Audit My Site Get Started
Compliance and accessibility Nonprofit By Partha Biswas and Deepti Karn Last updated on October 12, 2026 5 min read

When will WCAG conformance become required? What Section 504 asks now, and in 2027

HHS's Section 504 rule makes WCAG 2.1 Level AA the standard for recipients' web content, from May 11, 2027 at 15 or more employees and May 10, 2028 below that. Those dates moved once already, by a year, in May 2026, and HHS said in the same notice that the delay does not pause what Section 504 already requires. So when will WCAG conformance become required for your organization, and what applies before then?

TL;DR

As of October 12, 2026, WCAG 2.1 AA becomes the required standard on May 11, 2027 for HHS recipients with 15 or more employees and on May 10, 2028 for those with fewer. Those dates come from a May 2026 interim final rule that is being challenged in court, and they apply to HHS funding, so other agencies’ rules and your own headcount are for counsel to confirm. HHS states that recipients “have an ongoing obligation” to keep programs offered online accessible, and that “Section 504 is enforceable by a private right of action,” so the date sets the technical standard, not the start of the duty. The site needs someone operating it in the meantime, so see what NoDrama’s WordPress maintenance covers.

Contents

  1. 01
    Find your date
    When will WCAG conformance become required for your nonprofit?How the WCAG required date got here
  2. 02
    Know what applies before it
    What Section 504 requirements apply now, before the dateWhat the rule covers on a nonprofit website
  3. 03
    Use the time
    What to do before your date arrivesCommon misreadings of the Section 504 datesWhat this does not solveThe date sets the standard, and the duty is already running

When will WCAG conformance become required for your nonprofit?

“We have until 2027” is right on the date for recipients with 15 or more employees, and recipients with fewer have until 2028. As of October 12, 2026, no WCAG 2.1 AA date has arrived for HHS recipients. The two dates are set by employee count:

15 or more employeesMay 11, 2027
Fewer than 15 employeesMay 10, 2028

45 CFR 84.84

Web content and mobile apps “comply with Level A and Level AA success criteria and conformance requirements specified in WCAG 2.1.”

The rule text is at eCFR, 45 CFR 84.84. The date is when that standard takes effect. It is not the date the duty starts.

How the WCAG required date got here

  1. 01
    May 9, 2024The final rule (89 FR 40192) added 45 CFR 84.84. The original dates were May 11, 2026 and May 10, 2027.
  2. 02
    May 11, 2026HHS’s interim final rule, 91 FR 25496, moved each date by one year. The WCAG version and the scope stayed the same.
  3. 03
    May 21, 2026A challenge was filed, National Federation of the Blind v. Department of Justice et al., No. 1:26-cv-02007 (D. Md.). A law firm blog reports that it asks the court to enforce the original dates. We have not read the docket.

HHS’s stated reasons were budget, staffing, PDF remediation, and reliance on vendors, plus alignment with the Department of Justice’s Title II extension (91 FR 20902). Title II covers state and local governments, not nonprofits.

Recheck before you rely on them

As far as we could find, no court has changed the dates. The eCFR still showed the extended dates as of October 8, 2026. Any page that still gives May 2026 or May 2027 for these tiers is out of date.

The notice is at Federal Register 2026-09266.

What Section 504 requirements apply now, before the date

HHS addressed this in the same notice. It writes:

“Regardless of the compliance dates, recipients have an ongoing obligation to ensure that their programs and activities … offered using web content and mobile apps are accessible to individuals with disabilities.”

HHS, 91 FR 25496

It adds that “the delay of the compliance dates does not relieve recipients of their other obligations under Section 504,” and names reasonable modifications under 45 CFR 84.68(b)(7).

The notice states: “Section 504 is enforceable by a private right of action.”

HHS says a court could allow private litigants to obtain “injunctive relief … and attorneys’ fees.”

It also writes that “the Department does not have the option to take no enforcement action … or offer a statement of policy regarding its intent to not enforce the rule.”

We did not review the rule’s wording before 2024. For the technical test, see what WCAG 2.1 AA conformance involves.

What the rule covers on a nonprofit website

Section 84.84(a) covers web content and mobile apps a recipient provides or makes available, directly or through contractual, licensing or other arrangements. For a nonprofit, that includes the site, donation and form pages, and third-party tools embedded under contract.

Covered
  • The site
  • Donation and form pages
  • Third-party tools embedded under contract
Exceptions, section 84.85
  • Archived web content
  • Preexisting conventional electronic documents, except those used to apply for, access or participate in programs
  • Third-party content, unless posted under contractual, licensing or other arrangements
  • Individualized password-protected documents
  • Preexisting social media posts

A recipient can also rely on undue financial and administrative burden, or fundamental alteration. The decision is made by “the head of a recipient or their designee,” with a written statement of the reasons, and the burden sits with the recipient.

What to do before your date arrives

  1. 01

    Confirm the funding is HHS federal financial assistance. Other agencies’ Section 504 web rules were not researched and may differ.

  2. 02

    Confirm your tier with counsel. How employees are counted is not defined in the sources we read.

  3. 03

    List what counts as your web content. Include donation pages, form pages, and embedded tools under contract.

  4. 04

    Decide who operates the site after any remediation. Updates and content edits change pages after they have been reviewed.

Verify

Write down your tier, your date, and who confirmed it. If any of the three is blank, the date is not settled for you yet.

NoDrama’s plans cover the maintenance side: “WordPress, plugins and themes kept current,” “Backed up offsite, kept 90 days,” and “Checked every minute.” They include reporting. They include no accessibility, WCAG, ADA, or Section 508 work.

If the site needs someone operating it before your date arrives.

See what NoDrama’s plans include. They cover updates, backups and monitoring, not accessibility work.

See the Three Plans

Common misreadings of the Section 504 dates

“The delay means nothing applies now.”

HHS says otherwise, as quoted above.

“The rule requires WCAG 2.2.”

It names WCAG 2.1, Level A and Level AA.

“The Title II dates apply to nonprofits.”

They cover state and local governments.

What this does not solve

This is not legal advice. Whether the rule applies to you depends on your funding, your headcount, and the facts, and counsel or your funding agency confirms it. It does not cover other agencies’ Section 504 rules, how employees are counted, or how the court challenge ends. NoDrama does no accessibility work.

The date sets the standard, and the duty is already running

When will WCAG conformance become required? As of October 12, 2026, May 11, 2027 for HHS recipients with 15 or more employees and May 10, 2028 for those with fewer. The date sets the technical standard, and HHS says the duty to keep programs offered online accessible is already running.

FAQs

As of October 12, 2026, it is May 11, 2027 for HHS recipients with 15 or more employees and May 10, 2028 for those with fewer. Counsel or your funding agency confirms which applies to you.
Yes. An interim final rule published May 11, 2026 (91 FR 25496) moved each date by one year, and the eCFR still showed the extended dates as of October 8, 2026. A challenge asks a court to restore the original dates, and as far as we could find, no court has changed them.
The rule covers recipients of HHS federal financial assistance. Counsel or HHS confirms whether your award and your facts bring you within it.
HHS says the delay "does not relieve recipients of their other obligations under Section 504," and that "Section 504 is enforceable by a private right of action." What that means for your site is a question for counsel.
Donation and form pages count as web content, as do embedded tools provided under contract. Section 84.85 excepts preexisting conventional electronic documents, except those used to apply for, access or participate in programs.

Related posts

WCAG guidelines: standards and conformance levels Section 508 Compliance: Who Must Comply, and What Reaches a Funded Nonprofit
Written byPartha Biswas
Written byDeepti KarnHead of Business

Deepti leads business at NoDrama, which she founded in February 2026 after four and a half years at Pangolin Marketing. NoDrama came out of a question she kept running into: who is actually responsible for keeping a WordPress site fast, secure, accessible, and working? She writes about service design, ownership models, and what businesses should expect from whoever maintains their website.

Keep the Site Operated in the Meantime

Get Started
Cancel anytime
Yearly runs to the end of the paid year
Real team behind every plan