What sections should an EHC plan have?

Under Regulation 12 of The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 (The SEND Regulations 2014), an education, health and care (EHC) plan must have the following sections: 

• Section A: the views, interests and aspirations of the child and his parents or the young person
• Section B: the child or young person’s special educational needs (SEN)
• Section C: health care needs which relate to their SEN
• Section D: social care needs which relate to their SEN or to a disability
• Section E: the outcomes sought for the child or young person
• Section F: the special educational provision required to meet their SEN
• Section G: any health care provision reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN
• Section H: any social care provision required from social services under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970, and/or reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN
• Section I: the name of the school or other institution to be attended by the child or young person, and the type of that institution (or just the type if no specific institution is named)
• Section J: details of any direct payment which will be made, and
• Section K: copies of all of the advice and information obtained as part of the EHC needs assessment. 

What are the key things to look for? 

The key things to check are that: 

• all of the child or young person’s SEN are set out in section B
• all of the special educational provision (the extra help they need with learning) required by the child or young person is set out in section F, and

• the school or college that they will attend in set out in section I (this applies to final EHC plans only because a draft EHC plan cannot name a setting).

You can use our EHC plan checklist to see whether your plan has everything the law requires:

Download: EHC plan checklist (PDF)

Download: EHC plan checklist (Word)

Can the sections of the EHC plan be combined? 

No – the law says the sections of the EHC plan must be kept separate, so that it is clear what needs and provision are in what section. 

Local authorities (LAs) are only legally required to secure the special educational provision set out in section F. If provision is written in a way which is unclear, or put into the wrong section, then your EHC plan is likely to be very difficult to enforce, meaning your child or young person may not receive the special educational provision they need. 

Some LAs use a table format, for example listing the outcomes (section E) in one column and the corresponding special educational provision (section F) in another column next to it.  This is not unlawful, but do make sure that there is provision in section F to meet every special educational need identified in section B, rather than just the outcomes in section E.  

If you haven’t been able to find the answer to your question on this page or in our EHC plan checklist, you may find our FAQs on EHC needs assessments and plans helpful as these contain further information about what should be contained in an EHC plan.