WCAG compliance you can prove
WCAG compliance is not a badge you buy, it is a measurable state: your site conforms to WCAG 2.2 at level AA and you have the evidence. We get UK businesses there with a real audit, code-level fixes and monitoring that keeps you there, covering Equality Act duties at home and ADA compliance pressure from US customers.
What WCAG compliance actually means: A, AA and AAA
WCAG 2.2 contains 86 success criteria arranged in three cumulative levels. Claiming conformance at a level means passing every criterion at that level and the ones below it, on every page. That precision is why vague "accessibility friendly" claims mean nothing.
Level A: the floor
The minimum: keyboard access to everything, alt text on images, no content that traps focus or relies on colour alone. Failing A means some visitors are locked out entirely. Necessary, but never sufficient.
Level AA: the benchmark
A plus the criteria that make a site genuinely usable: 4.5:1 text contrast, visible focus, consistent navigation, clear error handling. This is the level named by public sector rules, the EAA and courts in the UK and US. AA is the target.
Level AAA: the stretch
The strictest tier: 7:1 contrast, sign language for media, reading-level limits. The W3C itself does not recommend requiring AAA site-wide. Adopt individual AAA criteria where they suit your audience.
Where UK businesses actually stand
Anticipatory duty: act before the complaint
The Equality Act 2010 already applies to your website
The Equality Act requires service providers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, and the duty is anticipatory: you are expected to have thought about it before a disabled customer complains. No statute names WCAG for private firms, but when disputes happen, WCAG AA is the measuring stick both sides reach for. UK businesses selling to EU consumers are also caught by the European Accessibility Act, in force since 28 June 2025, which makes WCAG 2.2 AA a practical requirement rather than a recommendation.
- Equality Act claims settle quietly, so the case law is thin but the duty is real
- Public sector bodies must meet WCAG 2.2 AA explicitly and publish a statement
- Selling into the EU brings enforceable EAA obligations on top
Real conformance is earned in the markup
Why overlay widgets do not get you there
Overlay widgets promise one-line-of-code compliance. The claim does not survive testing. An overlay changes how pages display but leaves the underlying markup, the part assistive technology actually reads, unfixed, so audits of overlay-equipped sites keep finding the same level A and AA failures underneath. Many screen reader users report overlays conflicting with settings they already run. We are measured about this: overlays are not a scam so much as a category error. Compliance lives in the code, so that is where we work: audit, fix, verify.
- Overlays cannot add missing alt text meaningfully, fix focus order or repair form labels
- US ADA lawsuits have been filed against sites running overlays, widget and all
- Money spent on an overlay subscription is usually a year of real monitoring
How to get compliant, then stay compliant
Measure against WCAG 2.2 AA
A proper audit, automated plus manual, tells you exactly which of the 86 criteria you fail and where. No plan survives without this baseline. Start free with our 30-second checker.
Fix in priority order
Level A blockers first, then AA, weighted by user impact: checkout before footer. Fixes go into your real templates and content, and each one is retested against its criterion.
Hold the line
Monthly scans with human review catch regressions while they are small, and your accessibility statement is kept current, so your compliance evidence never goes stale. Details of every new criterion are in our WCAG 2.2 guide.
How accessible is your website right now?
Run our free checker. It scans any page against WCAG 2.2 in about 30 seconds and shows exactly what to fix.
Three ways to buy WCAG compliance work
Audit to find the gaps, monitoring to stay conformant, a statement to document it. Prices exclude VAT.
Accessibility Audit
Full WCAG 2.2 AA audit of your website with a prioritised fix plan.
£449 one-off
- Automated scan of your whole site
- Manual keyboard and screen reader testing
- Every issue mapped to WCAG 2.2 criteria
- Prioritised, costed fix plan
- Written report you can share with stakeholders
- Free 30-minute results call
Accessibility Monitoring
Monthly automated and human checks so new content never breaks compliance.
£69 /month
£690 /year
- Monthly WCAG 2.2 AA scans of key pages
- Human review of flagged issues
- Fixes for issues under 30 minutes included
- Quarterly compliance certificate
- Accessibility statement kept current
- Priority EAA regulation alerts
Accessibility Statement
A legally sound accessibility statement, written and published for you.
£149 one-off
- Based on a real scan of your site
- Follows UK and EU model wording
- Published on your site for you
- Includes feedback mechanism setup
- Update guidance included
All prices exclude VAT. Cancel monthly plans any time. Secure card and Direct Debit payments powered by Stripe.
Frequently asked questions
What is WCAG compliance?
WCAG compliance means your website conforms to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the international standard for accessible websites published by the W3C. The current version is WCAG 2.2, released in October 2023. Conformance is measured at three levels, A, AA and AAA, and AA is the level laws and regulators around the world point to.
Is WCAG compliance a legal requirement in the UK?
No UK law names WCAG directly for private businesses, but the Equality Act 2010 requires reasonable adjustments for disabled people and that duty covers websites. WCAG 2.2 AA is the benchmark courts and regulators use to judge whether a site is reasonably accessible. UK public sector bodies are explicitly required to meet it, and UK firms selling to EU consumers face the European Accessibility Act.
What is the difference between WCAG A, AA and AAA?
Level A covers the most basic barriers: images without alt text, content that cannot be reached by keyboard. AA adds the requirements that make a site genuinely usable, including colour contrast, visible focus and consistent navigation, and is the recognised legal benchmark. AAA is the strictest tier and is not realistic for most whole sites, though individual AAA criteria are worth adopting.
Do accessibility overlay widgets make my site compliant?
No. An overlay is a script that adjusts how your site displays; it does not repair the underlying code that assistive technology reads. Independent testing regularly finds the same WCAG failures behind overlays, and some widgets interfere with the screen reader settings users already have. Overlays have also featured in accessibility complaints rather than preventing them. Fixing the code is the only route to compliance.
What about ADA compliance for US customers?
The Americans with Disabilities Act is the US equivalent pressure: US courts consistently treat WCAG AA as the yardstick for website cases, and thousands of ADA website lawsuits are filed each year. The practical good news is that the work is the same. A site that meets WCAG 2.2 AA addresses your Equality Act exposure at home and ADA risk with US customers at the same time.
How do I stay WCAG compliant after fixing my site?
Compliance decays. Every new page, plugin update or content edit can introduce failures: an editor uploads an image without alt text, a new form ships without labels. The fix is routine: monthly automated scans with human review, small fixes applied as they appear, and your accessibility statement kept current. That is exactly what our £69 a month monitoring plan does.