UK Equality Act 2010 — Your Website’s Legal Obligations
The Equality Act 2010 has been UK law for 16 years, but enforcement is accelerating. The Act requires all service providers — no size exemption, no sector exemption — to make “reasonable adjustments” for disabled people. Websites are a service provision. This means your website’s accessibility is a legal obligation, not a nice-to-have.
The practical difference between the Equality Act and frameworks like the EAA is this: the Equality Act is enforced through civil claims, not regulatory authorities. A customer or user who can’t access your website can bring a discrimination claim. Remedies include uncapped compensation, injunctions requiring you to fix the site, and legal costs. And unlike some regulations, the Equality Act has no microenterprise exemption.
Here’s what you need to know about your obligations, who’s in scope, and the real risk profile.
What the Equality Act Says
The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination in the provision of goods and services. For websites, this means:
Service providers must make reasonable adjustments to accommodate disabled people. A website that’s only usable with a mouse, for example, is a barrier to people with motor impairments. Adding keyboard navigation is a reasonable adjustment. A website with text that’s too small to read is a barrier to people with low vision. Adding the ability to zoom or enlarge text is a reasonable adjustment.
The test is reasonableness. A reasonable adjustment is one that is practical to implement and doesn’t impose undue hardship on the business. For most accessibility improvements — alt text, colour contrast, form labels, heading structure — the cost is minimal. These are reasonable adjustments.
Failure to make reasonable adjustments is discrimination. If a disabled person experiences a barrier on your website and you haven’t made reasonable adjustments to remove it, you’ve discriminated against them. That person can bring a civil claim.
The Equality Act also applies to other protected characteristics (age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion), but for websites, the disability context is most relevant and most commonly litigated.
Who’s in Scope
All UK service providers. That means any business that provides a service to the public or to customers. This includes:
- Retail businesses (online and offline)
- Professional services (accountants, lawyers, consultants)
- Healthcare providers
- Hospitality (restaurants, hotels, pubs)
- Financial services
- Government and public sector bodies
- Charities
- Educational institutions
- And many more
No size exemption. A solo freelancer with a one-page website is in scope. A large multinational corporation is in scope. The Equality Act applies regardless of business size.
No sector exemption. There’s no list of “exempt sectors.” If you provide a service and you have a website, the Equality Act applies to that website.
The practical test is simple: if you have a website that customers or the public can access, and you provide a service, the Equality Act’s reasonable adjustments duty applies to that website.
What Counts as Discrimination
Under the Equality Act, discrimination happens when:
- A disabled person experiences a barrier on your website that prevents them from using it as a non-disabled person would
- You haven’t made a reasonable adjustment to remove that barrier
- You failed to do so without justification
Examples of discrimination:
- A website with no alt text on images — a blind user using a screen reader can’t understand the images, but a sighted user can
- A contact form with no labels — a screen reader user doesn’t know what information each field expects
- Navigation that only works with a mouse — a keyboard user or switch user is locked out
- Colour-only information (red = error, green = success) — a colourblind user can’t tell the difference
- Text that can’t be resized — a user with low vision can’t make it readable
Enforcement — How the Equality Act Works
The Equality Act is enforced through civil claims. Here’s how:
Who can sue: Any disabled person who experiences discrimination. They don’t need to be a customer — even a website visitor could bring a claim if they’re in scope.
What they can claim: The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published guidance confirming that compensation for discrimination can include:
- Injury to feelings — unlimited compensation based on the distress and upset caused by the discrimination. In cases where someone is locked out of accessing a service they need, this can be substantial.
- Material loss — if the discrimination caused financial loss (e.g., someone couldn’t access information needed to make a purchasing decision)
- Injunctions — court orders requiring you to fix the accessibility problem
- Legal costs — the claimant’s solicitor and expert witness costs, which can be substantial
EHRC enforcement: The EHRC can also take enforcement action directly, though historically it’s focused on larger organisations. But as accessibility claims increase, the EHRC’s attention is likely to follow.
Who pays: If a claim succeeds, compensation is uncapped. There’s no financial ceiling. A single claim could cost five figures or more in compensation plus legal costs.
The Real Risk Profile — What’s Actually Happening
The US provides a leading indicator. In 2023, over 4,000 accessibility lawsuits were filed in US federal courts — a significant increase from previous years. Many are opportunistic (law firms filing claims in bulk), but many are genuine disability advocacy. The trend is clear: accessibility litigation is increasing.
The UK hasn’t seen the same volume yet. But there are several reasons that’s likely to change:
The EAA is now enforceable. The European Accessibility Act enforcement infrastructure is being built across EU member states. This will increase accessibility awareness and establish that accessibility is a serious regulatory concern. UK enforcement is likely to follow.
Disability advocacy is organised. Charities like the RNIB, Action on Hearing Loss, and others actively promote accessibility. They work with claimants and publicise cases.
The practical barrier is lower than it seems. You don’t need a completely inaccessible site to face a claim. A specific barrier that affects a specific user group (e.g., no alt text, which locks out blind users) is enough. The barrier needs to be material, but it doesn’t need to be total.
The commercial reality: Most UK businesses haven’t thought seriously about accessibility. The first company in a sector that faces a claim will make headlines. That will increase the volume of claims in that sector. The wave hasn’t started yet, but it’s coming.
What “Reasonable Adjustment” Actually Means
The Equality Act doesn’t require perfection. It requires reasonable adjustments. Courts have interpreted this as:
- Practical to implement. The adjustment must be technically feasible.
- Not undue hardship. The cost and effort must not be disproportionate to the benefit.
- Proportionate to the benefit. An adjustment that costs £100 and benefits a significant number of users is likely reasonable. An adjustment that costs £50,000 and benefits one user might not be.
For website accessibility, most adjustments are both practical and low-cost:
- Alt text on images: Practical, low cost, benefits all users (especially on mobile with slow connections).
- Colour contrast improvements: Practical, low cost, benefits all users.
- Form labels: Practical, low cost, benefits all users.
- Keyboard navigation: More complex but still practical and proportionate.
- Heading hierarchy: Practical, low cost, benefits all users.
Courts tend to view these as reasonable. More ambitious improvements (full rewrite of custom JavaScript, complete redesign to meet AAA standards) might be harder to justify as “reasonable.”
The Legal Standard — WCAG 2.2 Level AA
While the Equality Act doesn’t explicitly mandate WCAG 2.2, the EHRC and courts have converged on WCAG 2.2 Level AA as the practical standard for accessibility. It’s what the EAA requires, what public sector bodies are required to meet, and what courts increasingly expect.
Using WCAG 2.2 Level AA as your benchmark gives you a clear, defensible standard. It demonstrates a good-faith commitment to accessibility and creates a clear target for remediation.
Who’s Most at Risk
Practically speaking, certain sectors and business types face higher exposure:
High exposure: E-commerce, financial services, healthcare, and other sectors where customers rely on the website to make important decisions. A non-functional website is a clear barrier.
Medium exposure: Professional services (consulting, legal, accounting) and government services where information provision is key.
Lower exposure: Purely informational sites with no transaction capability. But still in scope.
Universal exposure: Any sector, because the Equality Act has no exemption by size or sector. A small business with one employee is as much in scope as a corporation.
What to Do Now
Step 1: Acknowledge the obligation. You have a legal duty to make your website accessible under the Equality Act. This isn’t discretionary.
Step 2: Run an accessibility scan. Get a baseline of where you stand. Automated tools catch the most common failures quickly.
Step 3: Fix the most common issues. Colour contrast, alt text, form labels, and heading structure account for the majority of failures and are relatively quick to address.
Step 4: Publish an accessibility statement. State your commitment to accessibility, the standard you’re working toward (WCAG 2.2 Level AA), known limitations, and how users can report issues. This demonstrates good faith and provides a feedback channel. It also shows you’re taking the obligation seriously if a claim ever comes.
Step 5: Plan for ongoing compliance. Website updates should maintain accessibility. New features should be built accessibly from the start, not retrofitted later.
How This Relates to Other Obligations
The Equality Act intersects with other legal frameworks:
- GDPR: Accessible privacy information is both a GDPR transparency requirement and an Equality Act requirement
- EAA: If you serve EU customers, both the EAA and Equality Act apply
- AI compliance: AI-generated content and interfaces need to be accessible
Getting your website accessible addresses your primary legal obligation under the Equality Act. It also makes you more defensible under other frameworks.
The Bottom Line
The Equality Act requires you to make reasonable adjustments to your website to accommodate disabled people. There’s no size exemption, no sector exemption, and no waiting period. The obligation is live today.
Enforcement is increasing, and the cost of defending a claim (even if you win) is substantial. The commercial case for fixing accessibility proactively is overwhelming.
Start with an automated scan. Fix the high-impact issues. Publish an accessibility statement. Plan for ongoing compliance. And if you need expert guidance on your accessibility baseline and remediation priorities, Bartram Web screens your website and delivers a prioritised action plan.
For more on related frameworks, see European Accessibility Act and WCAG 2.2 explained.