Accessibility audits

Who it is for

An accessibility audit suits any organisation that wants to know whether disabled people can use its website: someone using a screen reader, someone who cannot use a mouse, someone with low vision who zooms the page, or someone with a cognitive impairment who needs clear structure. We work with small businesses, charities, schools, membership bodies and suppliers bidding for public sector contracts in Suffolk and the wider East of England, where tender documents increasingly ask about accessibility.

Why it matters

Under the Equality Act 2010, service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments so disabled people are not put at a substantial disadvantage. That applies to websites as well as premises. Public sector bodies have more specific regulations. For most businesses the practical reasons are just as strong: an accessible site is usually easier for everyone to use, works better on phones and is clearer for search engines.

WCAG 2.2 is the current version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines published by the W3C, and level AA is the usual target.

What is included

• Automated scan of the whole site to catch common issues quickly: missing alt text, contrast failures, empty links, missing form labels.
• Manual testing of key templates and journeys: home, service pages, contact form, checkout or booking. Automated tools catch only part of the problems, so this is where most of the value is.
• Keyboard testing: can every link, menu, button and form field be reached and used without a mouse, with a visible focus indicator?
• Screen reader testing with VoiceOver and NVDA: headings, landmarks, labels, image descriptions, error messages.
• Zoom and reflow to 400% and text spacing checks.
• A written report listing each issue, where it occurs, which WCAG criterion it fails, who it affects and how to fix it.
• A prioritised fix list: blockers first, then serious issues, then improvements.
• A walkthrough call to explain the findings to you and your developer.

Step by step

1. Scope. Agree the pages, templates and user journeys to test.
2. Automated scan. Run across the site and filter out false positives.
3. Manual test. Keyboard, screen reader, zoom, colour and content checks on each template.
4. Report. Findings with screenshots, criteria and fixes.
5. Walkthrough. We explain the findings and answer questions.
6. Fix. We can make the fixes, or your developer can work from the report.
7. Retest. We check the fixes and update the report.

How long it takes

An audit of a typical small business site, with five to ten templates, usually takes one to two weeks including the report. Fixes depend on what we find; many are quick, such as labels, alt text and contrast, while some need template changes.

What drives the cost

• Number of templates and journeys. Unique layouts matter more than total page count.
• Interactive features. Booking systems, checkouts, maps and filters take longer to test.
• Third-party tools. Embedded widgets you do not control need separate assessment.
• Whether we fix the issues. Fix work is quoted from the report.

Common mistakes

• Relying on an overlay plugin. Toolbars that claim to make a site accessible automatically do not fix the underlying problems and can get in the way of assistive technology.
• Trusting an automated score. A high score can hide serious barriers that only manual testing finds.
• Removing focus outlines. Keyboard users need to see where they are.
• Text inside images. Screen readers cannot read it and it blurs when zoomed.
• Treating it as a one-off. New content adds new issues. Editors need simple rules to follow.

Quick checks you can do today

Before commissioning an audit, a few simple checks will show whether your site has obvious problems:

• Put the mouse away. Use the Tab key to move through the home page and contact form. Can you see where you are at every step? Can you open the menu and submit the form?
• Zoom to 200% in your browser. Does the text reflow, or do you have to scroll sideways? Does anything overlap?
• Check images. Do important images have alt text describing them? Is there text baked into images?
• Read the link text. Do links say where they go, or just "click here" and "read more"?
• Look at contrast. Light grey text on white, or white text on pale photographs, is hard for many people to read.
• Submit the form with mistakes. Are errors explained clearly, next to the field?

If several of these fail, a full audit will find more. If they all pass, the site is probably in reasonable shape, and an audit will focus on the details: screen reader behaviour, landmarks, headings and complex components.

Suppliers bidding for public sector or large corporate contracts in Suffolk are increasingly asked about accessibility in tender questionnaires. An audit report and a published accessibility statement give you a clear, honest answer.

How we measure it

The report counts issues by severity and WCAG criterion. After fixes we retest and show the change: blockers removed, serious issues resolved and which criteria now pass. Where analytics allow, we also watch form completion rates, which often improve when forms are made accessible.