Website accessibility is no longer a nice-to-have or a purely ethical consideration. It is a legal requirement, and failure to comply is increasingly expensive. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the European Accessibility Act (EAA), the UK Equality Act, and various sector-specific regulations all mandate that websites be accessible to people with disabilities.

The enforcement trend is unmistakable. In 2024, over 4,000 ADA website accessibility lawsuits were filed in the United States alone — a number that has been rising year on year. The European Accessibility Act comes into full force in June 2025, applying to all products and services sold in the EU. And serial litigants and accessibility law firms have made suing non-compliant businesses a profitable industry.

This guide explains the legal requirements, what standard your website must meet, the real costs of non-compliance, and practical steps to protect your business.

Do Small Businesses Have to Comply? Yes.

One of the most dangerous misconceptions is that accessibility laws only apply to large corporations, government websites, or businesses above a certain revenue threshold. This is wrong.

ADA Title III (United States): Applies to all “places of public accommodation” — which courts have broadly interpreted to include websites. There is no revenue exemption, no employee threshold, and no size limitation. A one-person Shopify store is subject to the same law as Amazon.
European Accessibility Act (EU): Applies to businesses that provide products or services to EU consumers, including eCommerce, banking, and telecommunications. Micro- enterprises (fewer than 10 employees and under €2 million turnover) have limited exemptions but are not fully excluded.
Equality Act 2010 (UK): Requires service providers to make “reasonable adjustments” to ensure disabled people are not placed at a substantial disadvantage. This applies to websites as part of the service you provide.
Section 508 (US): Applies to federal agencies and organisations receiving federal funding. If you do business with the government, this applies to you.

The bottom line: if you have a website that serves the public, accessibility law almost certainly applies to you, regardless of your size.

The Legal Risk: Lawsuits, Settlements, and Fines

The financial consequences of non-compliance are real and significant:

ADA lawsuits: The average settlement for a first-time ADA website accessibility claim is &dollar;5,000–&dollar;25,000. Repeat offenders or cases that go to court can result in settlements of &dollar;50,000 or more, plus the plaintiff’s legal fees (which often exceed the settlement itself).
Serial litigation: A small number of law firms and plaintiffs file hundreds of cases per year, targeting businesses with obvious accessibility failures. eCommerce stores, restaurants, and service businesses are the most common targets.
DOJ enforcement: The US Department of Justice has increasingly pursued website accessibility cases, including against Winn-Dixie, Domino’s Pizza, and several universities. The DOJ has explicitly stated that websites must comply with ADA.
EAA penalties: EU member states set their own penalties for EAA violations. These can include fines, injunctions, and orders to make products or services accessible.
Reputational damage: Accessibility lawsuits are public. They can damage your brand and lose you customers — including the 15–20% of the population that has some form of disability.

It is worth noting that most ADA website lawsuits settle quickly because the cost of settling is less than the cost of defending. This creates a perverse incentive for serial litigants — but it also means that prevention is far cheaper than cure.

WCAG 2.2 Level AA: The Standard Your Website Must Meet

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), are the universally accepted technical standard for web accessibility. WCAG 2.2 Level AA is the version referenced by most current legislation, including the DOJ’s 2024 ADA web accessibility rule.

WCAG is organised around four principles, often abbreviated as POUR:

Perceivable

Users must be able to perceive the content. This means:

All images must have descriptive alt text
Videos must have captions and audio descriptions
Text must have sufficient colour contrast against its background (minimum 4.5:1 ratio for normal text)
Content must be readable when zoomed to 200%
Information must not be conveyed by colour alone

Operable

Users must be able to operate the interface. This means:

All functionality must be available via keyboard alone (no mouse required)
Users must be able to see where keyboard focus is at all times
No content should flash more than 3 times per second (seizure risk)
Users must be able to navigate, find content, and determine where they are
Touch targets must be at least 24x24 pixels (WCAG 2.2 addition)

Understandable

Content and interface must be understandable. This means:

The page language must be declared in the HTML
Navigation must be consistent across pages
Form inputs must have clear labels and helpful error messages
Users should be able to avoid and correct mistakes

Robust

Content must work with current and future technologies. This means:

HTML must be well-formed and valid
Custom components must use proper ARIA roles and attributes
Status messages must be programmatically available to screen readers

Quick Accessibility Audit: The 10 Most Common Failures

Research consistently shows that the same small number of accessibility issues account for the majority of failures. If you fix these, you solve most of the problem:

Missing alt text on images — the single most common accessibility failure. Every meaningful image needs a text description.
Low colour contrast — light grey text on white backgrounds is the classic offender. Use a contrast checker tool to verify.
Missing form labels — every input field needs a programmatically associated label, not just placeholder text.
No keyboard navigation — if a user cannot tab through your entire site and use every interactive element without a mouse, you fail.
Missing page language — the <html lang="en"> attribute must be present and correct.
Empty links or buttons — links and buttons must have discernible text. An icon-only button needs an aria-label.
No skip navigation link — screen reader users need a way to skip past navigation to the main content.
Autoplaying media — videos or audio that play automatically without user control are both an accessibility and usability failure.
Missing or incorrect heading structure — headings must follow a logical hierarchy (h1, h2, h3) and not skip levels.
No visible focus indicator — when users tab through your site, they need to see which element is currently focused.

Accessibility Disclaimers and Legal Protection

Full WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance is the gold standard, but achieving and maintaining it requires ongoing effort and investment. Many small businesses find it difficult to reach 100% compliance immediately. In the meantime, there are legal steps you can take to reduce your risk:

Publish an Accessibility Statement. An accessibility statement on your website demonstrates good faith. It should describe your commitment to accessibility, what standards you aim to meet, any known limitations, and how users can report issues or request accessible alternatives.
Document your good-faith efforts. Courts consider whether a business has made genuine efforts to improve accessibility. Document your audit results, remediation plans, and progress. This can significantly reduce liability in a lawsuit.
Provide alternative access. If your website has accessibility gaps, offer alternative ways for disabled users to access your products or services (e.g., a phone number, email, or accessible PDF catalogue).
Add a feedback mechanism. Provide a clear way for users to report accessibility barriers. Responding promptly to complaints demonstrates good faith and can prevent issues from escalating to lawsuits.

An accessibility statement is not a legal shield that prevents lawsuits, but it is a meaningful piece of evidence that you are taking accessibility seriously. Combined with genuine remediation efforts, it substantially reduces your legal exposure.

Protect Your Business: What to Do Now

Here is a practical action plan for small businesses:

Run a free accessibility audit. Tools like WAVE (wave.webaim.org), axe DevTools, and Lighthouse (built into Chrome) can scan your website for common accessibility issues in seconds.
Fix the top 10 issues first. Address the common failures listed above — these cover the majority of real-world accessibility barriers.
Publish an accessibility statement. Even before you achieve full compliance, publish a statement declaring your commitment and providing contact information for accessibility feedback.
Create an accessibility disclaimer. Document what you have done, what you plan to do, and how users can get help if they encounter barriers.
Review your legal pages. Ensure your Terms of Service and Privacy Policy are themselves accessible — properly structured with headings, readable font sizes, and sufficient contrast.
Set a recurring audit schedule. Accessibility is not a one-time fix. New content, design changes, and plugin updates can introduce new issues. Audit quarterly at minimum.

Generate Your Legal Pages with Accessibility in Mind

Your website’s legal pages — Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Cookie Policy, and Accessibility Statement — are often the first pages scrutinised in an accessibility audit or lawsuit. They need to be compliant themselves.

LegalForge generates properly structured, accessible legal pages for your website. Every document uses semantic HTML with correct heading hierarchy, readable formatting, and clear language — meeting the accessibility standards your legal pages should exemplify. Generate a complete set of legal pages in 60 seconds for a one-time payment of £19.

Website Accessibility Legal Requirements for Business in 2026