diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/components/_contents-list.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/components/_contents-list.scss
index fd7aa705e1..a3bb2f4328 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/components/_contents-list.scss
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/components/_contents-list.scss
@@ -39,6 +39,18 @@
     content: "— ";
     margin-left: -$contents-spacing;
   }
+
+  // Focus styles on IE8 and older include the
+  // left margin, creating an odd white box with
+  // orange border around the em dash.
+  // Use inline-block and vertical alignment to
+  // fix focus styles
+  //
+  // https://github.com/alphagov/government-frontend/pull/420#issuecomment-320632386
+  .lte-ie8 & .app-c-contents-list__link {
+    display: inline-block;
+    vertical-align: top;
+  }
 }
 
 .app-c-contents-list__list-item--numbered {