Stay Informed - Refugee Council

Careers - Refugee Council

Stories - Refugee Council

What We Do - Refugee Council

Search - Refugee Council

Get Help - Refugee Council

Explainers - Refugee Council

Articles - Refugee Council

Volunteer with us - Refugee Council

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

Refugee Council

Title / URL	Issues
Stay Informed - Refugee Councilwww.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stay-informed/	1
Careers - Refugee Councilwww.refugeecouncil.org.uk/work-with-us/careers/	1
Stories - Refugee Councilwww.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stay-informed/stories/	1
What We Do - Refugee Councilwww.refugeecouncil.org.uk/who-we-are/what-we-do/	1
Search - Refugee Councilwww.refugeecouncil.org.uk/search/	1
Get Help - Refugee Councilwww.refugeecouncil.org.uk/get-help/	1
Explainers - Refugee Councilwww.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stay-informed/explainers/	1
Articles - Refugee Councilwww.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stay-informed/articles/	1
Volunteer with us - Refugee Councilwww.refugeecouncil.org.uk/support-us/volunteering/	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Refugee Council

Where this issue has occurred