Personal Budgets

What is a personal budget          

For those children and young people who have an EHC plan the LA can be requested to identify a personal budget. The personal budget is the notional amount of money that would be needed to cover the cost of making the special educational provision as specified in the EHC plan. You cannot have a personal education budget unless you have an EHC plan.

When can I make a request for a personal budget to be prepared

A request for the LA to identify a personal education budget or consider making a direct payment can be made at two specific times. First when a child or young person is undergoing an EHC needs assessment or secondly when the EHC plan is being reviewed.

In certain circumstances, the LA can refuse to identify a personal budget. They may do so when the special educational provision is being provided as part of a larger budget (for example, a contract with the NHS to provide all speech and language therapy or occupational therapy) and the LA can’t separate out or ‘disaggregate’ the personal budget from that overall larger budget.

If the LA refuse to identify a personal budget or make a direct payment, you cannot appeal against that decision but you can ask them to review it.

How can I receive a personal budget

Payments can either be made via:

• Direct payments (you would need to open a dedicated bank account in your sole name for the sole purpose of direct payments);
• An arrangement whereby the local authority holds the funds and commissions the support (the LA pay invoices for services directly),
• A third party arrangement (where an external service manages the account)

or

• a combination of the aforementioned.

Direct payments

Parents or young people can also request that an LA consider making a direct payment to them in lieu of special educational provision so that they can arrange it themselves. This will be an actual payment of money instead of the LA arranging for the provision to be delivered.

Normally, the LA will do this by providing the necessary funding to the school or college attended by the child or young person, in order for them to deliver the educational support needed. However, it is also possible for the LA to consider making a payment to the parent, the young person or another nominated person, so that they can organise the provision themselves. This is called a direct payment.

In order for the parent or young person to request a direct payment, the LA must first identify a personal budget.

How to get a direct payment

If you do request a personal budget from the LA, you can at the same time ask the LA to identify which elements of the personal budget which you could then receive as a direct payment. This is an actual amount of money that you would receive so that you could commission the provision in the EHC plan yourself.

The LA can refuse to make a direct payment if they don’t believe the person receiving the payments would be capable of managing the money, or if they do not believe it would be used in an appropriate way. They can also refuse where it would negatively impact other services provided by the LA, or if it would not be an efficient use of resources.

Where the provision proposed to be replaced by a direct payment takes place in a school or college setting, the consent of the head teacher or principal of the named school or other institution is required. If they do not consent then the LA will be unable to make a direct payment.

Your responsibilities if you purchase a service from a service provider through direct payments will be:

• choosing a service provider to provide the services to meet your needs;
• ensuring that the service provider is registered with the appropriate commission boards;
• agreeing the service provider’s staff's timesheets;
• checking that the service provider’s invoices are accurate and correct;
• paying the service provider’s invoices.

Decision to make direct payments

A local authority may only make direct payments where a request has been made for direct payments to be made and the authority is satisfied that:

• the recipient will use them to secure the agreed provision in an appropriate way;
• where the recipient is the child’s parent or a nominee, that person will act in the best interests of the child or the young person when securing the proposed agreed provision;
• the direct payments will not have an adverse impact on other services which the local authority provides or arranges for children and young people with an EHC plan which the authority maintains;
• securing the proposed agreed provision by direct payments is an efficient use of the authority’s resources.

 

A local authority may only make direct payments in respect of the special educational provision specified in an EHC plan and may not make direct payments for the purpose of funding a place at a school or post-16 institution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decisions not to prepare a personal budget/make direct payments

 

Where the Local Authority decides not to prepare a personal budget make direct payments it will inform you in writing of its decision, the reasons for its decision and the right to request a review of the decision;

 

Where requested to do so, the LA will review its decision and in carrying out the review consider any representations made by the child’s parent or the young person and inform in writing the child’s parent or the young person of the outcome of the review giving reasons.

 

Who will make this decision

 

Education, Health and Care Panel will make decisions in relation to personal budgets and direct payment requests. The LA will inform in writing the child’s parent or the young person of the decision giving reasons.

Education, Health and Care Panel will undertake reviews of decisions where requested to do so. The LA will inform in writing the child’s parent or the young person of the outcome of the review giving reasons.

Where can I find out more

Detailed information about personal budgets and direct payments are contained in Chapter 9 of the SEN and Disability Code of Practice. The law relating to direct payments and personal budgets is set out in the Special Educational Needs (Personal Budgets) Regulations 2014, as amended by the Special Educational Needs (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2014.