Quick answer
The accessibility basics every UK business website needs are sufficient colour contrast (4.5:1 for body text), descriptive alt text, a logical heading order with one H1, full keyboard navigation with visible focus states, labelled form fields and captions on video.
Why it matters commercially
Around one in five UK adults reports a disability. An inaccessible site excludes them and, under the Equality Act 2010, service providers are expected to make reasonable adjustments. Accessible sites also tend to rank better because the same structure helps crawlers.
The highest-impact fixes
Most accessibility failures on small business sites come from a short list of issues that take hours, not weeks, to fix.
- Colour contrast of at least 4.5:1 for normal text
- One H1 per page and headings in logical order
- Alt text on meaningful images, empty alt on decorative ones
- Visible focus outlines for keyboard users
- Form labels linked to their inputs
- Link text that makes sense out of context
Testing without specialist tools
Run Lighthouse's accessibility audit, tab through the whole page with the keyboard, and read the page with a screen reader for two minutes. That combination catches most real problems.
Frequently asked questions
- Is website accessibility a legal requirement in the UK?
- Public sector websites must meet WCAG 2.2 AA. Private businesses are expected to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010, and WCAG AA is the accepted benchmark.
- Does accessibility help SEO?
- Yes. Proper headings, alt text and semantic markup improve how search engines interpret pages.
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