A new wave of Government research has shed fresh light on the persistent barriers facing disabled people as customers in the UK — but it also highlights an emerging group of businesses that are making accessibility a practical priority, and seeing tangible results.
In July 2025, the Cabinet Office’s Disability Unit published survey data from more than 1,500 disabled consumers, highlighting significant challenges across the private sector. Retail was named as the most inaccessible sector by 65% of respondents, followed by entertainment and hospitality (57%), and wellbeing, personal care, and beauty (49%).
Confidence among disabled consumers remains low, with 64% in retail and 71% in sport and exercise expressing doubts that accessibility will improve in the next year. Many are calling for accessibility standards to become mandatory. Yet, across the UK, a number of organisations are demonstrating how accessibility can be approached not only as a compliance issue, but as an opportunity for innovation and growth.
Angela Matthews, Director of Public Policy and Research at the Business Disability Forum, sees a shifting pattern: “Progress on making it as easy as possible for disabled customers to spend money on products and services is diverse and ranges from sector to sector. On the whole, the most investment in disabled customer experience is being made where the relationship between the customer and the business is ongoing, and usually where there is room for the customer to upgrade, increasingly buy more, or commit to doing more at or with that provider. That’s perhaps understandable as the incentive to improve that relationship is clear.”
Some of the most visible progress has come from UK retailers and digital-first businesses. Primark recently launched an adaptive underwear range, co-designed with disabled customers, which earned the 2024 Disability Smart Inclusive Product Award for practical, affordable innovation. Tesco has introduced permanent Quiet Hours across all stores, and the Co‑op is expanding the use of Braille on its own-brand packaging, allowing blind and visually impaired customers greater independence.
In the finance sector, NatWest’s “Banking My Way” feature now enables more than 244,000 customers to record preferred support needs, while Barclays offers free live British Sign Language interpretation in its customer service centres. In hospitality and tourism, initiatives like Blenheim Palace’s sensory maps and accessible staffing, Premier Inn’s adapted rooms guarantee, and VisitEngland’s toolkits are helping more organisations capture the “Purple Pound”, the estimated £14.6 billion spent each year by accessible tourism.
What good looks like —
Across sectors, certain principles and frameworks are defining what ‘good’ looks like. Matthews notes the impact of data-driven loyalty and access schemes, especially in leisure: “Access schemes, annual membership schemes, and loyalty incentives not only incentivise the customer to return, but also mean the business has to make that experience work really well for the customer otherwise the likelihood of a return visit or eventually purchasing an annual membership lessens.
“In addition, such schemes collect data about the customer, which allows the business to get to know them. It also gives the business a huge amount of data about the type of adjustments that customers need.”
Rachel Morgan-Trimmer, founder of neurodiversity consultancy Ask Firebird, describes their approach to inclusion: “We’ve reorganised our internal processes to make communication with our staff and our clients clearer and more comprehensive. It may seem like a small thing but ensuring everyone knows what’s expected goes a long way to reducing anxiety, and our recent research shows, is the number one thing people want when it comes to a live event.
“We are also flexible, as we deliver training online around the world, and offer hybrid training, to make it easier for neurodivergent participants to attend. Flexibility is an under-rated but key element of accessibility, because it takes a lot of stress out of any training, meetings etc. So for example, we take lots of breaks, don’t enforce a dress code, and model behaviour like moving around, asking for direct communication and so on. Our clients tell us that it makes our sessions much easier to attend and more fun!”
Co-design with disabled people is now seen as a gold standard for product and service development, and many businesses are adopting frameworks to formalise their approach. On the digital side, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2) set out clear criteria for accessible websites and apps. The ISO 30071‑1 standard, which succeeded BS 8878, provides guidance on integrating accessibility into digital processes. For the built environment, PAS 6463:2022 sets out design principles for supporting neurodiversity.
In the words of Amit Borsok, CEO and Founder of AccessiWay: “Start with a full accessibility audit of the website and app. Critical journeys should be prioritised, including the navigation hierarchy, most visited product pages and the checkout. Issues like missing alt text, poor keyboard access, unreadable forms, low colour contrast can be fixed, ideally combining automated tools with expert manual testing. Digital accessibility isn’t a quick fix. Designers, developers and content teams all need training to build accessibility into their daily work, and not treat it as a bolt-on fix at the end.”
Physical adjustments remain essential, from step-free routes and quality disabled parking to Changing Places toilets, sensory maps, and adaptable equipment. Digital tweaks, such as high colour contrast, keyboard navigability, reflow-friendly layouts, clear accessibility information, alt text, video captions, and accessible packaging (Braille, QR, or audio labels) are increasingly being implemented.
Comprehensive customer service and staff training, highlighted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s business guidance, underpin all effective initiatives. Matthews adds, “Understanding the customer journey from when and how the customers finds you to them parting with their money is crucial. More often than not, if you ask people to tell you what their journey is and what’s not working, they will tell you, and this allows you to forward plan and remove as many barriers as possible proactively and to reach a wider range of customers than just disabled customers.”
Measurement and transparency are also on the rise. Regulatory authorities such as the Financial Conduct Authority now expect firms to monitor outcomes for vulnerable and disabled customers, and public sector digital compliance drives continuous improvement.
Digital transformation: raising the bar for everyone —
In the digital arena, accessibility is increasingly understood as a universal benefit. Matt Sherwen, Managing Director of Sherwen Studios, says: “Accessibility comes in many different forms. Nearly everything we do requires online access. That’s why ensuring fair and easy access to digital platforms is just as important as improving accessibility within brick-and-mortar outlets. Improving accessibility will benefit everyone – not just disabled or neurodiverse customers.”
Sherwen Studios’ own work illustrates the commercial and reputational benefits of digital accessibility. “Since relaunching our website with better digital accessibility, we’ve recorded a 275k growth in impressions compared to the same time the previous year. During that same time frame, we’ve seen a 28.93% increase in engagement rate and a 181% increase in key events. We believe that a core part of our business success has been due to our focus on digital accessibility.”
Sherwen adds, “Our advice to any business if they’re not sure where to get started with their digital accessibility is make the most of freely available tools like Google Lighthouse or AccessiBe Access Scan. Those tools will help you to see how accessible your platforms are and will give insights into areas for improvement.”
Inclusion delivers returns —
Even beyond the moral good and inclusivity, there is a strong commercial imperative for accessibility. Disabled people and their households control nearly £274 billion of annual spending power in the UK, and research on online shopping found that 69% of disabled users abandon inaccessible websites, costing businesses an estimated £17.1 billion in 2019 alone.
In travel and tourism, accessible trips accounted for £14.6 billion in spending in England last year. Investment in accessible design — whether physical or digital — is directly linked to increased customer loyalty and engagement, as demonstrated by the measurable improvements recorded by Sherwen Studios.
Morgan-Trimmer points to the internal impact: “One of our staff said they have ‘never been so well accommodated and supported in my work, and I wish more neurodivergent folks could experience what a game-changer this kind of inclusion is.’”
She also notes the importance of communicating that you understand people’s challenges: “We’ve had blind and deaf attendees say they could follow our sessions, which is very gratifying to me. We’ve had a lot of neurodivergent people say ‘I feel seen’ which is an under-rated part of accessibility – communicating that you understand people’s challenges.”
For businesses wondering how to begin, Matthews says, “The most common barriers to businesses improving accessibility are predominantly knowing where to start. The diversity of disability and impairment has expanded enormously, and people’s needs are just as diverse.
“Businesses usually want to provide a good experience for all of their customers and the last thing they want to do is offend them. So feeling they need to ask about a customer’s disability can feel enormously off-putting, frightening even. The best place to start is to simply ask, ‘Is there anything I can do to make your experience with us better or easier?’”
Matthews recommends the Business Disability Forum’s Accessibility Maturity Model as a free resource for assessing digital accessibility, and points to specialist customer panels such as the Research Institute for Disabled Customers and Open Inclusion as sources for user experience research.
As more UK businesses embrace accessibility as both an ethical imperative and a commercial opportunity, practical steps, open feedback, and cultural change are driving the agenda forward. Morgan-Trimmer concludes, “Doing whatever you can right now is ten times more important than doing it ‘properly’ in ten years’ time. Listening to people’s needs is where we start and if that’s where you are, that’s brilliant. Because you can build on that to create an inclusive culture.”
In an increasingly competitive market, the future belongs to those who recognise that accessibility is not a niche concern, but a foundation for sustainable business growth.
