FAQs
Do accessibility audits guarantee compliance?
No, an accessibility audit does not guarantee compliance. An audit highlights where a product or service doesn’t measure up to accessibility standards and guidelines, but compliance depends on what happens next.
To achieve and maintain compliance, issues must be fixed, and more importantly, accessibility needs to be built into the way teams design and deliver work.
Is an accessibility audit a legal requirement?
It is not a legal requirement, but many accessibility laws and regulations, such as the European Accessibility Act 2025, require organisations to make their digital products accessible.
An audit is one of the most useful ways to check whether a site, app, or service, meets those obligations. Although they are not mandated by law, audits provide evidence of due diligence and help organisations reduce the risk of non-compliance and potential legal risk.
What happens if you only rely on audits for accessibility?
Here at arc inclusion, we do not recommend solely relying on audits as issues are only discovered after the product has been built. Reoccurring issues means teams end up fixing the same problems repeatedly, creating accessibility debt.
It is important to remember that audits highlight gaps, but they do not change how teams design and develop. To make real change and progress, accessibility needs to be baked into everyday processes from the offset, not left to inspection alone.