Help with leaks | Wessex Water

Hydrant misuse | Wessex Water

Work in your area

Plumbing | Wessex Water

Our charges | Wessex Water

Report a problem | Wessex Water

Your water | Wessex Water

Your bill | Wessex Water

No water | Wessex Water

Wessex Water

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

Title / URL	Issues
Help with leaks \| Wessex Waterwww.wessexwater.co.uk/your-water/leaks	4
Hydrant misuse \| Wessex Waterwww.wessexwater.co.uk/emergencies/hydrant-misuse	3
Work in your areawww.wessexwater.co.uk/work-in-your-area	3
Plumbing \| Wessex Waterwww.wessexwater.co.uk/your-water/plumbing	3
Our charges \| Wessex Waterwww.wessexwater.co.uk/bills-and-accounts/our-charges	3
Report a problem \| Wessex Waterwww.wessexwater.co.uk/report-a-problem	3
Your water \| Wessex Waterwww.wessexwater.co.uk/your-water	1
Your bill \| Wessex Waterwww.wessexwater.co.uk/bills-and-accounts/your-bill	1
No water \| Wessex Waterwww.wessexwater.co.uk/your-water/no-water	1
Wessex Waterwww.wessexwater.co.uk/	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Wessex Water

Where this issue has occurred