WCAG Requirements: The Latest Version, Levels and What Applies to You

What WCAG is and what it applies to

WCAG is published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the body that also maintains the HTML and CSS standards. It is a set of testable statements called success criteria. Each one describes an outcome, such as text having enough contrast or every function being usable from a keyboard, rather than a specific technology. That is why the same guidelines cover a WordPress brochure site, a Shopify shop and a React web app.

The criteria are grouped under four principles, often remembered as POUR:

• Perceivable. People can take in the content, whichever sense they use: text alternatives for images, captions for video, readable contrast, content that still works when zoomed.
• Operable. People can use the controls: keyboard access, visible focus, enough time, no flashing content, targets large enough to press.
• Understandable. Content and behaviour are predictable: the page language is set, forms have labels, errors are explained.
• Robust. The code exposes names, roles and states that assistive technology such as screen readers can read.

WCAG applies to web content: pages, the documents you link to such as PDFs, forms, checkout flows, embedded video and anything a visitor interacts with. It also covers third-party parts of your page, such as a booking widget or a cookie banner, because the visitor experiences them as part of your site. The W3C publishes guidance on applying WCAG to mobile apps and other software, but the standard itself is written for web content.

The latest version of WCAG and what 2.2 changed

WCAG 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation in October 2023 and is the current version. Each 2.x version is backwards compatible: everything required by 2.0 (2008) and 2.1 (2018) is still in 2.2, with one exception. So if you meet 2.2, you also meet the earlier versions for the same level.

WCAG 2.2 added nine success criteria and removed one:

The removed criterion is 4.1.1 Parsing, which required valid, well-formed markup. Modern browsers and assistive technology handle markup errors consistently, so the W3C treats it as obsolete. Valid HTML is still good practice, and the problems it caused, such as duplicate IDs breaking label links, are caught by other criteria.

WCAG 2.2 has 86 success criteria in total: 31 at level A, 24 at level AA and 31 at level AAA. WCAG 3 is in development as a working draft. It is not a standard yet and it is not what laws or contracts refer to, so do not plan your work around it.

Levels A, AA and AAA explained

Every success criterion has a level. The levels are cumulative: to conform at AA you must meet every A and every AA criterion on the page.

Conformance is claimed for whole pages, and for complete processes. If step three of a five-step checkout fails, the whole checkout does not conform, even if the other steps are perfect. That is why the order you fix things in matters: the paths that make you money, such as contact forms, booking and checkout, come first.

Partial work is still worth doing. Each fixed barrier helps real visitors today, and showing steady progress is far better than waiting for a perfect rebuild.

Which WCAG requirements apply to a small business site

The target for almost every business is WCAG 2.2 level AA. Some laws and contracts still name 2.1 AA, but meeting 2.2 AA covers that too. Whether the law requires it depends on where you trade:

• United Kingdom. Public sector websites must meet WCAG 2.2 AA under the 2018 accessibility regulations. Private businesses are covered by the Equality Act 2010, which requires reasonable adjustments for disabled customers; it does not name WCAG, but WCAG AA is the usual benchmark for showing you have made them.
• European Union. The European Accessibility Act has applied since 28 June 2025 to many consumer services, including online shops and booking services. The harmonised standard behind it, EN 301 549, uses WCAG AA. Microenterprises with fewer than 10 staff and turnover of no more than 2 million euros are exempt for services, though customers still benefit if you follow it.
• United States. The ADA is widely applied to business websites through court cases, and WCAG AA is the benchmark used in most settlements. Rules for state and local government websites name WCAG 2.1 AA.

Laws change and this is not legal advice, so check the rules for your country and sector. The practical answer is the same everywhere: aim for 2.2 AA on every page, starting with the pages people use to contact or pay you.

WCAG at a glance: the criteria that matter most

You do not need to memorise 55 criteria. On real small business sites, a short list causes most of the failures. If you check these well, you have covered the bulk of the work.

How to check your site against WCAG

Combine an automated scan with a short manual test. Automated tools are fast and find the mechanical issues: missing alt attributes, empty buttons, low contrast, missing labels and missing page language. Manual testing finds whether the page actually works.

Automated pass

Run the accessibility audit on your main templates: home, a service or product page, a blog post, the contact form and the checkout or booking flow. You can also run Lighthouse from the command line to keep a record:

npx lighthouse https://www.example.com/contact \
  --only-categories=accessibility \
  --output=html --output-path=./contact-a11y.html

A Lighthouse score of 100 means none of its automated checks failed. It does not mean the page conforms to WCAG.

Manual pass, about 15 minutes per template

1. Put the mouse aside and Tab through the whole page. Can you see focus at every step, reach everything, open and close the menu, and submit the form?
2. Zoom the browser to 200% and then to 400%. Does the text reflow without content being cut off?
3. Turn on a screen reader (NVDA on Windows, VoiceOver on Mac with Cmd+F5) and list the headings and links. Do they make sense out of context?
4. Submit the form empty. Are the errors described in words next to each field?

In Chrome DevTools, the Accessibility pane in the Elements panel shows the computed name and role of any element, which is the quickest way to see what a screen reader will announce. For a step-by-step routine, see how to check WCAG compliance.

The fix, step by step

Edge cases worth knowing

• Third-party widgets. A booking tool, chat bubble or payment iframe that fails WCAG makes your page fail. Ask suppliers for their conformance report, often called a VPAT or accessibility conformance report, and test the widget with a keyboard yourself.
• PDFs. Menus, price lists and brochures in PDF are covered too. Where you can, publish the same information as an HTML page and keep the PDF as an extra.
• Older content. Some laws give exemptions for archived content that is no longer updated. Anything still used, such as current prices or a policy page, should be fixed.
• Cookie banners. The banner is usually the first thing a keyboard or screen reader user meets. If it traps focus, has low contrast buttons or hides the focus outline, every page fails. Test it first.
• Accessibility statements. Public sector sites in the UK and EU must publish one. For businesses it is optional but useful: say which standard you aim for, what you know does not work yet and how people can contact you for help.

Keeping your site meeting WCAG

Accessibility drifts as soon as someone adds a new section, plugin or campaign page. A few habits keep it in place:

1. Write accessibility into the theme or component library: labelled form fields, a visible focus style and sensible heading levels, so editors cannot easily break them.
2. Give editors a one-page checklist covering alt text, link text, headings and captions.
3. Re-run the automated audit after every theme update and every new plugin or app, and do the keyboard test on any new form.
4. Keep a simple log of known issues and dates fixed. It shows good faith if a customer complains, and it keeps the work moving.

The accessibility guide covers the wider topic, and the accessibility fixes list has a guide for each common failure.