Accessibility
Business case for accessibility
Making our products, services and communications accessible is the right thing to do. It also happens to make good business sense.
Lost business
There are at least 14.1 million disabled people in the UK. That does not include temporarily disabled people, for example someone who has a broken arm. It does not include situationally disabled people, for example someone trying to do something on their phone outside on a sunny day. If we make something inaccessible, then we exclude some, if not all, of these people.
83% of people with access needs limit their shopping to sites they know are barrier-free.
UK businesses lose £17.1 billion a year in spending that goes elsewhere because of websites that are not accessible.
This is according to research from Click Away Pound.
The law
The Equality Act 2010 protects all individuals from unfair treatment.
Website owners are required to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to make their sites accessible to disabled people and people with access needs.
Government guidance on the Equality Act 2010.
Cost savings
Fixing code after it has gone live can cost up to 100 times more, according to research from IBM. The earlier we find and fix accessibility issues the less it will cost us to do so.
Business Disability Forum
Co-op is a member of the Business Disability Forum, which works with businesses to influence policy and remove barriers.