Website accessibility for UK small businesses: what to do and why

Why accessibility matters for a small business site

An accessible website is one that people can use whatever their ability or the way they browse. That includes someone who is blind and uses a screen reader, someone with a tremor who navigates with a keyboard instead of a mouse, someone with low vision who zooms the page to large sizes, and someone who is colour blind. It also includes plenty of people who would never describe themselves as disabled: an older customer squinting at a phone in bright sunlight, or a builder on site with dusty hands trying to tap a tiny button.

For a small business the commercial argument is simple. Every visitor who cannot read your prices, find your phone number or submit your contact form is an enquiry you never receive. Most accessibility fixes also make the site clearer for everyone, and many of them overlap with what search engines reward: proper headings, descriptive link text and text alternatives for images.

The legal context in the UK

The Equality Act 2010 requires businesses that provide goods, facilities or services to the public to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people are not put at a substantial disadvantage. It is generally understood that this duty extends to services you provide online, including your website. What counts as "reasonable" depends on the size and resources of the business and the nature of the barrier, so a sole trader is not expected to do what a national retailer does.

Public sector bodies in the UK have their own, more specific accessibility regulations. Those do not normally apply to private small businesses, but the standard they point to, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), is the most widely used benchmark and a sensible target for anyone.

This is a general overview, not legal advice. For the official position, read the guidance on gov.uk and from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and speak to an adviser if you have a specific complaint or concern.

A practical accessibility checklist

You do not need to read the full WCAG document to make real progress. Work through the points below and you will have dealt with the problems that most often stop people using small business sites.

Text and readability

• Body text is large enough to read on a phone without zooming, and the page still works when someone does zoom in.
• There is strong contrast between text and background. Pale grey text on white and white text on a busy photo are the usual culprits.
• Information is never given by colour alone. If a form field turns red when there is an error, a written message explains what went wrong.
• Paragraphs are short and plain. Jargon is explained, especially on pages about prices or terms.

Structure and navigation

• Each page has one main heading, with sub-headings in a logical order. Screen reader users jump between headings to scan a page, just as sighted visitors skim.
• Link text says where it goes. "See our boiler servicing prices" is useful; a page full of "click here" links is not.
• You can reach every link, button and form field using only the Tab key, and you can see where the focus is as you move.
• Menus open and close with a keyboard, not just a mouse hover.

Images and media

• Meaningful images have alternative text that describes what matters: "Newly fitted oak kitchen with white worktops" rather than "IMG_2041".
• Purely decorative images have empty alternative text so screen readers skip them.
• Text is not baked into images. A price list saved as a picture cannot be read by a screen reader or searched by Google.
• Videos have captions, and nothing plays sound automatically.

Forms and contact

• Every form field has a visible label, not just placeholder text that disappears when you start typing.
• Error messages say what to fix, next to the field concerned.
• You offer more than one way to get in touch: a form, a phone number and an email address. Some people cannot use a phone; others struggle with forms.
• Any CAPTCHA or spam check has an accessible alternative.

How to test your own site in an hour

1. Keyboard test. Put the mouse away and try to reach your contact form and send a message using Tab, Shift+Tab and Enter. If you get stuck or lose track of where you are, so will your customers.
2. Zoom test. Zoom your browser to a large size on a laptop and check nothing overlaps or disappears off the side.
3. Phone test. Use the site outside in daylight. Can you read it? Are buttons big enough to tap first time?
4. Screen reader test. Most phones and computers have a built-in screen reader in their accessibility settings. Turn it on for five minutes and listen to your home page. You will quickly hear missing image descriptions and vague links.
5. Automated check. Free browser tools can flag contrast problems and missing labels. Treat them as a starting point: they catch some issues, not all.

Common problems on trade and service sites

Problem	Why it hurts	Fix
Phone number only in a header image	Cannot be read aloud or tapped to call	Use real text, linked so it dials on mobile
Price list as a PDF scan	Unreadable by screen readers, awkward on phones	Put prices on the page as text or a simple table
Thin grey font on a photo banner	Low contrast, hard to read for many visitors	Darker text on a plain background
Pop-up that cannot be closed by keyboard	Traps keyboard users on the page	Remove it or make sure Escape closes it
Gallery with no descriptions	Your best work is invisible to some visitors	Short alternative text on each photo

Write an accessibility statement

A short accessibility statement is good practice even when it is not required. Say that you aim to make the site usable for everyone, mention any known issues you are working on, and give a way for people to contact you if they have trouble. Then make sure someone actually reads and answers those messages. Offering to take a booking or give a quote by phone or email for anyone who struggles with the site is a simple reasonable adjustment.

Keeping it accessible over time

Most sites start reasonably accessible and drift. New photos go up without descriptions, someone pastes a price list in as an image, a new pop-up appears. Add a quick accessibility check to your routine whenever you change a page, alongside the other jobs in our guide to updating your website yourself. If your current site is built on an old theme with problems you cannot fix, that is often one of the signs your website is outdated.

If you are starting again, Site Shifter builds your site from six questions with clear headings, readable text and contact forms ready to go, and you can edit every word and image description yourself. You can see what is included on the features page.

Frequently asked