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

Home and Environment Advice for Cats | Cats Protection

Getting a cat - Help & Advice | Cats Protection

Cat Health - Help and Advice for Care | Cats Protection

For vets and nurses | Help & Advice | Cats Protection

Neutering and vaccinations | Cat care advice | Cats Protection

Pregnancy and kitten care | Advice on kittens | Cats Protection

Pledge form |

Cat Behaviour - Help and Advice Caring For Your Cat

Cats Diet | Help & Advice | 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

December 2025

November 2025

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
Home and Environment Advice for Cats \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/home-and-environment	5
Getting a cat - Help & Advice \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/getting-a-cat	5
Cat Health - Help and Advice for Care \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/health	5
For vets and nurses \| Help & Advice \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/information-for-vets	5
Neutering and vaccinations \| Cat care advice \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/neutering-and-vaccinations	5
Pregnancy and kitten care \| Advice on kittens \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/pregnancy-and-kitten-care	5
Pledge form \|www.cats.org.uk/support-us/giftsinwills/pledge-form?step=1	5
Cat Behaviour - Help and Advice Caring For Your Catwww.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/cat-behaviour	5
Cats Diet \| Help & Advice \| Cats Protectionwww.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/diet	5

Ensure form controls have labels

Cats Protection

Where this issue has occurred