Support & compliance

Website Accessibility in Mansfield

Around one in five people in the UK has a disability. If your website is difficult for them to use, that is not a small edge case — it is a fifth of your market, and it is a legal exposure.

Accessibility means a website works for people using a screen reader, navigating by keyboard, zooming to 200%, or struggling with low contrast. Most of it is unglamorous and none of it makes the site worse for anyone else.

There is a legal dimension — the Equality Act 2010 requires reasonable adjustments, and public sector bodies have stricter obligations — but the practical argument is stronger. A site that fails accessibility basics is usually failing usability basics too.

It also correlates with better rankings, because most of what helps a screen reader helps a search engine: proper headings, alt text, semantic structure, readable contrast.

What you get

An audit against WCAG 2.2 AA

The recognised standard, tested with automated tools and — more importantly — by hand, because automated checks catch only about a third of real issues.

Keyboard and screen reader testing

Navigating the whole site without a mouse, and listening to it. This is where the genuine problems surface.

Contrast and text sizing

Checked at the ratios the standard requires, and at 200% zoom, which breaks a surprising number of otherwise decent sites.

Forms made usable

Properly associated labels, errors announced rather than only shown in red, and no placeholder text pretending to be a label.

A prioritised fix list

Ordered by impact, in plain English, so your developer can work through it — or we can.

An honest accessibility statement

Including known limitations. A statement claiming full compliance on a site that is not compliant is worse than none.

The problems we find on almost every site

  • Images with no alt text, or alt text reading "image1.jpg"
  • Text over photographs at contrast ratios well below the minimum
  • Forms where the label is only placeholder text, which vanishes when you type
  • Nothing visible showing where keyboard focus is
  • "Click here" as link text, which tells a screen reader user nothing
  • Headings chosen for size rather than structure, so the document outline is nonsense
  • Carousels that cannot be paused or navigated by keyboard

Overlay widgets, and why we do not recommend them

There is a category of product that promises instant accessibility compliance via a single line of JavaScript. They are heavily marketed and widely criticised by disabled users, who consistently report that they make sites harder to use rather than easier.

They also do not achieve compliance, and there has been litigation against sites using them. We fix the underlying problems instead, which costs more up front and actually works.

What affects the price

From £195 is a genuine starting point, not a teaser. Here is what moves it, so you can work out roughly where you would land before you ring us.

  • Site size and how many distinct templates need testing
  • Whether we audit only or also implement the fixes
  • Current standard — a well-built site needs far less work than a page-builder one
  • Whether an accessibility statement and ongoing testing are included

Why local matters here

Website Accessibility — the Mansfield picture

If you tender for public sector work — the council, NHS, schools, colleges — accessibility is increasingly a procurement question rather than an optional extra. Being able to produce an audit and a statement can be the difference on a bid.

For everyone else the argument is commercial: an ageing local population means more customers with sight, dexterity and cognitive difficulties than national averages suggest, and a site that excludes them excludes real revenue.

Also asked for as

People describe this in a lot of different ways. If you searched for any of these, you are in the right place — it is the same service.

  • WCAG audit Mansfield
  • accessible website Mansfield
  • accessibility statement Mansfield
  • screen reader testing Mansfield
  • Equality Act website compliance

Website Accessibility — your questions

Is website accessibility a legal requirement in the UK?

For public sector bodies, yes, explicitly. For private businesses the Equality Act requires reasonable adjustments to avoid discrimination, which is understood to extend to websites. There is no dedicated private-sector website regulation, but the exposure is real.

What standard should I aim for?

WCAG 2.2 Level AA. That is what public sector regulations reference and what everyone treats as the practical benchmark.

Will fixing accessibility hurt the design?

No. Sufficient contrast, sensible text size and clear focus states make a site better looking, not worse. The trade-off people imagine mostly does not exist.

Do accessibility overlays work?

Not really. They do not achieve compliance, disabled users largely dislike them, and they have featured in litigation. Fix the underlying markup instead.

Fancy a straight answer about your website?

Tell us what you are trying to do and we will tell you what it takes, what it costs, and whether it is even worth doing. No pitch deck, no pressure.

Call 01623 272050 Get a quote