diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/preventDuplicateFormSubmissions.js b/app/assets/javascripts/preventDuplicateFormSubmissions.js
index 0eca28039..61e2e6890 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/preventDuplicateFormSubmissions.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/preventDuplicateFormSubmissions.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
   let disableSubmitButtons = function(event) {
 
-    $submitButton = $(this).find(':submit');
+    var $submitButton = $(this).find(':submit');
 
     if ($submitButton.data('clicked') == 'true') {
 
diff --git a/tests/javascripts/preventDuplicateFormSubmissions.test.js b/tests/javascripts/preventDuplicateFormSubmissions.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..181b78853
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/javascripts/preventDuplicateFormSubmissions.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+const helpers = require('./support/helpers.js');
+
+beforeAll(() => {
+  jest.useFakeTimers();
+});
+
+afterAll(() => {
+  require('./support/teardown.js');
+});
+
+describe('Prevent duplicate form submissions', () => {
+
+  let form;
+  let button;
+  let formSubmitSpy;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+
+    // set up DOM
+    document.body.innerHTML = `
+      <form action="/" method="post">
+        <button class="button" type="submit">Continue</button>
+      </form>`;
+
+    form = document.querySelector('form');
+    button = document.querySelector('button');
+
+    // requires a helper due to JSDOM not implementing the submit method
+    formSubmitSpy = helpers.spyOnFormSubmit(jest, form);
+
+    require('../../app/assets/javascripts/preventDuplicateFormSubmissions.js');
+
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+
+    document.body.innerHTML = '';
+
+    // we run the previewPane.js script every test
+    // the module cache needs resetting each time for the script to execute
+    jest.resetModules();
+
+    formSubmitSpy.mockClear();
+
+  });
+
+  test("It should prevent any clicks of the 'submit' button after the first one submitting the form", () => {
+
+    helpers.triggerEvent(button, 'click');
+    helpers.triggerEvent(button, 'click');
+
+    expect(formSubmitSpy.mock.calls.length).toEqual(1);
+
+  });
+
+  test("It should allow clicks again after 1.5 seconds", () => {
+
+    helpers.triggerEvent(button, 'click');
+
+    jest.advanceTimersByTime(1500);
+
+    helpers.triggerEvent(button, 'click');
+
+    expect(formSubmitSpy.mock.calls.length).toEqual(2);
+
+  });
+
+});
diff --git a/tests/javascripts/support/helpers.js b/tests/javascripts/support/helpers.js
index 620bba003..65c7f6a0d 100644
--- a/tests/javascripts/support/helpers.js
+++ b/tests/javascripts/support/helpers.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ const domInterfaces = require('./helpers/dom_interfaces.js');
 const html = require('./helpers/html.js');
 const elements = require('./helpers/elements.js');
 const rendering = require('./helpers/rendering.js');
+const forms = require('./helpers/forms.js');
 
 exports.triggerEvent = events.triggerEvent;
 exports.clickElementWithMouse = events.clickElementWithMouse;
@@ -15,3 +16,4 @@ exports.getRadios = html.getRadios;
 exports.element = elements.element;
 exports.WindowMock = rendering.WindowMock;
 exports.ScreenMock = rendering.ScreenMock;
+exports.spyOnFormSubmit = forms.spyOnFormSubmit;
diff --git a/tests/javascripts/support/helpers/forms.js b/tests/javascripts/support/helpers/forms.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..415ac0dbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/javascripts/support/helpers/forms.js
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+
+// helper for spying on the submit method on a form element
+// JSDOM's implementation of submit just wraps a 'not implemented' error so we need to mock that to track calls to it
+//
+// * Remove when JSDOM implements submit on its form elements *
+//
+// elements in JSDOM have a public API and a private implementation API, only used by internal code
+// For form elements, these are instances of the following classes:
+// - HTMLFormElement
+// - HTMLFormElementImpl
+//
+// form elements link to their implementation instance via a symbol property
+// this spies on the submit method of the implementation instance for a form element and mocks it to prevent 'not implemented' errors
+function spyOnFormSubmit (jest, form) {
+
+  const formImplementationSymbols = Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(form).filter(
+    symbol => form[symbol].constructor.name === 'HTMLFormElementImpl'
+  );
+
+  if (!formImplementationSymbols.length) {
+    throw Error("Error mocking form.submit: symbol reference to HTMLFormElementImpl instance not found on form element");
+  }
+
+  const HTMLFormElementImpl = form[formImplementationSymbols[0]];
+
+  const submitSpy = jest.spyOn(HTMLFormElementImpl, 'submit')
+
+  submitSpy.mockImplementation();
+  return submitSpy;
+
+};
+
+exports.spyOnFormSubmit = spyOnFormSubmit;