Does Your Website Need an Accessibility Statement? What It Actually Does for You

17 October 2026·5 min read

Quick answer: An accessibility statement is a short page on your website that says how accessible your site is, what you've done about it, and how someone can contact you if they hit a barrier. It's not a legal shield and it doesn't make an inaccessible site compliant — but it shows good faith, gives you a paper trail, and genuinely helps the small number of visitors who need it. Worth having if you're redesigning anyway; not worth panicking over if you're not. ✨

Somewhere between "every website needs this or you'll get sued" and "nobody actually checks, don't bother" sits the honest answer — and most of what gets shared about accessibility statements online lands on one extreme or the other. Here's what one actually does, and whether yours needs it. 💖

What most businesses get wrong

Treating it as a legal shield — a statement doesn't make an inaccessible site compliant, and it won't stop a genuine complaint if the site itself is the problem.
Copy-pasting a template with no real detail — a statement that doesn't reflect what you've actually tested or fixed is worse than having none, because it reads as performative the moment someone checks.
Bolting on an "accessibility overlay" widget and calling it done — these tools adjust font size and contrast on the surface but don't fix underlying issues like missing alt text or a form a screen reader can't complete.
Ignoring it completely because "we're too small" — business size doesn't exempt you from a visitor hitting a genuine barrier; it just means the fix is usually smaller too.

Please note: general information, not legal advice — check current official guidance before relying on it.

The basic accessibility statement template

Keep it short, honest and specific. This is the structure that covers the ground without overselling what you've done:

Accessibility statement — fill-in-the-blank:
1. "[Business name] is committed to making our website usable for as many people as possible."
2. "We've taken the following steps: [e.g. alt text on images, keyboard navigation, captioned video, colour-contrast checked]."
3. "We know there are areas we're still improving, including: [be honest — e.g. older PDF documents, some third-party booking widgets]."
4. "If you have trouble using any part of this site, contact us at [email/phone] and we'll help directly or fix the issue."
5. Date it, and actually revisit the date when you update your site.

What this looks like for real businesses

A local service business getting a redesign: Rather than writing the statement after launch, the brief to the web designer included basic accessibility checks (alt text, contrast, keyboard navigation) up front — so the statement that followed was simply a true account of what had already been built in, not a promise written separately from the site.

A booking-based business worried about a complaint: The real risk wasn't the lack of a statement — it was a booking form that couldn't be completed with a keyboard alone. Fixing that one form did more for both accessibility and genuine risk than any statement would have on its own.

A business that added an accessibility overlay tool: The overlay let visitors resize text and boost contrast, which is genuinely useful — but a quick test with a screen reader showed the main contact form still couldn't be submitted without a mouse. The overlay stayed, but it got relabelled honestly in the statement as "one of several tools," not "fully accessible," and the form went to the top of the fix list.

How to work out if you actually need one

You get the most value from a statement when it's paired with real changes, in this order:

Do a basic self-check first — can you tab through your site with no mouse? Does every image have alt text? Can text be resized without breaking the layout?
Fix what you find before you publish anything — the statement should describe real steps, not aspirational ones.
Publish a short, honest statement and link it in your footer, where any visitor (and any screen reader) can find it.
Revisit it whenever your site changes — a new booking system or redesign can undo progress you'd already made.

💡 Heads up: An accessibility statement is a record of good intent, not insurance. If your site has a genuine barrier — a form that can't be submitted, video with no captions, text that can't be resized — the fix is the thing that actually matters; the statement just tells people you've thought about it.

Mistakes to avoid

Publishing a statement with no date — an undated statement looks abandoned the moment your site changes.
Overclaiming compliance — avoid saying you "meet" a specific standard unless you've genuinely tested against it; describe your steps instead.
Hiding it in a hard-to-find page — it belongs in the footer, not three clicks deep.
Writing it once and never updating it — redesigns, new plugins and new booking tools can all quietly break things you'd fixed.

Frequently asked questions

Is an accessibility statement legally required in Australia?

There's no single law that requires a statement specifically, though broader obligations around discrimination can apply to inaccessible services, including websites. This is general information, not legal advice — if you're concerned about your specific obligations, check current official guidance or speak with someone qualified to advise on it.

Does having a statement protect me if someone complains?

Not on its own — and this is the honest nuance worth sitting with. A statement shows you've thought about accessibility and gives a contact point, which can help demonstrate good faith, but it doesn't override the underlying issue if your site genuinely has one. The real protection is fixing the barrier, not describing your awareness of it.

Are accessibility overlay widgets a shortcut to compliance?

They can help with some things — text size, contrast, basic navigation aids — but they don't fix structural issues like missing alt text, bad heading order, or forms that can't be completed without a mouse. Treat them as one layer, not the whole solution.

How often should I update my statement?

Whenever your site changes meaningfully — a redesign, a new booking or payment system, a new major feature — and as a general habit, give it a look every six to twelve months even if nothing obvious has changed.

Keep reading 🤍

Written by

Kate, founder of Chronically Online

I help Gold Coast and Brisbane businesses grow with branding, websites and marketing that actually works.

Work with me ✦