SEND local offer - Personal budgets

A child or young person with an education health and care plan (EHCP) may be eligible to access a personal budget.

Personal budgets are an option for families that could allow a family to have more control over how funding is used.

Personal budgets do not represent additional funding. If you already receive a service, you will not get the service you get now and a new additional personal budget. 

A personal budget is the description given to a new way of managing the money you are allocated for services and support. They can provide parents, carers and the young person with the decision to select their own services.

The SEND code of practice states:

 A personal budget is an amount of money identified by the local authority to deliver provision set out in an EHC plan where the parent or young person is involved in securing that provision.

A personal budget may not always be appropriate but is an option which can be requested when the Council is preparing an EHC plan or at the annual EHC plan review. In all cases the availability of a personal budget will be based on the support a child or young person (up to 25 years old) needs for them to achieve their agreed outcomes and support needs as specified in their EHC plan. 

If someone has an EHC plan, their parent, carer or the young person themself has the right to ask the Council to prepare a personal budget.  This request can be made at any time during the period in which the Council is preparing the draft EHC plan or when the plan is being reviewed or re-assessed.

Not everyone will want a personal budget and there is no statutory requirement for parents, carers or a young person to have one.

The SEND code of practice states:

The child's parent or the young person has a right to request a personal budget (PB). When the local authority has completed an EHC needs assessment and confirmed that it will prepare an EHC plan. They may also request a PB during a statutory review of an existing plan.

A personal budget may be from one or a combination of the following funding sources.

A personal Special Education Needs (SEN) budget

A personal SEN budget is the sum of money made available by the Council when it is clear that without this additional top-up funding it would not be possible to meet the individual's learning support needs.  The school or college involved will already have funding for learning support across the school, only pupils or students with more complex learning support needs are likely to need a personal SEN budget.  However, in some circumstances the head teacher or principal and school, college, learning provider may choose to offer some funding towards a personal SEN budget.

A personal social care budget

A personal social care budget is the sum of money made available by the Council if a child or young person (up to 25 years old) is assessed by social care as needing additional and individual support at home and when out and about in the local and wider community.

A personal health budget

A personal health budget refers to the budget made available should a child or young person (up to 25 years old) have complex, long term and or any life-limiting conditions.  A personal Health budget may also be made available to assist with equipment costs or other health services.  A personal health budget will come from the NHS.

The SEND code of practice states:

The scope of that budget will vary depending on the needs of the individual, the eligibility criteria for the different components and the mechanism for delivery.

The 4 ways in which a personal budget can be managed are:

• direct cash payments to the parent or young person to contract, purchase and manage the service they need directly
• an organised arrangement where the council or health provider keeps the funds and buys or provides the support set up in the EHC plan
• a third-party managed budget where an organisation or individual, that has been chosen by the parent or carer or young person, can contract, purchase and manage services on their behalf 
• a combination of direct cash, organised arrangements and third-party budget management

In some circumstances, usually identified through the assessment process, the choice of taking a personal budget as a direct payment may not be available.  This could be in relation to safeguarding concerns, issues around consent or both. 

The allocated budget can be spent on anything that helps to meet the agreed outcomes of the EHC plan. 

The funding can be used to purchase:

• support
• services
• equipment

For further information on personal budgets you can:

• read the special educational needs and disability code of practice 0 to 25 years on the Gov.uk website
• read the special educational needs and disability parents and carers guide on the Gov.uk website