Webform Guidance

At Sanctuary, we want everyone to be able to use our website and webforms easily. We're working to make them more accessible, more inclusive and easier to use for all.

Alongside our accessibility statement, we've put together this guidance to help people use the forms on our website. This information should sit above each form so it's easy to find before you start.

This page explains how webforms work across the Sanctuary website. If you have any accessibility problems, please share feedback with us about your experience.

Image

Maintenance of our Webform Guidance

Our webform guidance is regularly reviewed and updated. It was last reviewed on 22 April 2026.

What our forms are for

We use forms across our website and subdomains, including https://scotland.sanctuary.co.uk/.

You can use our forms to ask for information, update your details, make a complaint, share feedback, manage marketing preferences or tell us you're interested in a service or product. Some forms also let you contact a specific team at Sanctuary directly.

Our forms are for Sanctuary customers and members of the public. Some can also be used by journalists or anyone wanting to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Before you start, it's helpful to know that most forms will ask for contact details such as your name, phone number, email address or home address. Most forms should take less than five minutes to complete.

Required fields

Some parts of a form must be filled in before you can move on or submit it. These are called required fields and are marked with an Asterix (*). If you miss one, the form will highlight it and ask you to complete it before you continue.

Other fields are optional. If we need specific information, the form will make that clear.

We're also improving how our forms work with browser autocomplete, so people can fill in known details more easily. This is part of our ongoing work to be compliant with accessibility standards.

Expected formats

Some fields need information in a set format. For example, an email address should look like example@sanctuary.co.uk. If a field needs a specific format, we'll show this next to the label, for example Date of Birth (DD/MM/YYYY).

Here are a few common examples:

Dates

If a form asks for a date, please use the format DD/MM/YYYY. We'll usually show an example next to the field label.

Numbers

Some number fields do not accept decimals, commas or currency symbols. If that ever changes, we'll update this guidance.

Phone Numbers

You can usually enter phone numbers with or without spaces. For example, XXXXXXXXXXX or XXXX XXX XXXX. If a phone number is required, we'll provide extra help where needed. Country codes, such as +44, are optional.

File Uploads

We're currently reviewing which file types users can upload through our form and the maximum file size allowed.

Forms errors and validation

If something has been entered incorrectly, the form will show an error message. This usually appears underneath the field that needs attention. Once you fix that issue, you should be able to submit the form or move on to the next error if there is one.

Errors should also be announced to screen readers as 'Error, invalid entry'. If that does not happen on one of our forms, please get in touch and let us know.

We know some of our error messaging needs to give more helpful detail. We're improving this as part of a wider programme of work.

Reviewing your answers and submitting a form

At the moment, not all of our forms let you review your answers before you submit them. We're working to change that as part of our ongoing improvements over the next year.

We also plan to make it easier for people to edit their answers before submitting. Once a form has been submitted, the information entered cannot be changed.

All forms currently show a confirmation message after submission. Some already send an email receipt. Over the next year, we plan to give people the option to request an email copy of their submission across all forms.

To submit a form, fill in the required information and select the 'Submit' button.

Our commitment to accessibility

At Sanctuary, we want everyone to be able to use our services and we are committed to providing an inclusive digital experience for all. You can review our accessibility statement and see what recent changes we've made as part of our commitment, and see what we're looking to implement over the coming months.

Accessibility statement

Time limits

There should not be a time limit on our webforms. Your session should not expire while you are completing a form.

If you go back to a previous page in a form, your answers should still be there. We're also working on adding a warning message to all forms when someone is about to leave a page with unsaved changes.

Help and instructions

We're improving the help and instructions available on our forms. As part of our wider webform work, this should be in place within the next year.

Where needed, we'll add help text next to labels, such as guidance on the format to use. We'll also use help icons to give extra context when people need it.

You can also use this guidance page if you need extra help when filling in a form.

You can request content in alternative formats if you need information in a different format.

Keyboards and assistive technology

You should be able to use all fields and buttons on our webforms with a keyboard only. You should also be able to move through the form in a logical order without getting stuck on any element.

Our webforms should also work with screen readers and speech recognition software.

If you have a problem using a keyboard, screen reader or other assistive technology on one of our forms, please share your feedback with us and we'll reply as soon as we can.

Making forms more accessible

We're committed to making our website and webforms as accessible as possible, and we're working to meet WCAG AA standards across all forms.

Recent improvements to our webforms include:

WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1 - Ensuring form controls have labels
WCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.11 - Ensuring form controls contrast sufficiently with their surroundings

Planned improvements to our webforms include:

WCAG 2.0 A 3.3.2 - Ensuring instructions are provided for appropriate fields
WCAG 2.0 AA 3.3.4 - Check if an error prevention mechanism is required on webforms
WCAG 2.0 AAA 3.3.5 - Check context-sensitive help is available for all forms
WCAG 2.2 AAA 2.4.13 - Ensuring controls clearly indicate when they are selected on all forms

If you have any accessibility problems when using our webforms, please share your feedback with us and we'll reply as soon as we can. You can also read our accessibility statement for more information.

As of 22 April 2026, our websites are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Standards. We know some parts of our website are still not fully accessible, and we're continuing to improve them.

Our websites are built using W3C standards-compliant HTML and CSS, which helps them work properly in current browsers and any future browsers.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our websites. For example, you should be able to:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts
zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen and without content being truncated or overlapping
navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

How to use this guidance

This guidance applies to all webforms on the Sanctuary website unless we say otherwise. It is designed to help disabled users and those using assistive technology have a better experience.

There should be a link to this guidance above each webform on our website. If you notice a form without it, please share your feedback and we'll put that right as soon as we can.

If you use a screen reader, we recommend reading this guidance before starting a form. It should make the experience smoother.

Do you rely on assistive tools and settings?

If you have any feedback on how this website works for you, the technology you use or any problems that you have encountered while browsing our website, we'd like to invite you to share feedback via our webform.

Share your feedback

Sanctuary employee Matthew wearing a headset sitting at a bank of computers