diff --git a/code/Control/UserDefinedFormController.php b/code/Control/UserDefinedFormController.php
index 1e73ad6..7d1b296 100644
--- a/code/Control/UserDefinedFormController.php
+++ b/code/Control/UserDefinedFormController.php
@@ -345,6 +345,8 @@ JS
                 // Add specific template data for the current recipient
                 $emailData['HideFormData'] =  (bool) $recipient->HideFormData;
                 // Include any parsed merge field references from the CMS editor - this is already escaped
+                // This string substitution works for both HTML and plain text emails.
+                // $recipient->getEmailBodyContent() will retrieve the relevant version of the email
                 $emailData['Body'] = SSViewer::execute_string($recipient->getEmailBodyContent(), $mergeFields);
 
                 // Push the template data to the Email's data
@@ -414,7 +416,8 @@ JS
                 $this->extend('updateEmail', $email, $recipient, $emailData);
 
                 if ((bool)$recipient->SendPlain) {
-                    $body = strip_tags($recipient->getEmailBodyContent()) . "\n";
+                    // decode previously encoded html tags because the email is being sent as text/plain
+                    $body = html_entity_decode($emailData['Body']) . "\n";
                     if (isset($emailData['Fields']) && !$emailData['HideFormData']) {
                         foreach ($emailData['Fields'] as $field) {
                             if ($field instanceof SubmittedFileField) {
diff --git a/templates/SilverStripe/UserForms/Model/EditableFormField/EditableTextareaField.ss b/templates/SilverStripe/UserForms/Model/EditableFormField/EditableTextareaField.ss
index dfe607c..790f73d 100644
--- a/templates/SilverStripe/UserForms/Model/EditableFormField/EditableTextareaField.ss
+++ b/templates/SilverStripe/UserForms/Model/EditableFormField/EditableTextareaField.ss
@@ -1 +1 @@
-<textarea $AttributesHTML<% if $RightTitle %> aria-describedby="{$Name}_right_title"<% end_if %>>$Value</textarea>
+<textarea $AttributesHTML<% if $RightTitle %> aria-describedby="{$Name}_right_title"<% end_if %>>$Value.HTMLATT</textarea>
diff --git a/tests/php/Control/UserDefinedFormControllerTest.php b/tests/php/Control/UserDefinedFormControllerTest.php
index 0c2e9a9..bc736ab 100644
--- a/tests/php/Control/UserDefinedFormControllerTest.php
+++ b/tests/php/Control/UserDefinedFormControllerTest.php
@@ -68,16 +68,18 @@ class UserDefinedFormControllerTest extends FunctionalTest
         // load the form
         $this->get($form->URLSegment);
 
+        /** @var EditableTextField $field */
         $field = $this->objFromFixture(EditableTextField::class, 'basic-text');
 
-        $response = $this->submitForm('UserForm_Form_' . $form->ID, null, [$field->Name => 'Basic Value']);
+        $data = [$field->Name => 'Basic Value <b>HTML</b>'];
+        $response = $this->submitForm('UserForm_Form_' . $form->ID, null, $data);
 
         // should have a submitted form field now
         $submitted = DataObject::get(SubmittedFormField::class, "\"Name\" = 'basic_text_name'");
         $this->assertListAllMatch(
             [
                 'Name' => 'basic_text_name',
-                'Value' => 'Basic Value',
+                'Value' => 'Basic Value <b>HTML</b>',
                 'Title' => 'Basic Text Field'
             ],
             $submitted
@@ -93,8 +95,12 @@ class UserDefinedFormControllerTest extends FunctionalTest
 
         $this->assertEquals('Basic Text Field', (string) $title[0], 'Email contains the field name');
 
+        // submitted html tags are escaped for the html value
+        $value = 'class="readonly">My body html Basic Value &lt;b&gt;HTML&lt;/b&gt;</span>';
+        $this->assertTrue(strpos($email['Content'], $value) !== false, 'Email contains the merge field value');
+
         $value = $parser->getBySelector('dd');
-        $this->assertEquals('Basic Value', (string) $value[0], 'Email contains the value');
+        $this->assertEquals('Basic Value <b>HTML</b>', (string) $value[0], 'Email contains the value');
 
         // no html
         $this->assertEmailSent('nohtml@example.com', 'no-reply@example.com', 'Email Subject');
@@ -102,6 +108,10 @@ class UserDefinedFormControllerTest extends FunctionalTest
 
         $this->assertContains('Basic Text Field: Basic Value', $nohtml['Content'], 'Email contains no html');
 
+        // submitted html tags are not escaped because the email is being sent as text/plain
+        $value = 'My body text Basic Value <b>HTML</b>';
+        $this->assertContains($value, $nohtml['Content'], 'Email contains the merge field value');
+
         // no data
         $this->assertEmailSent('nodata@example.com', 'no-reply@example.com', 'Email Subject');
         $nodata = $this->findEmail('nodata@example.com', 'no-reply@example.com', 'Email Subject');
diff --git a/tests/php/Model/Recipient/EmailRecipientTest.php b/tests/php/Model/Recipient/EmailRecipientTest.php
index 652a612..0de6ae8 100644
--- a/tests/php/Model/Recipient/EmailRecipientTest.php
+++ b/tests/php/Model/Recipient/EmailRecipientTest.php
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ namespace SilverStripe\UserForms\Tests\Model\Recipient;
 use SilverStripe\CMS\Model\SiteTree;
 use SilverStripe\Dev\SapphireTest;
 use SilverStripe\UserForms\Model\Recipient\EmailRecipient;
+use SilverStripe\UserForms\Model\UserDefinedForm;
 
 class EmailRecipientTest extends SapphireTest
 {
@@ -50,4 +51,19 @@ class EmailRecipientTest extends SapphireTest
         $this->assertSame('test2@example.com', $recipient->EmailFrom);
         $this->assertSame('test3@example.com', $recipient->EmailReplyTo);
     }
+
+    public function testGetEmailTemplateDropdownValues()
+    {
+        $form = new UserDefinedForm();
+        $form->write();
+        $recipient = new EmailRecipient();
+        $recipient->FormID = $form->ID;
+        $recipient->FormClass = UserDefinedForm::class;
+        $ds = DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
+        $expected = [
+            "email{$ds}SubmittedFormEmail" => 'SubmittedFormEmail',
+            "email{$ds}SubmittedFormEmailPlain" => 'SubmittedFormEmailPlain'
+        ];
+        $this->assertSame($expected, $recipient->getEmailTemplateDropdownValues());
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/php/UserFormsTest.yml b/tests/php/UserFormsTest.yml
index 46cfd30..e48cc06 100644
--- a/tests/php/UserFormsTest.yml
+++ b/tests/php/UserFormsTest.yml
@@ -317,12 +317,14 @@ SilverStripe\UserForms\Model\Recipient\EmailRecipient:
     EmailAddress: test@example.com
     EmailSubject: Email Subject
     EmailFrom: no-reply@example.com
+    EmailBodyHtml: '<div class="form__field-holder"><span id="Form_ItemEditForm_MergeField" class="readonly">My body html $basic_text_name</span></div>'
 
   no-html:
     EmailAddress: nohtml@example.com
     EmailSubject: Email Subject
     EmailFrom: no-reply@example.com
     SendPlain: true
+    EmailBody: 'My body text $basic_text_name'
 
   no-data:
     EmailAddress: nodata@example.com