The multi-year accessibility plan: who needs one and what goes in it
Guide · Updated 2026-07-13 · 7 min readOntario businesses and non-profits with 50 or more employees (and all designated public-sector organizations) must have a written multi-year accessibility plan, post it on their website, and review and update it at least once every five years. Organizations under 50 employees don't need one. The government publishes a free sample template, and the plan is one of the five checkbox areas under the General question on the compliance report due December 31, 2026 — so if yours is missing, unposted, or a decade stale, it directly blocks a truthful "Yes."
The obligation
Exactly what the law requires
Multi-year plan — the requirements (O. Reg. 191/11, s.4)
- A written plan outlining your strategy to prevent and remove accessibility barriers and meet the regulation's requirements
- Posted on your website, if you have one
- Provided in an accessible format on request
- Reviewed and updated at least once every five years
- Developed alongside your accessibility policies and statement of commitment
Note the pairing: the same section of the regulation requires written accessibility policies and a public statement of commitment. Policy says what you commit to; the plan says what you'll do and when. The report's General question checks both — separately.
Contents
What a compliant plan contains
The province's free Sample Multi-year Plan Template is the government's own picture of "enough," and its structure is the safe skeleton:
| Section | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Message from leadership | A short statement of commitment from the CEO or owner |
| Past achievements | Barriers you've already removed — organized by standard: customer service, information & communications, employment, training, public spaces |
| Strategies and actions | What you'll do next, by standard, with a timeframe on every initiative — the government expects dated commitments, not aspirations |
| Contact + review clause | A named contact for questions and accessible formats, and the statement that the plan is reviewed at least every five years |
Sections that don't apply to your organization can be dropped — the template says so itself. A focused three-page plan you actually follow beats a twelve-page plan you don't.
Common failures
The four ways plans go wrong
What we actually find
- It doesn't exist. By far the most common finding at 50–200 employees — nothing was ever written
- It exists but isn't posted. A plan in a drawer fails the posting requirement; it belongs on your website
- It's expired. Written for a 2014 deadline and never reviewed — the five-year clock has lapsed twice
- It contradicts reality. The plan promises initiatives that never happened, which is worse than silence when a certifier signs that everything is accurate
Each failure is cheap to fix now and awkward to explain later — the plan is a public document, so anyone (including the ministry) can check it against your website in thirty seconds. Pair it with your website compliance work: the plan is posted on the site the same report question set covers.
Where we fit
DIY with the template, or hand it to us
The free template plus a focused afternoon will get a careful owner a serviceable plan — that's an honest option. What AODAPrep adds: we draft the plan from your actual situation (your real past achievements, your real gaps as found in your readiness check), give every initiative a realistic date, write the posting text for your website, and file the plan into your evidence binder under the report question it answers — alongside the training records and policies the same question checks.
Need a plan your certifier can stand behind — this month?
Book a free 15-minute readiness call. We’ll check what the General question requires of you and whether your current documents pass — free, no obligation.
Keep reading
Sources — Official
- Ontario.ca — How to create an accessibility plan and policy
- Ontario — Sample Multi-year Plan Template
- Ontario — Accessibility Policy Sample
- O. Reg. 191/11, Part I — General (s.3 policies, s.4 plans)
Report question and checkbox wording captured from the Accessibility Compliance Reporting Portal, July 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice.