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Guide • Accessibility Statements
Three different legal regimes ask for three different documents, and most guides blur them together. This one keeps the UK's PSBAR model statement, the EU Web Accessibility Directive's model statement, and the EAA's Annex V information duty separate, then shows you exactly what to write and how to avoid publishing a statement that makes things worse.
Legal Regimes
3
PSBAR, WAD, and EAA all differ
EAA Legal Hook
Annex V
An information duty, not a template
Report Against
WCAG 2.2 AA
The standard behind your status
Our Tool
Free Generator
Builds a statement interactively
An accessibility statement is a public page that tells users which accessibility standard your website targets, how far it actually meets that standard, what the known gaps are, and how to reach you when something does not work. Whether the law requires you to publish one depends entirely on which of three distinct regimes you fall under, and the single most common error on this topic is treating them as one:
Many competitor pages tell private companies to follow “the official EU accessibility statement template” for EAA compliance. There is no such thing: the model statement belongs to the public sector directive, and the EAA asks for something different. Getting this distinction right is the point of this guide.
If you are a UK public sector body, the statement is not optional and its structure is not up to you. PSBAR requires a statement in the government's model format, containing:
GDS reviews statements as part of its PSBAR monitoring programme, and that monitoring now tests against WCAG 2.2 AA, so the status you declare should be measured against the current standard. Our WCAG 2.2 checklist and UK compliance guide cover what that testing looks for.
The European Accessibility Act has applied to in-scope products and services since 28 June 2025, and it takes a different approach from the public sector directive. There is no single mandated statement template. What service providers must do is provide information, in their general terms and conditions or an equivalent document, explaining how the service meets the accessibility requirements. That duty comes from the Directive's Annex V, and it breaks down into three parts:
A public accessibility statement is the practical way most businesses satisfy this: one well-structured page can describe the service, state its conformance status against EN 301 549 and WCAG, list known limitations, and be accessible itself. That is good practice and we recommend it. But be precise about the legal position: the hook is the Annex V information requirement, not a statement template, and copying the public sector model statement does not automatically discharge it.
Enforcement is national, and it has teeth. Ireland, for example, enforces the EAA with criminal penalties; see our EAA Ireland guide for the details, and the EAA overview for who is in scope.
Across all three regimes, and for voluntary statements too, the same core elements separate a useful statement from filler:
A bad statement is worse than no statement. The failure patterns are consistent:
And keep expectations realistic: a statement is not a legal shield. It does not immunize you against Equality Act claims, ADA lawsuits, or EAA enforcement. It is transparency plus a communication channel, and its value depends entirely on being accurate.
It depends on who you are and where you operate. UK public sector bodies must publish one under PSBAR, in the government's model format. Public sector bodies in EU member states must publish one under the Web Accessibility Directive, following the model statement in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1523. Private companies covered by the European Accessibility Act are not handed a statement template at all: since 28 June 2025 they must provide information, in their general terms and conditions or an equivalent document, explaining how the service meets the accessibility requirements, and most meet that duty with a public statement. For private US websites, no law requires a statement, but a voluntary one demonstrates good faith, gives users a working contact route, and is commonly requested in procurement.
PSBAR statements must follow the UK government's model format and state the compliance status (fully compliant, partially compliant, or not compliant with WCAG at level AA), list non-accessible content with the reason for each item (non-compliance with the regulations, a disproportionate burden claim, or content out of scope), explain how to request content in accessible formats, explain how to report accessibility problems, describe the enforcement procedure (EASS, the Equality Advisory and Support Service, and the EHRC in Great Britain; the ECNI in Northern Ireland), and give the date the statement was prepared and the date it was last reviewed. GDS checks statements as part of its PSBAR monitoring, which now tests against WCAG 2.2 AA.
Not in the way many pages claim. There is no single mandated EAA statement template; the official EU model statement belongs to the Web Accessibility Directive for the public sector, not to the EAA. What the EAA actually requires of service providers is an information duty: under the Directive's Annex V, they must describe the service, explain how it meets the applicable accessibility requirements, and make that information available to the public in written and oral format, in a way accessible to persons with disabilities, in their general terms and conditions or an equivalent document. A public accessibility statement is the most practical way to satisfy that duty, and good practice besides, but the legal hook is the information requirement, not a template.
You can, but you should not. A statement is a factual claim about the current state of your site, so it should follow testing, not precede it. A statement written before any evaluation is guesswork, and if it guesses optimistically it becomes a liability: claiming full compliance while your homepage fails basic checks contradicts user experience, destroys trust, and can be cited in a dispute as evidence that you knew accessibility mattered and misrepresented your status anyway. Run at least an automated scan, and ideally a manual audit, before you publish a conformance claim.
Partially compliant means the site meets most of the target standard, typically WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 at level AA, but has known exceptions, and the statement lists them. It is the honest status for the majority of real websites. Fully compliant means every applicable success criterion passes, a claim you should only make after thorough testing. Not compliant means the site has not been evaluated against the standard or fails it broadly. Choosing partially compliant and itemizing the gaps, with plans to fix them, is far more credible than an unsupported claim of full compliance.
No. A statement is not a legal shield: it does not immunize you against Equality Act claims in the UK, ADA lawsuits in the US, or EAA enforcement in the EU. What it does is provide transparency about where your site stands and a communication channel that lets users report problems to you before they escalate elsewhere. That can reduce friction and demonstrate good faith, but the underlying obligation is an accessible service, not a published document. An inaccurate statement can even make things worse by showing awareness without action.
Review it at least annually, and update it whenever the site changes significantly or after each audit or remediation round. PSBAR statements must carry both a preparation date and a last review date, and GDS monitoring checks that statements are kept current. Even for voluntary statements, a review date from several years ago signals that the commitments inside are stale, and users and procurement teams read it exactly that way. Put the review on a calendar, and tie it to your regular testing cycle so the status you publish always reflects a recent evaluation.
This page is provided for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Accessibility statement obligations differ by jurisdiction and sector, and enforcement practice under PSBAR, the Web Accessibility Directive, and the European Accessibility Act continues to develop. For advice about your specific obligations, consult a lawyer experienced in accessibility law in the relevant jurisdiction.
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