diff --git a/src/govuk/components/character-count/character-count.mjs b/src/govuk/components/character-count/character-count.mjs
index 95239faccf..2ecb5c7103 100644
--- a/src/govuk/components/character-count/character-count.mjs
+++ b/src/govuk/components/character-count/character-count.mjs
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ var TRANSLATIONS_DEFAULT = {
  * @param {CharacterCountTranslations} [config.i18n = DEFAULT_TRANSLATIONS]
  */
 function CharacterCount ($module, config) {
+  console.log('Creating CharacterCount')
   if (!$module) {
     return this
   }
@@ -92,20 +93,20 @@ function CharacterCount ($module, config) {
     locale: closestAttributeValue($module, 'lang')
   })
 
+  this.$module = $module
+  this.$textarea = $module.querySelector('.govuk-js-character-count')
+  this.$visibleCountMessage = null
+  this.$screenReaderCountMessage = null
+  this.lastInputTimestamp = null
+
+  console.log(this.config)
+
   // Determine the limit attribute (characters or words)
   if (this.config.maxwords) {
     this.maxLength = this.config.maxwords
   } else if (this.config.maxlength) {
     this.maxLength = this.config.maxlength
-  } else {
-    return
   }
-
-  this.$module = $module
-  this.$textarea = $module.querySelector('.govuk-js-character-count')
-  this.$visibleCountMessage = null
-  this.$screenReaderCountMessage = null
-  this.lastInputTimestamp = null
 }
 
 /**
@@ -120,6 +121,10 @@ CharacterCount.prototype.init = function () {
   var $textarea = this.$textarea
   var $fallbackLimitMessage = document.getElementById($textarea.id + '-info')
 
+  if ($fallbackLimitMessage.textContent.match(/^\s*$/)) {
+    $fallbackLimitMessage.textContent = this.i18n.t('fallbackHint', { count: this.maxLength })
+  }
+
   // Move the fallback count message to be immediately after the textarea
   // Kept for backwards compatibility
   $textarea.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', $fallbackLimitMessage)
diff --git a/src/govuk/components/character-count/character-count.test.js b/src/govuk/components/character-count/character-count.test.js
index 0c95ea8992..40c077ded8 100644
--- a/src/govuk/components/character-count/character-count.test.js
+++ b/src/govuk/components/character-count/character-count.test.js
@@ -433,6 +433,28 @@ describe('Character count', () => {
           const visibility = await page.$eval('.govuk-character-count__status', el => window.getComputedStyle(el).visibility)
           expect(visibility).toEqual('visible')
         })
+
+        it.only('injects the description of the textarea', async () => {
+          page.on('console', async (e) => {
+            const args = await Promise.all(
+              e.args().map((a) => a.jsonValue())
+            )
+            console[e.type() === 'warning' ? 'warn' : e.type()](...args)
+          })
+
+          await renderAndInitialise(page, 'character-count', {
+            nunjucksParams: examples['no maximum'],
+            javascriptConfig: {
+              maxlength: 10
+            }
+          })
+
+          const message = await page.$eval(
+            '.govuk-character-count__message',
+            (el) => el.innerHTML.trim()
+          )
+          expect(message).toEqual('No more than 10 characters')
+        })
       })
 
       describe('via `initAll`', () => {