diff --git a/src/components/header/_header.scss b/src/components/header/_header.scss
index 780d29879b..66bd1fac4b 100644
--- a/src/components/header/_header.scss
+++ b/src/components/header/_header.scss
@@ -76,8 +76,10 @@
       text-decoration: underline;
     }
 
+    // When focussed, the text colour needs to be darker to ensure that colour
+    // contrast is still acceptable
     &:focus {
-      color: govuk-colour("black");
+      color: $govuk-text-colour;
     }
 
     // alphagov/govuk_template includes a specific a:link:focus selector
@@ -239,6 +241,12 @@
       &:visited {
         color: $govuk-header-link-active;
       }
+
+      // When focussed, the text colour needs to be darker to ensure that colour
+      // contrast is still acceptable
+      &:focus {
+        color: $govuk-text-colour;
+      }
     }
   }