Our policy work | About us | Mental health support | Mind

About Mind | Championing better mental health | Mind

Supporting mental health: Our promise to supporters | Mind

Read the annual report and accounts | Our impact | Mind

Thought pieces from our CEO | News and campaigns | Mind

Legal rights info hub - for 11-18 year olds | Mind

Contact us | Mind

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

Mind

Title / URL	Issues
Our policy work \| About us \| Mental health support \| Mindwww.mind.org.uk/about-us/our-policy-work/	2
About Mind \| Championing better mental health \| Mindwww.mind.org.uk/about-us/	2
Supporting mental health: Our promise to supporters \| Mindwww.mind.org.uk/about-us/supporter-promise/	2
Read the annual report and accounts \| Our impact \| Mindwww.mind.org.uk/about-us/our-impact/	2
Thought pieces from our CEO \| News and campaigns \| Mindwww.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/ceo-blogs/	1
Legal rights info hub - for 11-18 year olds \| Mindwww.mind.org.uk/for-young-people/your-rights/	1
Contact us \| Mindwww.mind.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Mind

Where this issue has occurred