Study | Prospective Students - UCL – University College London

Wilkins Terrace | UCL Maps

Student Central | UCL Maps

8 Hunter Street | UCL Maps

49 Gordon Square | UCL Maps

Bentham House | UCL Maps

22 Gordon Square | UCL Maps

26 Gordon Square | UCL Maps

3 Gower Place | UCL Maps

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

University College London

Title / URL	Issues
Study \| Prospective Students - UCL – University College Londonwww.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students	5
Study \| Prospective Students - UCL – University College Londonwww.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/	5
Wilkins Terrace \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/wilkins-terrace	3
Student Central \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/student-central	3
8 Hunter Street \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/8-hunter-street	3
49 Gordon Square \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/49-gordon-square	3
Bentham House \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/bentham-house	3
22 Gordon Square \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/22-gordon-square	3
26 Gordon Square \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/26-gordon-square	3
3 Gower Place \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/3-gower-place	3

Ensure form controls have labels

University College London

Where this issue has occurred