent of accessibility issues. A perfect score means your site has passed the automated checks, but there are many criteria that can only be assessed by a human, such as whether link text makes sense in context or whether the site can be navigated logically using a keyboard.
