Find a cat near you | Adopt a cat | Cats Protection

Campaigning | What we do | Cats Protection

Annual Review - What We Achieved This Year | Cats Protection

Volunteering | Support us | Cats Protection

Cat Health - Help and Advice for Care | Cats Protection

Why we are here | Our Vision | Cats Protection

Become a member | Support us by joining Cats Protection

CATS Report 2025 | CATS Report | Cats Protection

Lifeline | Cats Protection

Neutering and Spaying | What We Do | Cats Protection

People using screen readers are not able to see the layout of a form. To make forms
accessible, they must define explicit text labels for each form control. 

Usually the best solution is to use a `<label>` element. The label may be linked to 
by the form control:

```html
<label for="name">Full name</label>
<input type="name" id="name">
```

or the `<label>` can be wrapped around the form control:

```html
<label>
    Full name <input type="name">
</label>
```

Buttons are different, as their labels are specified by the code for the button, e.g.

```html
<input type="submit" value="Send message">
<button>Send message</button>
```

Alternatively ARIA attributes, such as `aria-label` may be used, but this information
will not be conveyed to visual users. For more information, see [W3C's guide to labeling controls](https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/forms/labels/).

Hidden input fields (`<input type="hidden">`) do not require labels.
Note that the `placeholder` attribute 
[should not be used as an alternative to a label](https://www.w3.org/TR/html/sec-forms.html#the-placeholder-attribute),
nor should the `title` attribute.

## Custom roles

Note that this check considers the underlying accessible role of an element, which can be 
different from the tag itself.

For example, this `<div>` has a `role` of `button`, and so is expected to have a label, like
a button would.

```html
<div role="button"></div>
```

form-control-labels

February 2026

January 2026

Cats Protection

	Title / URL	Issues
	Find a cat near you \| Adopt a cat \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/adopt-a-cat/find-a-cat	6
	Campaigning \| What we do \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/what-we-do/campaigning	5
	Annual Review - What We Achieved This Year \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/about-cp/annual-review	5
	Volunteering \| Support us \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/support-us/volunteering	5
	Cat Health - Help and Advice for Care \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/health	5
	Why we are here \| Our Vision \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/about-cp/our-vision	5
	Become a member \| Support us by joining Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/support-us/membership	5
	CATS Report 2025 \| CATS Report \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/about-cp/cats-report	5
	Lifeline \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/what-we-do/cp-lifeline	5
	Neutering and Spaying \| What We Do \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/what-we-do/neutering	5

Ensure form controls have labels

Cats Protection

Where this issue has occurred