Closed Caption Compliance: ADA, WCAG, and UK Accessibility Requirements
Caption requirements aren't optional for many organisations. Here's what the ADA, WCAG 2.1, and UK Equality Act require for video content.
Caption compliance is a legal obligation for many organisations, not just a best practice. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the US, WCAG 2.1 in the EU and UK, and the UK Equality Act all have implications for video captions. Here's what's required.
UK Requirements (Equality Act 2010 + WCAG)
The UK Equality Act 2010 requires organisations to make 'reasonable adjustments' for disabled people. For website and service providers, this includes making video content accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing users — which in practice means closed captions. The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (2018) specifically require UK public sector websites and apps to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standard. WCAG 2.1 AA requires: captions for all pre-recorded audio content in video (Success Criterion 1.2.2), audio descriptions or transcripts for pre-recorded video (1.2.3), captions for live audio (1.2.4). Private sector organisations face softer requirements but are strongly advised to meet WCAG 2.1 AA to avoid Equality Act claims.
ADA Requirements (US)
US courts have increasingly found that websites and online services are 'places of public accommodation' under the ADA, and that inaccessible video content constitutes discrimination. The Department of Justice released updated ADA web accessibility guidance in 2024 pointing to WCAG 2.1 AA as the standard. Organisations receiving federal funding face additional requirements under Section 508. For US organisations: all publicly available video should have accurate captions. Auto-generated captions alone are unlikely to meet the 'equally effective' standard required — manual review is recommended.
Best Practice Beyond Compliance
Compliance is the floor, not the ceiling. Best practice: accurate captions (not just auto-generated), audio descriptions for visual-only information, searchable transcripts published alongside video, and caption styling that meets WCAG contrast requirements. Zingo helps organisations build a compliant caption workflow: generate accurate translated and monolingual captions, review and correct, export in platform-appropriate formats. Building caption review into your video production workflow is far cheaper than retroactive remediation after an accessibility complaint.