Mayoral Invite

Our Members

FOI guidance

Projects

News

enquiries form

Emily Cox MBE

Cookie Policy

Rural economy growth

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

North East Combined Authority

Title / URL	Issues
Mayoral Invitewww.northeast-ca.gov.uk/mayoral-invite	3
Our Memberswww.northeast-ca.gov.uk/about/our-members?page=2	1
FOI guidancewww.northeast-ca.gov.uk/foi-guidance	1
Projectswww.northeast-ca.gov.uk/projects?page=-9	1
Newswww.northeast-ca.gov.uk/news?page=4	1
enquiries formwww.northeast-ca.gov.uk/enquiries-form	1
Our Memberswww.northeast-ca.gov.uk/about/our-members?page=6	1
Emily Cox MBEwww.northeast-ca.gov.uk/about/our-members/emily-cox	1
Cookie Policywww.northeast-ca.gov.uk/cookie-policy	1
Rural economy growthwww.northeast-ca.gov.uk/projects/rural-economy-growth	1

Ensure form controls have labels

North East Combined Authority

Where this issue has occurred