Website accessibility for charities: WCAG 2.2 in plain English

Why it matters

Around one in four people in the UK report a disability. Many more read on a small screen in bright light, use the keyboard instead of a mouse, or zoom in to read. An inaccessible donation form loses gifts from all of them.

What WCAG 2.2 AA means

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the international standard. Version 2.2, published in 2023, added checks for focus, dragging, target size and logging in. Level AA is the level most organisations aim for, and the one we build to.

Do charities have to comply?

The public sector accessibility regulations don’t cover most charities. But the Equality Act 2010 expects service providers, charities included, to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, and meeting WCAG 2.2 AA is the clearest way to show you have.

The fixes that matter most

1. Forms: every field has a visible label, errors are explained in words, and nothing typed is lost when an error appears.
2. Contrast: text and buttons stand out clearly from the background.
3. Keyboard: everything can be reached and used with the Tab key, with a visible focus outline.
4. Headings: one H1, then a logical order, so screen reader users can scan the page.
5. Images: alt text that says what matters in the image, and empty alt text for decoration.
6. Target size: buttons and links big enough to tap.
7. Documents: annual reports and policies also published as web pages, not only as PDFs.

Avoid quick-fix overlays

Accessibility widgets that add a toolbar to your site don’t fix the underlying code, and some get in the way of the screen readers they claim to help. Fix the site itself.

Test with people and real tools

Automated checkers find only some of the problems. The rest need a person: try your donation journey with only a keyboard, with a screen reader such as VoiceOver or NVDA, and with the page zoomed to 200%.

Publish an honest statement

An accessibility statement says what standard you aim for, what works, what doesn’t yet and how people can get help. It builds trust, and it gives your team a plan. Ours is on our accessibility page.