What an EHC plan contains

Education, health and care (EHC) plans can be long and complicated. They are required by law to contain certain sections, and it is important to ensure your EHC plan meets the legal requirements. If it doesn’t, it could make it difficult to enforce and your child may not receive the support they require.

If you’re not sure what an EHC plan is, or you need advice on how to ask for an EHC plan, you can look at our information about plans. 

The EHC plan should be written in a way that makes it clear, to parents, young people, schools, colleges and local authorities (LAs), who is required to do what, when it has to happen and how often. 

An EHC plan does not have a fixed format – each LA can develop its own ‘style’ – but legally they must contain a number of separate sections. 

You can use our EHC plan checklist to see whether your EHC plan complies with the law.