Accessibility Statement: What It Is, What to Include, and How to Generate One Free

Your website may have an accessibility page, a cookie notice, and a privacy policy — but if it is missing an accessibility statement, you have a gap that regulators, procurement teams, and users with disabilities will notice. An accessibility statement is not a legal shield that makes lawsuits disappear. It is a structured, honest declaration of where you stand on WCAG conformance, what known barriers exist, and how someone who hits a problem can reach you. Done right it builds trust. Done wrong — or copied from a boilerplate that claims full compliance you cannot prove — it becomes evidence against you.

What is an accessibility statement?

An accessibility statement is a public page (or clearly linked document) on your website that explains:

• Which accessibility standard you are targeting (almost always WCAG 2.1 Level AA)
• Your current conformance status — typically "partially conformant"
• Known limitations: specific pages or features that do not yet meet the standard
• How users can report a problem or request an alternative format
• Who enforces the rules if you do not respond (for EU organisations)
• The date the statement was last reviewed

It is distinct from an overlay widget, a badge, or a compliance certificate. Those tools make claims; the statement documents your actual effort and invites accountability.

Who is required to have one?

The picture varies by jurisdiction:

European Union

Public-sector bodies have been required to publish an accessibility statement since 2018 under the Web Accessibility Directive. Its required content is spelled out in Annex of Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1523 — a specific template that must be followed, not paraphrased. Private-sector organisations covered by the European Accessibility Act (EAA) — which came into force for products and services from June 2025 — are also expected to maintain one. The EAA applies broadly to e-commerce, banking, transport, and telecom services sold in the EU.

United States

Federal agencies must comply with Section 508 and publish accessibility information. For private businesses, the ADA does not explicitly mandate a statement, but courts and the Department of Justice have consistently treated documented good-faith efforts favourably. Publishing and maintaining an accurate accessibility statement is widely cited by legal practitioners as a meaningful risk-reduction measure. Enterprise procurement teams, especially in healthcare, finance, and government contracting, routinely require one.

Other markets

The UK (PSBAR 2018 for public sector), Canada (AODA for Ontario), and Australia (DDA guidance) each have their own expectations. In most cases, a properly written statement serves all of them.

What conformance status should you claim?

This is where most organisations make a costly mistake. The three options in the W3C model are:

• Fully conformant — no WCAG 2.1 AA failures at all. Very few sites qualify, and you must have the documentation to prove it.
• Partially conformant — some content does not conform. This is the honest, correct status for almost every real-world website.
• Non-conformant — the site does not meet the standard and no remediation plan is in place.

Claiming "fully conformant" on a site that has not been rigorously audited is a red flag. It invites complaints, and if a plaintiff can demonstrate failures you have affirmatively denied, the statement becomes evidence of bad faith rather than good faith. The phrase "partially conformant" is not weak — it is credible. Pair it with a list of known issues and a contact address and you have something defensible.

What to include: a practical checklist

1. Standard and version targeted

State explicitly: "This website aims to conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA." If you are also addressing EN 301 549 (the European harmonised standard) or Section 508, say so.

2. Conformance status

One of the three options above. For most sites: "This website is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 Level AA due to the non-conformances listed below."

3. Known non-conformances

List specific failures. Be as concrete as you can: "Videos on the /services page do not have captions" is more useful than "some multimedia content." This list should come from your most recent audit, not from guessing. Running your site through two scan engines — such as axe-core and IBM Equal Access, which Abledly uses — surfaces the majority of automatically detectable issues and gives you a credible starting list.

4. Feedback and contact mechanism

Provide a working email address, phone number, or web form. Specify your target response time (e.g., "We will respond within 5 business days"). This is a legal requirement under the EU Web Accessibility Directive and a strong best practice everywhere else.

5. Enforcement body (EU organisations)

Name the national monitoring body in your member state and link to their complaints procedure. In the UK (public sector) this is the Equality and Human Rights Commission. In France it is the DINUM. Including this shows you are operating in good faith and are not hiding the escalation path from users.

6. Date last reviewed

The date must be updated every time you meaningfully revise the statement. It tells users and regulators whether the information is current. A statement dated three years ago signals neglect.

Keeping your statement current

An accessibility statement is not a document you publish once and archive. Every significant website update can introduce new barriers. Content management systems, third-party widgets, new e-commerce checkouts — all of these can break previously passing criteria without anyone noticing. Best practice is to re-scan and review your statement at least quarterly, and immediately after any major site rebuild or third-party integration.

Abledly's monitoring plans run your site on a scheduled basis using two scan engines and flag regressions before they accumulate. When a new issue is found, your statement's known-issues list should be updated accordingly — or the issue fixed and removed from the list.

Generate yours free

You can run a free scan on any public URL right now. Abledly uses axe-core and IBM Equal Access — two independent rule sets — plus an AI review layer to surface issues that automated checks alone miss. The scan results feed directly into the statement generator, which pre-fills your conformance status, populates the known-issues section from real findings, and outputs a statement you can copy to your site or CMS. You fill in your contact details and review date; everything else is drawn from the actual data.

The generator produces language aligned with the W3C model accessibility statement template and the EU Web Accessibility Directive format. It will not claim full conformance unless your scan is genuinely clean.