diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e63d30e5..02d466f1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 * Add `removeItemButtonAlignLeft` option, to control if the remove item button is at the start or the end of the item.
 * Add `removeChoice` method.
 * Improve rendering performance by batching changes.
-* Provide original templates via a new argument to the `callbackOnCreateTemplates` callback. #1149
+* `escapeForTemplate` function is passed to the 2nd method of the `callbackOnCreateTemplates` callback.
 * When `allowHtml` is false, default templates now render escaped html to `innerHtml` writing to `innerText`.
     * This provides consistent rendering performance as `innerText` is quirky and slower than escaped html into `innerHtml`
 
@@ -42,3 +42,4 @@
 * Fix clearInput function did not clear the last search.
 * Fix `addItemFilter` would allow empty strings as input to be added for items.
 * Fix various issues with double escaping when displaying items/choices depending on allowHTML mode.
+* Fix `aria-label` for placeholders was set to the string `null`
diff --git a/public/index.html b/public/index.html
index 9ebf19fe..0fe8b469 100644
--- a/public/index.html
+++ b/public/index.html
@@ -746,7 +746,7 @@
         var singleNoSearch = new Choices('#choices-single-no-search', {
           allowHTML: true,
           searchEnabled: false,
-          removeItemButton: true,
+            removeItemButton: true,
           choices: [
             { value: 'One', label: 'Label One' },
             { value: 'Two', label: 'Label Two', disabled: true },
diff --git a/src/scripts/choices.ts b/src/scripts/choices.ts
index b986b148..12e1d3a2 100644
--- a/src/scripts/choices.ts
+++ b/src/scripts/choices.ts
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ import {
 } from './lib/utils';
 import { defaultState } from './reducers';
 import Store from './store/store';
-import templates from './templates';
+import templates, { escapeForTemplate } from './templates';
 import { mapInputToChoice } from './lib/choice-input';
 import { ChoiceFull } from './interfaces/choice-full';
 import { GroupFull } from './interfaces/group-full';
@@ -2245,7 +2245,7 @@ class Choices implements Choices {
       userTemplates = callbackOnCreateTemplates.call(
         this,
         strToEl,
-        defaultTemplates,
+        escapeForTemplate,
       );
     }
 
diff --git a/src/scripts/interfaces/options.ts b/src/scripts/interfaces/options.ts
index 8bc309da..5b761d61 100644
--- a/src/scripts/interfaces/options.ts
+++ b/src/scripts/interfaces/options.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import { InputChoice } from './input-choice';
 import { ClassNames } from './class-names';
 import { PositionOptionsType } from './position-options-type';
 import { Types } from './types';
-import Templates from '../templates';
 import { RecordToCompare } from '../lib/utils';
 
 /**
@@ -601,7 +600,10 @@ export interface Options {
    * @default null
    */
   callbackOnCreateTemplates:
-    | ((template: Types.StrToEl, defaultTemplates: typeof Templates) => void)
+    | ((
+        template: Types.StrToEl,
+        escapeForTemplate: Types.EscapeForTemplateFn,
+      ) => void)
     | null;
 
   appendGroupInSearch: false;
diff --git a/src/scripts/interfaces/types.ts b/src/scripts/interfaces/types.ts
index dd1e2429..8097798a 100644
--- a/src/scripts/interfaces/types.ts
+++ b/src/scripts/interfaces/types.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,14 @@
+import { StringUntrusted } from './string-untrusted';
+import { StringPreEscaped } from './string-pre-escaped';
+
 export namespace Types {
   export type StrToEl = (
     str: string,
   ) => HTMLElement | HTMLInputElement | HTMLOptionElement;
+  export type EscapeForTemplateFn = (
+    allowHTML: boolean,
+    s: StringUntrusted | StringPreEscaped | string,
+  ) => string;
   export type StringFunction = () => string;
   export type NoticeStringFunction = (
     value: string,
diff --git a/src/scripts/templates.ts b/src/scripts/templates.ts
index 4c4a96ed..070aed64 100644
--- a/src/scripts/templates.ts
+++ b/src/scripts/templates.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 /**
  * Helpers to create HTML elements used by Choices
- * Can be overridden by providing `callbackOnCreateTemplates` option
+ * Can be overridden by providing `callbackOnCreateTemplates` option.
+ * `Choices.defaults.templates` allows access to the default template methods from `callbackOnCreateTemplates`
  */
 
 import { ChoiceFull } from './interfaces/choice-full';
@@ -22,7 +23,7 @@ type TemplateOptions = Record<
   any
 >;
 
-const unwrapForTemplate = (
+export const escapeForTemplate = (
   allowHTML: boolean,
   s: StringUntrusted | StringPreEscaped | string,
 ): string => (allowHTML ? unwrapStringForEscaped(s) : (sanitise(s) as string));
@@ -94,7 +95,7 @@ const templates = {
   ): HTMLDivElement {
     return Object.assign(document.createElement('div'), {
       className: getClassNames(placeholder).join(' '),
-      innerHTML: unwrapForTemplate(allowHTML, value),
+      innerHTML: escapeForTemplate(allowHTML, value),
     });
   },
 
@@ -130,12 +131,12 @@ const templates = {
 
     if (typeof labelClass === 'string' || Array.isArray(labelClass)) {
       const spanLabel = Object.assign(document.createElement('span'), {
-        innerHTML: unwrapForTemplate(allowHTML, label),
+        innerHTML: escapeForTemplate(allowHTML, label),
         className: getClassNames(labelClass).join(' '),
       });
       div.appendChild(spanLabel);
     } else {
-      div.innerHTML = unwrapForTemplate(allowHTML, label);
+      div.innerHTML = escapeForTemplate(allowHTML, label);
     }
 
     Object.assign(div.dataset, {
@@ -245,7 +246,7 @@ const templates = {
     div.appendChild(
       Object.assign(document.createElement('div'), {
         className: getClassNames(groupHeading).join(' '),
-        innerHTML: unwrapForTemplate(allowHTML, label),
+        innerHTML: escapeForTemplate(allowHTML, label),
       }),
     );
 
@@ -290,19 +291,19 @@ const templates = {
 
     if (typeof labelClass === 'string' || Array.isArray(labelClass)) {
       const spanLabel = Object.assign(document.createElement('span'), {
-        innerHTML: unwrapForTemplate(allowHTML, label),
+        innerHTML: escapeForTemplate(allowHTML, label),
         className: getClassNames(labelClass).join(' '),
       });
       spanLabel.setAttribute('aria-describedby', descId);
       div.appendChild(spanLabel);
     } else {
-      div.innerHTML = unwrapForTemplate(allowHTML, label);
+      div.innerHTML = escapeForTemplate(allowHTML, label);
       div.setAttribute('aria-describedby', descId);
     }
 
     if (typeof labelDescription === 'string') {
       const spanDesc = Object.assign(document.createElement('span'), {
-        innerHTML: unwrapForTemplate(allowHTML, labelDescription),
+        innerHTML: escapeForTemplate(allowHTML, labelDescription),
         id: descId,
       });
       spanDesc.classList.add(...getClassNames(description));
@@ -360,7 +361,9 @@ const templates = {
 
     inp.setAttribute('role', 'textbox');
     inp.setAttribute('aria-autocomplete', 'list');
-    inp.setAttribute('aria-label', placeholderValue);
+    if (placeholderValue) {
+      inp.setAttribute('aria-label', placeholderValue);
+    }
 
     return inp;
   },
@@ -394,7 +397,7 @@ const templates = {
     }
 
     return Object.assign(document.createElement('div'), {
-      innerHTML: unwrapForTemplate(allowHTML, innerText),
+      innerHTML: escapeForTemplate(allowHTML, innerText),
       className: classes.join(' '),
     });
   },