diff --git a/schemas/json/validation/validation.schema.v1.json b/schemas/json/validation/validation.schema.v1.json
index 63963b5ea0..a64ea262bd 100644
--- a/schemas/json/validation/validation.schema.v1.json
+++ b/schemas/json/validation/validation.schema.v1.json
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
         "message": {
           "title": "Validation message",
           "description": "The message to display when the validation fails.",
-          "type": "string"
+          "$ref": "../layout/expression.schema.v1.json#/definitions/string"
         },
         "condition": {
           "title": "Expression returning a boolean value",
diff --git a/src/features/formData/FormDataWrite.tsx b/src/features/formData/FormDataWrite.tsx
index 7d91a33425..26eb3ec06e 100644
--- a/src/features/formData/FormDataWrite.tsx
+++ b/src/features/formData/FormDataWrite.tsx
@@ -852,7 +852,7 @@ export const FD = {
 
       const paths: string[] = [];
       collectMatchingFieldPaths(formData, reference.field.split('.'), '', 0, paths);
-      return paths.length === 0 ? [reference.field] : paths.sort();
+      return paths.sort();
     });
   },