The WebAIM Million 2026 report landed this week, and the headline numbers aren't encouraging. The average homepage now has 56.1 detectable accessibility errors, up from 51 last year. That's a 10% increase in failures, despite growing awareness of accessibility requirements.
But here's something worth noting: charity websites averaged 43 errors per page—23.3% fewer than the overall average. Still not good (95.9% of all homepages fail basic WCAG standards), but it shows that sector-specific focus on accessibility can make a measurable difference.
Let's look at what's actually breaking and what you can do about it.
The Same Six Errors, Year After Year
WebAIM has been running this analysis since 2019, and the same issues dominate every single report. If you fix these six problems, you'll eliminate the majority of detectable failures on most sites:
1. Low Contrast Text (81% of homepages)
This is the most common failure, and it's entirely preventable. WCAG 1.4.3 requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text (18pt or 14pt bold).
The fix is straightforward: check your colour combinations. Grey text on white backgrounds is the usual culprit. Your brand guidelines might specify a light grey (#999999) for secondary text—that fails against white. Bump it to #767676 or darker.
Tools like the WebAIM Contrast Checker give you instant pass/fail results. Build this check into your design sign-off process.
2. Missing Alternative Text (54% of homepages)
Images without alt attributes fail WCAG 1.1.1. Screen readers either skip these images entirely or, worse, read out the filename ("DSC00472.jpg" isn't helpful to anyone).
Every <img> needs an alt attribute. Decorative images get alt="" (empty). Functional images (buttons, links) need text describing their purpose. Informative images need text describing their content.
The common mistake: CMS users uploading images and leaving the alt field blank because it's not marked as required. Make it required in your CMS configuration.
3. Empty Links (48% of homepages)
Links that contain only an image, icon, or whitespace fail WCAG 2.4.4. Screen reader users hear "link" with no indication of where it goes.
<!-- Fails -->
<a href="/search"><i class="icon-search"></i></a>
<!-- Passes -->
<a href="/search" aria-label="Search"><i class="icon-search"></i></a>
Social media icon links are a frequent offender. Add aria-label or visually hidden text to every icon-only link.
4. Missing Form Labels (45% of homepages)
Form inputs without associated labels fail WCAG 1.3.1 and 4.1.2. Placeholder text doesn't count—it disappears when users start typing and isn't reliably announced by all screen readers.
<!-- Fails -->
<input type="email" placeholder="Email address">
<!-- Passes -->
<label for="email">Email address</label>
<input type="email" id="email">
If your design requires visually hidden labels, use CSS to hide them while keeping them accessible. Don't skip them entirely.
5. Empty Buttons (27% of homepages)
Same problem as empty links. Buttons containing only icons need accessible names.
<!-- Fails -->
<button><svg>...</svg></button>
<!-- Passes -->
<button aria-label="Close menu"><svg>...</svg></button>
6. Missing Document Language (17% of homepages)
Without lang="en" on the html element, screen readers may mispronounce content or fail to switch to the correct speech synthesiser. WCAG 3.1.1 requires this.
This is a one-line fix in your template. There's no reason for any site to fail this.
Why Automated Testing Matters (And Where It Falls Short)
The WebAIM Million only catches automatically detectable errors. Real accessibility testing also requires manual checks—keyboard navigation, screen reader testing, cognitive load assessment. Automated tools typically catch 30-40% of WCAG failures.
But that 30-40% includes the high-volume, easy-to-fix issues. Running automated scans regularly catches regressions before they accumulate. A site that passed last month might fail today because someone added an image without alt text or a developer used a colour that looked fine on their monitor but fails contrast requirements.
What the Charity Sector Gets Right
Why do charity websites perform better? Likely because many have explicit accessibility policies, often driven by funding requirements or regulatory expectations around the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (which apply to charities delivering public services).
Having someone responsible for accessibility—even part-time—makes a difference. Accessibility improves when it's someone's job to check.
Start With What You Can Measure
You won't fix everything overnight. But you can fix the six issues above in a day or two on most sites. They're well-documented, easy to test, and account for the majority of automated failures.
Run a scan, get a list, work through it. Then run another scan next month.
WCAGCheck scans your website for WCAG compliance issues and tells you exactly what to fix. Try it free at wcagcheck.co.uk