Accessibility statement template

Say what works.
Admit what doesn’t.

An accessibility statement is a public page that says which standard your website aims for, how far it meets it, what is still broken, and how people can reach you when something blocks them. EU public sector bodies must publish one from an official model, and since 28 June 2025 the European Accessibility Act has required many businesses selling to EU consumers to publish how their service meets accessibility requirements. Here is a free accessibility statement generator, the law in plain words, and the one claim never to make.

Write my statement Start free
Statement Partially conformant WCAG 2.2 AA · 3 known issues

By the Builderify team

01 Drop the badge 02 Name the standard 03 List what’s broken 04 Say how to reach you
01 / What it is

What is an accessibility statement,
and what goes in one?

It is a plain-language page, usually at /accessibility and linked from the footer of every page, that tells disabled visitors what to expect from your site before they hit a wall, and who to tell when they do.

01

It is a promise you can keep

W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative says the minimum is three things: a commitment to accessibility, the standard you apply (such as WCAG 2.2), and contact details for when people run into problems.

02

It is an admission, on purpose

Listing known limitations saves a visitor from discovering them the hard way. A statement that says “the map needs a mouse, addresses are on the Contact page” is more useful than one that says everything is fine.

03

It is not a certificate

Publishing a statement does not make a site accessible, and nor does any badge. The statement only describes the work, and only the work changes what visitors can do.

The parts of an accessibility statement, and who asks for each

W3C’s guidance applies to any website. The EU’s model statement is mandatory for public sector bodies, and is the most detailed official template there is, so it is a sound checklist for everyone else too.

The parts of an accessibility statement, compared with W3C guidance and the EU model statement
Part What it says W3C guidance EU public sector model
Commitment Who you are, and that you intend your site to be usable by people with disabilities Minimum Mandatory
Standard What you measure against, usually WCAG 2.2 level AA Minimum Mandatory
Conformance status Fully, partially or not conformant with that standard In its generator Mandatory
Known limitations What is not accessible yet, why, and the alternative Recommended Mandatory
Feedback and contact How to report a barrier or ask for another format Minimum Mandatory
Enforcement Where to go if your reply is not good enough Optional Mandatory
Preparation How you assessed the site, and when you last checked In its generator Mandatory

Where to put it: the EU model asks for a link placed prominently on the homepage or on every page, “for example in a static header or footer”, and allows a standardised URL. It also recommends reviewing the statement’s claims at least once a year, and after any substantial revision of the site.

02 / Who needs one

Who needs an accessibility statement:
the EU, the European Accessibility Act and the ADA.

The short answer: EU public bodies must publish one; businesses covered by the European Accessibility Act must publish the same kind of information; and in the US nobody is required to, though it is still the simplest way to give people a route to report problems.

Web Accessibility Directive (EU) 2016/2102

EU public sector websites and apps

Required, using the EU model
  • Public sector bodies must provide and regularly update a “detailed, comprehensive and clear accessibility statement” for their websites and apps (Article 7).
  • It must use the model statement in Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1523, explain what is not accessible and why, and link to a feedback mechanism and to the enforcement procedure.
  • It has applied to all public sector websites since 23 September 2020, and to their mobile apps since 23 June 2021.
European Accessibility Act, Directive (EU) 2019/882

Businesses serving EU consumers

Accessibility information required
  • Since 28 June 2025, the Act covers services provided to consumers, including e-commerce, consumer banking, e-books, electronic communications, access to audiovisual media, and passenger transport websites, apps and e-tickets (Article 2(2)).
  • Covered service providers must explain how their service meets the accessibility requirements, put that information in their general terms and conditions or an equivalent document (Annex V), and make it public “in written and oral format, including in a manner which is accessible to persons with disabilities” (Article 13(2)).
  • The Act never uses the words “accessibility statement”, but a statement page linked from your terms is a natural home for that information. Check what your own country’s law asks for.
Americans with Disabilities Act

Businesses in the United States

No statement rule
  • No federal rule requires a private business to publish an accessibility statement.
  • The Justice Department’s 2022 web guidance gives businesses flexibility in how they make their sites accessible, and points to WCAG as helpful guidance.
  • It also notes that sites which “provide a way for the public to report accessibility problems” let their owners fix them. A statement with a working contact route is exactly that.
The microenterprise exemption

Very small service businesses are exempt

“Microenterprises providing services shall be exempt from complying with the accessibility requirements” for services, “and any obligations relating to the compliance with those requirements” (Article 4(5)). The Act defines a microenterprise as one that “employs fewer than 10 persons and which has an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 2 million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million” (Article 3(23)).

The exemption is for services; products are treated differently. Being exempt does not stop you publishing a statement, and your visitors still benefit from one.

Transition

Some older contracts and equipment have longer

Service contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 may continue unchanged until they expire, but for no longer than five years from that date. Member States can also allow products already used to provide a service to keep being used until 28 June 2030 (Article 32).

The Act is a directive, so what applies to you is your country’s law that transposed it, enforced by that country’s authorities.

This is general information, not legal advice. Whether a law applies to you, and what it asks for, depends on your business, your customers and your country. For a decision that matters, ask a lawyer who works on accessibility.

03 / Generator

A free accessibility statement generator,
with an example to start from.

The statement on the right is a complete accessibility statement example for a fictional bookshop. Replace its details with yours, list the problems you know about, and copy it as HTML or plain text. It runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Your details Runs in your browser
Conformance status

Partially conformant means some parts of the content do not yet fully meet the standard.

Known limitations (one per problem)

No known limitations listed.

Live preview: 5 sections, 3 known limitations

Accessibility statement for Harbour Lane Books

Harbour Lane Books is committed to making its website accessible to as many people as possible, including people with disabilities. This statement applies to www.harbourlane.example.

Conformance status

We measure www.harbourlane.example against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, level AA. It is currently partially conformant: some parts of the content do not yet fully meet the standard.

Known limitations

Despite our efforts, some parts of www.harbourlane.example are not yet fully accessible. These are the problems we know about, with a workaround or a date for the fix:

  • Some older product videos do not have captions. We are adding captions by 31 March 2027, and transcripts are available on request.
  • The shop finder map cannot be used with a keyboard alone. Every shop address and opening time is also listed as text on our Contact page.
  • PDF catalogues published before 2025 are not tagged for screen readers. Email us and we will send the same content in an accessible format.

Optional assistive tools

We also offer an optional accessibility menu, so you can adjust text size, spacing, contrast and other display settings for yourself. It is there for convenience only. It does not change the conformance status above, and you do not need it to use this site.

Feedback and contact

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of www.harbourlane.example. If you meet a barrier, or need information in a different format, please contact us:

We aim to respond within 5 working days.

Preparation of this statement

This statement is based on a self-evaluation carried out by our own team. It was last reviewed on 3 October 2026.

Show the HTML 
<h1>Accessibility statement for Harbour Lane Books</h1>
<p>Harbour Lane Books is committed to making its website accessible to as many people as possible, including people with disabilities. This statement applies to www.harbourlane.example.</p>
<h2>Conformance status</h2>
<p>We measure www.harbourlane.example against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, level AA. It is currently partially conformant: some parts of the content do not yet fully meet the standard.</p>
<h2>Known limitations</h2>
<p>Despite our efforts, some parts of www.harbourlane.example are not yet fully accessible. These are the problems we know about, with a workaround or a date for the fix:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Some older product videos do not have captions. We are adding captions by 31 March 2027, and transcripts are available on request.</li>
  <li>The shop finder map cannot be used with a keyboard alone. Every shop address and opening time is also listed as text on our Contact page.</li>
  <li>PDF catalogues published before 2025 are not tagged for screen readers. Email us and we will send the same content in an accessible format.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Optional assistive tools</h2>
<p>We also offer an optional accessibility menu, so you can adjust text size, spacing, contrast and other display settings for yourself. It is there for convenience only. It does not change the conformance status above, and you do not need it to use this site.</p>
<h2>Feedback and contact</h2>
<p>We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of www.harbourlane.example. If you meet a barrier, or need information in a different format, please contact us:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Email: <a href="mailto:access@harbourlane.example">access@harbourlane.example</a></li>
  <li>Phone: <a href="tel:+442079460000">+44 20 7946 0000</a></li>
</ul>
<p>We aim to respond within 5 working days.</p>
<h2>Preparation of this statement</h2>
<p>This statement is based on a self-evaluation carried out by our own team. It was last reviewed on 3 October 2026.</p>

  • Publish it as its own page

    Paste the HTML into a new page called Accessibility, ideally at /accessibility, and link it from your site footer so it is on every page.

  • Only list what you have checked

    Every line is a claim about your site. Test it first, with a keyboard, a screen reader and an automated checker, or have a specialist do it, and say which in the statement.

  • Diary the next review

    Put the review date in your calendar a year from now, and update the statement after any redesign, new checkout or new kind of content.

Need more detail, such as tested browsers, technologies relied on or formal approval? W3C’s own accessibility statement generator covers every optional section. EU public bodies should start from the official model statement, or their country’s version of it.

04 / Writing it

How to write an accessibility statement
people can actually trust.

Be specific, be current, and claim nothing you cannot show. Most weak statements fail in the same five places.

Don’t write

“This website is 100% ADA and WCAG compliant.”

Write instead

Name the standard and the honest status, with the date you last checked: partially conformant with WCAG 2.2 level AA, last reviewed 3 October 2026. Only say “fully conformant” if every requirement is met without exceptions, and you can show the evaluation.

Don’t write

“We use an accessibility widget, so our site is accessible.”

Write instead

If you offer a menu of display adjustments, describe it as optional extra help that does not change your conformance status, and that nobody needs it to use your site. The generator’s wording does exactly that.

Don’t write

“Some content may not be fully accessible.”

Write instead

Name the actual problem in plain words and give the way round it: the shop finder map cannot be used with a keyboard; every address is also on the Contact page. W3C advises describing problems in terms users understand, not criterion numbers.

Don’t write

“Contact us.”, with no address.

Write instead

Give a real email address and phone number that someone reads, say how fast you will reply, and offer content in another format on request. A reply that never comes is worse than no statement.

Don’t write

“Last updated 2019.”

Write instead

Review the statement at least once a year, as the EU model recommends, and after any redesign. A stale date tells visitors nobody is checking.

05 / With Builderify

An accessibility menu for visitors,
described honestly in your statement.

Builderify’s accessibility widget gives your visitors a menu of 13 adjustments they control themselves: font size, text spacing and a dyslexia-friendly typeface; underlined links and titles and no animations; more contrast, black and white or inverted colours; a large cursor and focus highlighting; read aloud and a reading guide. Their choices stay with them from page to page.

What it does

Lets each visitor adjust how your pages look and read, on top of the page as it already is, from the same script tag as every other module.

What it does not do

Make your site WCAG, ADA or EAA compliant. It does not change your markup, so missing alt text, captions, form labels and keyboard traps are still yours to fix.

That is why Builderify does not claim the menu makes a site compliant, and why the generator’s “optional assistive tools” paragraph says it changes nothing about your conformance status. For the statement’s feedback route, a support ticket form in the website widget gives every accessibility report a reference number and a status, so none of them gets lost in an inbox.

10 credits
per 1,000 page loads with the widget on them
1 credit
per support ticket a visitor opens
250 free
credits every month, with no monthly fee

The accessibility menu is included in every account. If you outgrow the free credits, one-time packs start at $9 and never expire; the full rate card is on the pricing page, alongside the rest of the 19 modules.

Start free
Questions

Accessibility statements, before you ask.

W3C says the minimum is a commitment to accessibility, the standard you apply (such as WCAG 2.2 level AA) and contact details for people who run into problems. It also recommends listing known limitations. The EU model statement adds a conformance status, how the site was assessed, the review date and a link to the enforcement procedure.

The Act does not use the words "accessibility statement", but since 28 June 2025 covered service providers must explain how their service meets the accessibility requirements. That information goes in their general terms and conditions or an equivalent document, and must be public in an accessible format. Microenterprises providing services are exempt. This is general information, not legal advice.

No federal rule requires a private business to publish one. The Justice Department's 2022 guidance gives businesses flexibility and notes that sites which give the public a way to report accessibility problems let owners fix them. A statement with a working contact route does exactly that.

Fully conformant means the content meets every requirement of the standard without exceptions. Partially conformant means some parts do not yet fully meet it. Not conformant means most of the content does not yet meet it. Most sites that are honest about their known issues are partially conformant.

No. A toolbar or overlay does not make a site conform to WCAG on its own, and in 2025 the FTC ordered accessiBe to pay $1 million over claims that its tool could make any website WCAG-compliant. If you offer an accessibility menu, describe it as optional extra help that does not change your conformance status.

Sources

Legal texts checked on 3 October 2026. ← All guides

Stop losing the visitors
you already paid for.

More leads from the traffic you already have, and follow-up that sends itself. Free to start. No card, no monthly fee.

Start free See what it does