Why accessibility matters for UK businesses in 2026

In 2026, accessibility is no longer a niche initiative. For UK businesses, it is a critical driver of market share, legal resilience, and operational efficiency.
As the UK population ages and digital-first services become the baseline, failing to prioritise accessibility is a decision to ignore a massive segment of the British economy.

The financial impact of the Purple Pound

The most compelling business argument is financial. The “Purple Pound” refers to the combined spending power of disabled people and their families in the UK.

• Market size: There are approximately 16 million disabled people in the UK, which is roughly 24% of the population.
• Spending power: The Purple Pound is estimated to be worth £274 billion annually (some sources cite £446 billion).
• The cost of lost customers: Research shows that UK businesses lose an estimated £17 billion every year because disabled users abandon websites that are difficult to navigate. If your checkout process or booking system is not accessible, your customers will likely move to a competitor.

AI discovery and “Artificial Intelligence Optimisation”

Traditional search engines have been joined by AI agents and voice assistants that “crawl” your site much like a screen reader does.

• Machine readability: AI models rely on clean, semantic HTML to understand the hierarchy and purpose of your content. A site that is accessible to a person with a visual impairment is, by extension, highly “legible” to an AI agent.
• Better indexing: When you provide descriptive alt-text for images and clear transcripts for video, you are giving AI models the data they need to surface your brand in conversational answers.
• The future of search: If an AI assistant cannot navigate your site’s menu or understand its structure, it cannot recommend your services to a user. Accessibility is now the primary foundation for being “findable” in an AI-driven market.

The Equality Act 2010

You might think there’s no legal pressure to make your site accessible, but that isn’t strictly true. Although the UK’s Equality Act 2010 does not mention technical standards, it does mandate that businesses make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for people with disabilities. Increasingly this will be translated in WCAG standards for digital storefronts. More recently, the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 requires government and other public sector services to comply with WCAG 2.2 AA. In addition, this often extends to private organisations working on behalf of the public sector. Even if you believe your business is exempt, the legal reality is that the definition of ‘reasonable’ is rapidly moving toward full WCAG conformance.

Benefits for every customer

Accessibility features often end up benefiting all your customers. This is often called the Curb-Cut Effect.

• Captions and subtitles: These help people with hearing loss, but they also help commuters watching videos on a train without headphones.
• High colour contrast: This is essential for people with visual impairments, but it also helps users viewing your site on a mobile device in bright sunlight.
• Clear language: Simple language helps people with cognitive disabilities, but it also assists non-native English speakers and tired or busy customers.

Next steps for your business

There are a few things you can do on your own to enhance the accessibility of your website:

• Add alt text to images
• Use descriptive link text
• Add captions to video with audio
• Provide transcripts for audio content

The only way to really know how accessible your site is though is to get an audit. At Fanatic, we have a variety of audit styles and a custom approach for each client. Reach out to book a meeting with us and we’ll provide a complimentary sample audit of the homepage of your site. This can help you decide the best roadmap forward.
Accessibility is about more than compliance; it is about usability. An accessible site delivers superior design, higher quality content, and a more robust codebase.