What should be in Section B of my child's EHCP?

Section B must specify every one of your child's special educational needs identified in the EHC needs assessment, described clearly and in enough detail that each need can be matched to support in Section F. Section B is the part of the plan headed “special educational needs”. It is the list of every barrier to learning the assessment found, and it is the foundation the rest of the plan is built on.

What the law asks Section B to do

Regulation 12 of the SEND Regulations 2014 requires the plan to set out your child's special educational needs in a separate section, Section B. The SEND Code of Practice 2015 puts it plainly. Its table of what to include in each section of the EHC plan, set out after paragraph 9.69, says Section B must specify all of your child's identified needs. Not the main ones, not the ones the school finds easiest to support. All of them, drawn from the professional reports gathered during the assessment, such as the educational psychologist, the speech and language therapist and the occupational therapist.

The qualifier that decides whether the support holds

Here is the part most council leaflets leave out. Each need in Section B has to be described specifically and clearly, so the plan is, in the words of the courts, “so specific and clear as to leave no room for doubt as to what has been decided” (L v Clarke and Somerset). A line that just says “has difficulties with communication” is not enough; it should name what the difficulty actually is and how it shows up for your child.

The reason this matters is the direct link between Section B and Section F, the part of the plan that sets out the support. Read with section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014, the council must specify provision in Section F to meet each and every need named in Section B. IPSEA is clear on the consequence: a need that is missing or vaguely worded in Section B can lawfully be left with no support in Section F. The detail of B decides whether the help is there.

What a well-written Section B contains

• Every need from the assessment, listed need by need, not blurred into one paragraph.
• Each need described specifically, so an outsider could see exactly what your child struggles with.
• Needs across all the areas that apply: communication and interaction, cognition and learning, social, emotional and mental health, and sensory or physical.
• Wording drawn from the professional reports, with the source visible rather than watered down.
• A list you recognise. Read Section B and you should see your child.

One thing to watch but not to act on yet: the 2026 Schools White Paper and the Education for All Bill propose a new Individual Support Plan and would narrow EHCPs to the most complex needs over the next decade. None of it changes what Section B must contain today, and a 12-week consultation is still running, so read your draft under current law. The evidence behind an EHCP application is what feeds Section B, and Section I later names the school that has to deliver it.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.