News - IPCO

Cookie Policy - IPCO

UN’s International Intelligence Oversight Forum meets in London - IPCO

Accessibility Statement - IPCO

Bulk powers - IPCO

Warrant granting departments - IPCO

Inspection Statistics Archive - IPCO

Organisations we oversee - IPCO

Review of Consolidated Guidance - IPCO

Archive - IPCO

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

June 2025

May 2025

Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office

	Title / URL	Issues
	News - IPCOwww.ipco.org.uk/news/page/2/	1
	Cookie Policy - IPCOwww.ipco.org.uk/cookie-policy/	1
	UN’s International Intelligence Oversight Forum meets in London - IPCOwww.ipco.org.uk/news/uns-international-intelligence-oversight-forum-meets-in-london/	1
	Accessibility Statement - IPCOwww.ipco.org.uk/accessibility/	1
	Bulk powers - IPCOwww.ipco.org.uk/what-we-do/inspections/carrying-out-an-inspection/bulk-powers/	1
	Warrant granting departments - IPCOwww.ipco.org.uk/what-we-do/organisations-we-oversee/warrant-granting-departments/	1
	Inspection Statistics Archive - IPCOwww.ipco.org.uk/what-we-do/inspections/inspection-quarterly-statistics-archive/	1
	Organisations we oversee - IPCOwww.ipco.org.uk/what-we-do/organisations-we-oversee/	1
	Review of Consolidated Guidance - IPCOwww.ipco.org.uk/news/review-of-consolidated-guidance/	1
	Archive - IPCOwww.ipco.org.uk/publications/archive/	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office

Where this issue has occurred