Accessibility Statement Template for UK Businesses (2026)

UK private sector businesses are not required by law to publish an accessibility statement. The requirement sits in PSBAR 2018, which applies to public sector bodies only. But publishing one is good practice with direct legal relevance: it is evidence that your organisation took its reasonable adjustments duty seriously, and it provides a structured route for disabled users to report issues before they instruct a solicitor.

This page explains what to include and provides a complete template you can adapt.

To check current accessibility issues on your site before writing the statement, run a free scan at /uk/en/scan.

Why accessibility statements matter under the Equality Act 2010

Under section 20 of the Equality Act 2010, the reasonable adjustments duty is anticipatory. An organisation does not wait for a disabled user to complain before making its website accessible. It anticipates that disabled users will attempt to access the service and removes barriers in advance.

Publishing an accessibility statement demonstrates that this anticipatory thinking has occurred. A statement that accurately records known failures, names the standard the organisation is working towards, and commits to a remediation timeline is evidence that the organisation has assessed its position and is taking steps. This does not guarantee no Equality Act claim, but it substantially improves the organisation's evidential position if one is brought.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission recommends that private businesses publish accessibility statements as part of their reasonable adjustments compliance. An organisation that receives an individual complaint or EHRC contact is better placed if it can point to an existing statement as evidence of prior engagement with the issue. This prior engagement goes to the heart of the anticipatory duty: the statement shows the organisation was already thinking about the question before the complaint arrived.

What the statement should include

Based on the GDS public sector format, adapted for private sector use, a useful accessibility statement covers six areas.

Scope: which website or service the statement covers, including the domain and any subdomains or separate applications in scope.

Conformance level: the standard and level the organisation is working towards, typically WCAG 2.2 Level AA, with an honest statement of current conformance (fully conformant, partially conformant, or non-conformant with known issues listed).

Known accessibility issues: a list of specific known issues, each including the WCAG success criterion failed, the impact on users, and the planned fix date. This list demonstrates that an audit has occurred and that the organisation understands its position. An empty list when the site has not been formally audited is less credible than a honest list of issues in progress.

Contact mechanism: an email address or form that disabled users can use to report accessibility barriers. State the response time (14 days is the standard used by most organisations).

Enforcement body: for private sector businesses, the relevant enforcement route is a civil claim in the county court and, for systemic issues, the EHRC. State this in the statement so users know their options.

Review date: when the statement was last updated and when it will next be reviewed.

Full template text

The following template can be adapted for your organisation. Replace items in brackets.

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Accessibility statement for [Organisation Name]: [website domain]

Last reviewed: [date]

[Organisation Name] is committed to making [website domain] accessible in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

Compliance status

This website is [fully conformant with / partially conformant with / non-conformant with] the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA standard. [For partially conformant: the non-accessible parts are listed below. For non-conformant: this means content does not conform to the accessibility standard in a number of ways, as described below.]

Non-accessible content

The following known issues are being addressed:

• [Issue 1]: [Brief description. Example: Product images on the shop page are missing alternative text (WCAG 1.1.1). This affects screen-reader users. Fix scheduled for [date].]
• [Issue 2]: [Brief description. Example: Several form fields on the contact page lack correctly associated labels (WCAG 1.3.1). This affects screen-reader users and users with cognitive disabilities. Fix in progress, expected [date].]

If you have identified an issue not listed here, please contact us using the details below.

Contacting us about accessibility

If you cannot access any part of this site or need content in a different format, contact us:

Email: [accessibility@yourorganisation.co.uk] Response time: We aim to respond within 14 working days.

We will consider your request and get back to you with options for accessing the content.

Enforcement

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission (England, Scotland, Wales) or the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. You may also bring a civil claim under the Equality Act 2010 in the county court.

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Common statement failures to avoid

Publishing a statement does not automatically create evidential benefit. The quality and accuracy of the statement matter more than its existence. Statements that undermine rather than help the organisation typically have one or more of these features.

Stating full conformance when the site is not audited is the most serious failure. Courts and the EHRC take a dim view of incorrect statements. Only claim full conformance if you have a recent professional audit confirming it.

Listing no known issues with no audit history is implausible for any site of substance. A statement that says "we have identified no accessibility issues" when no formal audit has occurred is not credible evidence.

Providing no contact mechanism defeats one of the purposes of the statement. Users who cannot access content need a route to request help. Without it, the first contact may be from a solicitor.

Never updating the statement after site changes, new audits, or as fix dates pass creates a document that accurately reflects the site from two years ago. Stale statements are evidentially unhelpful and, where they claim conformance the site no longer achieves, they become actively harmful to the organisation's legal position.

How to handle third-party content in your statement

Most websites include content or functionality from third parties: embedded YouTube videos, Google Maps, payment widgets, live chat tools, social media embeds. These third-party components may not be accessible, and the organisation publishing the website does not control their source code.

PSBAR 2018 guidance from GDS addresses this for public sector bodies, and the approach is reasonable practice for private sector too: where a third-party component is inaccessible and outside the organisation's control, the statement should name it, explain why it is not accessible, and describe any alternative route the user can take to access the same information or service.

For example, if an embedded Google Maps widget is not keyboard-accessible, the statement can note this and provide a text address with directions as an alternative. The Equality Act 2010's reasonable adjustments framework accepts that some barriers cannot be removed at the source, provided the organisation takes other reasonable steps to achieve the same outcome by different means.

Where a third-party component is provided under a commercial contract, the statement should note this and indicate whether accessibility improvements are being sought from the supplier. Contracts with key service providers entered after WCAG 2.2 AA became the de facto standard are unlikely to exclude accessibility obligations, but older contracts may not address it directly. Reviewing supplier contracts for accessibility provisions is a reasonable step when conducting an accessibility audit.

Update cadence and review process

An accessibility statement that is never updated is a document that records the site's state at one point in time. As the site changes, as new audits produce new findings, and as known issues are fixed, the statement becomes inaccurate. Inaccuracy creates evidential risk.

A practical review cadence for most UK businesses, balancing thoroughness against the cost of repeated full audits, is:

Annual full review coinciding with a new accessibility audit. The audit finds issues, the statement is updated to reflect them with fix dates, and the existing known issues from the previous year are either closed (fixed) or updated with revised dates.

Triggered review after major site changes. A new checkout flow, a redesigned navigation, a new content management system, or a new third-party integration all introduce potential new accessibility issues. A targeted audit of the changed components, followed by a statement update, covers this.

Triggered review after receiving a complaint. If a disabled user reports a barrier through the statement's contact mechanism, the statement should be updated to acknowledge the reported issue once it has been verified, along with the planned fix timeline.

A statement updated at least annually with honest, specific content achieves its purpose: it creates a documented record that the organisation engaged with the reasonable adjustments question, knew its current position, and was taking active steps to improve it.

For the broader legal framework that makes these statements relevant, see website accessibility under the Equality Act 2010. For the technical standard the statement references, see WCAG 2.2 AA in UK law.

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This is technical analysis, not legal advice. Consult a solicitor for specific guidance on your Equality Act compliance position.