Terms of Service

1. Agreement to these terms

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and Luke Duff, trading as lukeduff.co.uk(“we”, “us”, “our”) covering your access to and use of A11y Shield, our websites, and any related tools, reports, and services (together, the “Service”). By creating an account, running a scan, or otherwise using the Service, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms.

If you are using the Service on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you have authority to bind that organisation to these Terms, and “you” refers to that organisation. If you do not agree with these Terms, you must not use the Service. You must be at least 18 years old to hold an account.

2. The Service

A11y Shield is an accessibility compliance platform aimed at the European Accessibility Act (EAA). It scans a website for potential accessibility issues measured against standards such as WCAG 2.2 and EN 301 549, produces an indicative score of legal and financial exposure, helps you generate an EN 301 549 accessibility statement, exports prioritised fix plans, and can monitor sites for regressions over time.

We offer a free one-off scan that does not require an account, and paid subscription plans (currently Solo, Business, and Agency) that unlock deeper analysis, monitoring, and additional features. We may add, change, or remove features to improve the Service, provided we do not materially reduce the core functionality of a plan you are paying for during your current billing period.

3. The Service is not legal advice

A11y Shield provides indicative, automated compliance guidance only. It is not, and must not be relied upon as, legal advice. Automated accessibility testing can only detect a subset of possible issues; many accessibility requirements can only be verified through manual review, assistive-technology testing, and human judgement. A high score, a passing check, or a generated accessibility statement does not certify, warrant, or guarantee that your website complies with the EAA, WCAG 2.2, EN 301 549, or any other law or standard.

You remain solely responsible for your own legal and regulatory compliance. The risk scores, monetary estimates, and statements produced by the Service are illustrative and should be treated as a starting point for further work, not a substitute for professional legal or accessibility advice. Where compliance matters, you should seek advice from a suitably qualified solicitor or accessibility specialist.

4. Accounts & organisations

Paid features require an account, which we create and secure through our authentication provider, Clerk. You agree to provide accurate and complete information when you register and to keep it up to date. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity that takes place under your account.

You must notify us promptly at hello@lukeduff.co.uk if you suspect any unauthorised access to or use of your account. Where your plan supports multiple members or an organisation workspace, you are responsible for the conduct of everyone you invite and for ensuring they comply with these Terms.

5. Acceptable use

Because A11y Shield is a website scanner, you agree that you will:

• only scan or monitor websites that you own, operate, or have explicit written authorisation from the owner to test;
• use the Service only for lawful purposes and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations;
• not attempt to overload, disrupt, degrade, or interfere with the Service or the websites it scans, and not use the Service to conduct any denial-of-service or intrusive security testing;
• not attempt to circumvent, disable, or exceed rate limits, usage quotas, plan restrictions, or access controls, and not use automated means to extract data from the Service beyond the features we provide;
• not reverse engineer, copy, or attempt to derive the source code of the platform or scanning engine except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by law; and
• not resell, sublicense, or make the Service available to third parties, except that customers on the Agency plan may deliver results to their own clients under the white-label rights granted with that plan.

Scanning a website you are not authorised to test may be unlawful and is a serious breach of these Terms. You are solely responsible for ensuring you have the necessary rights and permissions before running any scan.

6. Plans, billing & renewals

Paid plans are billed monthly in GBP through our payment processor, Stripe. By subscribing, you authorise us (via Stripe) to charge your chosen payment method the plan fee at the start of each billing period. Your subscription renews automatically for successive periods until you cancel.

You may cancel at any time from your account or by contacting us; cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period, and you retain access to paid features until then. Fees are non-refundable for partial billing periods, except where a refund is required by applicable law (including any statutory cancellation or consumer rights that apply to you).

We may change our prices or plan structure from time to time. We will give you reasonable advance notice of any price change affecting your subscription, and the new price will apply from your next renewal after the notice period. If you do not accept a price change, you may cancel before it takes effect. All fees are exclusive of any applicable taxes, which you are responsible for where they apply.

7. Free scan

The free one-off scan is provided as a convenience on an “as is” basis, without any warranty, and is subject to fair-use and rate limits that we may apply or adjust to protect the Service. We may limit, throttle, or withdraw the free scan at any time. The disclaimers in section 3 apply to free scans in full.

8. Intellectual property

We own all rights in the A11y Shield platform, scanning engine, software, branding, and underlying know-how, and nothing in these Terms transfers that ownership to you. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service in accordance with these Terms and your plan.

You retain all rights in the website data you submit and in the reports, fix plans, and accessibility statements the Service generates for you, and you may use them for your own business purposes. Agency-plan customers are additionally granted the right to present and deliver these outputs to their clients under their own branding, as set out in that plan. You grant us a limited licence to process your data solely to provide and improve the Service, as described in our Privacy Policy.

9. Third-party services

The Service relies on third-party providers, including Clerk for authentication, Stripe for payments, and our hosting and infrastructure partners. Your use of those services may also be governed by their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible or liable for the acts, omissions, outages, or performance of third-party services outside our reasonable control.

10. Disclaimers & warranties

Except as expressly stated in these Terms, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including any implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, that it will detect every accessibility issue on a website, or that using it will result in any particular regulatory, legal, or commercial outcome. You accept that automated testing has inherent limits, as explained in section 3.

11. Limitation of liability

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.

Subject to the paragraph above, and to the fullest extent permitted by law: (a) we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss, or for any loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, data, or anticipated savings, or for any regulatory fines or penalties imposed on you; and (b) our total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with the Service and these Terms will not exceed the total fees you paid to us for the Service in the twelve (12) months immediately before the event giving rise to the claim.

12. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from and against any claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with your misuse of the Service, your breach of these Terms, or your infringement of any law or third-party right — including, in particular, any scan you run against a website you were not authorised to test.

13. Suspension & termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, in whole or in part, if you materially breach these Terms, if your payment fails or is overdue, or if we reasonably believe your use poses a legal or security risk to us or others. Where practical and appropriate, we will give you notice and an opportunity to resolve the issue first.

You may stop using the Service and close your account at any time. On termination, your right to use the Service ends and any outstanding fees become due. We will make your data available for export for a reasonable period after termination and will then delete or anonymise it in line with our Privacy Policy, unless we are required to retain it by law.

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes to the Service, our business, or the law. If we make a material change, we will give you reasonable notice, for example by email or a notice within the Service. Your continued use of the Service after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to a change, you should stop using the Service and may cancel your subscription.

15. Governing law & jurisdiction

These Terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them (including non-contractual disputes) are governed by the laws of England & Wales. The courts of England & Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction, except that if you are a consumer you may also benefit from any mandatory protections and the courts of your place of residence where the law requires.

16. Contact

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at hello@lukeduff.co.uk.