diff --git a/src/Forms/RequiredFields.php b/src/Forms/RequiredFields.php
index 3f0e055c0b7..30a23df27d8 100644
--- a/src/Forms/RequiredFields.php
+++ b/src/Forms/RequiredFields.php
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 namespace SilverStripe\Forms;
 
 use SilverStripe\ORM\ArrayLib;
+use SilverStripe\Dev\Deprecation;
 
 /**
  * Required Fields allows you to set which fields need to be present before
@@ -11,9 +12,15 @@
  *
  * Validation is performed on a field by field basis through
  * {@link FormField::validate}.
+ *
+ * @deprecated 5.4.0 Will be renamed to SilverStripe\Forms\RequiredFieldsValidator
  */
 class RequiredFields extends Validator
 {
+    /**
+     * Whether to allow whitespace only as a valid value for a required fields
+     */
+    private static bool $allow_whitespace_only = true;
 
     /**
      * List of required fields
@@ -28,6 +35,7 @@ class RequiredFields extends Validator
      */
     public function __construct()
     {
+        Deprecation::noticeWithNoReplacment('5.4.0', 'Will be renamed to SilverStripe\\Forms\\RequiredFieldsValidator', Deprecation::SCOPE_CLASS);
         $required = func_get_args();
         if (isset($required[0]) && is_array($required[0])) {
             $required = $required[0];
@@ -128,6 +136,10 @@ public function php($data)
                     // the null value will have been converted to '' by the time it gets to this point
                     $error = in_array($stringValue, ['0', '']);
                 } else {
+                    if (!static::config()->get('allow_whitespace_only')) {
+                        $stringValue = preg_replace('/^\s+/u', '', $stringValue);
+                        $stringValue = preg_replace('/\s+$/u', '', $stringValue);
+                    }
                     $error = strlen($stringValue) > 0 ? false : true;
                 }
             }
diff --git a/tests/php/Forms/RequiredFieldsTest.php b/tests/php/Forms/RequiredFieldsTest.php
index 5c080cfc9f9..fca6891c856 100644
--- a/tests/php/Forms/RequiredFieldsTest.php
+++ b/tests/php/Forms/RequiredFieldsTest.php
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 use SilverStripe\Forms\SearchableDropdownField;
 use SilverStripe\Forms\TreeDropdownField;
 use SilverStripe\Security\Group;
+use SilverStripe\Forms\TextField;
+use SilverStripe\Forms\FieldList;
 
 class RequiredFieldsTest extends SapphireTest
 {
@@ -322,4 +324,71 @@ public function testHasOneRelationFieldInterfaceValidation(string $className)
         // '1' passes required field validation
         $this->assertTrue($validator->php(['TestField' => '1']));
     }
+
+    public static function provideAllowWhitespaceOnly(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            'no-ws' => [
+                'value' => 'abc',
+                'expectedTrue' => true,
+                'expectedFalse' => true,
+            ],
+            'left-ws' => [
+                'value' => 'abc',
+                'expectedTrue' => true,
+                'expectedFalse' => true,
+            ],
+            'right-ws' => [
+                'value' => 'abc',
+                'expectedTrue' => true,
+                'expectedFalse' => true,
+            ],
+            'both-ws' => [
+                'value' => 'abc',
+                'expectedTrue' => true,
+                'expectedFalse' => true,
+            ],
+            'only-ws' => [
+                'value' => ' ',
+                'expectedTrue' => true,
+                'expectedFalse' => false,
+            ],
+            'only-ws-nbsp' => [
+                'value' => "\xc2\xa0",
+                'expectedTrue' => true,
+                'expectedFalse' => false,
+            ],
+            'only-ws-unicode' => [
+                // zero width no-break space
+                'value' => "\u{2028}",
+                'expectedTrue' => true,
+                'expectedFalse' => false,
+            ],
+            'no-value' => [
+                'value' => '',
+                'expectedTrue' => false,
+                'expectedFalse' => false,
+            ],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider provideAllowWhitespaceOnly
+     */
+    public function testAllowWhitespaceOnly(string $value, bool $expectedTrue, bool $expectedFalse): void
+    {
+        $validator = new RequiredFields(['TestField']);
+        $field = new TextField('TestField');
+        $field->setValue($value);
+        $form = new Form(null, null, new FieldList([$field]), null, $validator);
+        $expecteds = [
+            true => $expectedTrue,
+            false => $expectedFalse,
+        ];
+        foreach ($expecteds as $bool => $expected) {
+            RequiredFields::config()->set('allow_whitespace_only', $bool);
+            $result = $validator->validate($form);
+            $this->assertEquals($expected, $result->isValid(), $bool);
+        }
+    }
 }