What is a Personal budget?
A personal budget is a sum of money identified by Surrey County Council (SCC) to deliver provision set out in an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) so the parent, carer or young person can get involved in arranging the provision. A personal budget can only be used for agreed provision in the EHCP. It should be designed to achieve the outcomes specified in the EHCP.
When can you ask for a personal budget?
You can ask for a personal budget at the point:
- when the Council decides it will issue an EHCP
- as part of the statutory review of an EHCP
- as part of a re-assessment of an EHCP
The Council can deliver a personal budget through:
- A direct payment - where you receive money to buy and manage services yourself
- An arrangement - where the Council, school or college holds the money and arranges the support specified in the EHCP
- Third party arrangements – where you can choose someone else to manage the money on your behalf
- A combination of the three ways above
Types of support available through a Personal budget
What can be included depends on your child’s assessed needs and what services are already available locally. It also depends on things like eligibility rules, how services are funded, and the type of school or setting your child attends.
Before we can agree to fund something through a personal budget, we will always look at whether it can be provided through existing services.
Education
A personal budget can be used for parts of a child or young person’s special educational provision when it helps them achieve the outcomes in their EHCP.
In general, a personal budget may include:
- Support that goes beyond what a school or college must provide from its own delegated funding, such as additional specialist input, therapies, or tailored support linked to learning outcomes.
- Some support normally funded by the school (like teaching assistant time or specialist resources) can be included, but only if the Headteacher, Centre Manager or Principal agrees.
- Provision written into your child’s EHCP such as:
- Therapy (for example occupational therapy, speech and language therapy)
- Drama or arts‑based provision
- Sport, music, or tutoring
- Specialist equipment can be included if a professional has identified the need, and funds can also be directed to parents as a direct payment.
Choosing a special school or specialist college may limit the scope for a personal budget because these settings already provide more integrated specialist support as part of their core offer.
Can a young person accessing Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) provision receive a personal budget?
Yes. The process for securing a personal budget would be the same in this case. This is because if a personal budget is agreed, it is for the specified provision within the child’s EHCP.
Would a personal budget impact the funding received by the student’s school/educational setting?
It depends on the situation, as personal budgets can be managed in four different ways:
- Direct Payment
- An Arrangement
- Third Party Arrangement
- A Combination of the above
Sometimes, discussions between the school and the Council are needed to figure out the funding details for each case. If a school feels they might be disadvantaged by agreeing to a personal budget, they can talk to their linked EHCP Coordination Officer.
If the school and the Council can't agree on a personal budget, including direct payments, we won't proceed with them. However, we will keep working with you and the school to find other ways to personalise your child’s support. The goal is to involve you more in decisions about your child’s special educational provision.
Health
A personal health budget is an amount of money to support your health and wellbeing needs, which is planned and agreed between you (or someone who represents you), and your local NHS team. It is not new money, but it may mean spending money differently so that you can get the care that you need.
Personal health budgets are available for children and young people receiving packages of support under NHS Continuing Care for children and NHS Continuing Health care.
A personal health budget allows you to manage your child’s healthcare and support such as treatments, equipment and personal care, in a way that suits them. It works in a similar way to personal budgets, which allow people to manage and pay for their social care needs.
Social Care
Direct payments are available to children and young people whose needs have been assessed as meeting the threshold for social care support.
To receive a direct payment, first a social worker or family support worker must assess your child or young person's needs. This assessment must establish that social care support is required.
Direct payments allow families to organise support that is personalised to the assessed needs of the child or young person, so you can choose the services that work best for your child.
Here are some examples of what direct payments can be used for:
- Employing someone to help you look after your child; this person is often referred to as a personal assistant.
- To enable your child to join in with activities in the community, such as youth clubs, sports clubs or play schemes.
- To purchase disability living equipment, as agreed by a Surrey County Council occupational therapist.
Direct Payments
The Special Educational Needs (Personal Budgets) Regulations 2014 say that we can only agree to make a direct payment for your personal budget where we are satisfied that:
- you will use them to secure the agreed provision in an appropriate way
- where you are 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 Council provides or arranges for children and young people with an EHCP which the Council maintains, and
- securing the proposed agreed provision by direct payments is an efficient use of the Council’s resources.
If you make a request for a direct payment to buy goods or services to be used or provided in an early years setting, school or college, we must have written agreement from the head teacher, principal or proprietor of that setting. Where agreement cannot be reached with the setting, we must not go ahead with the direct payment. However, we will continue to work with you and the setting to explore other ways to personalise the provision in your child’s EHCP.
Requesting a personal budget
The Council must normally provide a personal budget if you request one.
Sometimes we may not be able to do so, such as when the special educational provision for your child is being provided as part of a larger budget. This is because we may not be able to separate out the personal budget for your child from that overall budget. For example, we may not be able to provide a personal budget for support provided through a contract with the NHS.
We must consider all requests for a personal budget including a direct payment in respect of the provision specified in Sections F, G and H of an EHCP. However, we cannot agree any payments for the purpose of funding a place at a school or post-16 institution.
Who can support you?
The Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment Officer (EHCNA Officer) and the Education, Health and Care Coordination Officer (ECO) are your main source of advice and support through the Personal Budget application process. For those going through the Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) for an EHCP, you will be working with an EHCNA Officer. For those who are applying for a Personal Budget as part of an annual review, you will be working with your ECO.
We have referred to both roles as Officers throughout the rest of this guide.
How to request a Personal Budget?
If you would like to request a personal budget, you will need to let us know by contacting your allocated Officer. They will be your key contact throughout the personal budget process. They will work together with you to set out the details of your request. This will involve completing a ‘Personal Budget Request and/or Review Form’. You can view and download the Personal budget form (DOC) on our Local Offer webpage.
Your allocated Officer will put together the request form and any other supporting information you have provided to help us decide whether we can provide a personal budget. They will work with you to make sure that this includes all the information needed to set out which special educational needs and outcomes you want the personal budget to cover, and your preferred delivery arrangements.
We will consider all the information carefully before making a decision. We will also ask the views of professionals from education, health and care services in a multi-agency team discussion to help us decide. You will be sent the final request before it is seen by a decision-maker so you can check all the information you think is important for us to consider has been included.
What is a typical amount to request for a personal budget?
There is no set guide as each child and young person has different needs that could be met with different provision. What must be clear in your request is what special educational provision from the EHCP you would like the personal budget to cover.
If your child also has an open social care plan, and/or health elements in their EHCP, alongside their special educational provision, you can include these in your request for a personal budget.
When a personal budget is agreed
The details of the personal budget will be set out in Section J of your child’s EHCP. This will include details of any direct payments or other arrangements we have agreed.
How long will a personal budget remain in place for?
A personal budget is usually agreed for a key stage or phase of education. However, all provision in an EHCP (personal budgets included) is considered and may be changed following the annual review each year, in the same way that a school placement is usually agreed for a longer period but is subject to annual review. This is because we need to make sure that the personal budget remains suitable to meet their special educational needs and outcomes specified within the EHCP. At this stage we will decide whether to keep the personal budget as it is, make changes to it or stop it.
If we decide to continue the personal budget as it is, the direct payment financial paperwork will be updated if required. If any changes are needed to the personal budget, your Officer will work with you to put together the relevant information for us to consider. We will write to you to let you know what changes we have decided to make.
If the information gathered at the annual review indicates that the personal budget is no longer suitable to meet your child’s special educational needs, we may decide to stop the direct payment. If this happens, we will let you know in writing. We will let you know the reasons for our decision and what you can do if you disagree.
Post-16 provision changes more frequently. This is because young people need to navigate career paths and choose course options more often at this stage. Therefore, when they are in post-16 education, personal budgets are usually agreed on a yearly basis as they are likely to change more frequently compared to school aged children and young people.
If you have requested a direct payment for Children’s or Adult social care, or for a personal health budget, there will be separate arrangements in place. You can click on these links to find out more about our Direct Payments Strategy and Personal Health Budgets.
What if I want to make changes to my personal budget?
You will need to contact your Officer to let them know you want to make changes. They will work with you to set out the details of the changes you are requesting and gather the supporting information you would like us to consider. We will look carefully at the information you have provided and will ask for the views of professionals in education, health and care services in a multi-agency meeting to help us decide. If we agree, we will not release any funding for changes in provision until a revised agreement is drafted and signed.
If a family have decided to pay for the provision before a personal budget has been agreed will this be backdated once agreed?
No, it is not possible to backdate a personal budget. Please bear this in mind if you plan to pay for provision before we agree to provide a personal budget, as we will not be able to reimburse you.
What can I do if I am dissatisfied with the Council’s handling of a personal budget?
In the first instance please talk to your Officer who will work with you to try to resolve any difficulties. When we write to you to let you know our decision, we will tell you about the reasons for our decision and your right to request that we review it.
If you are still dissatisfied, complaints about the process of setting up, administering, and monitoring the personal budgets will be managed under the Council and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) complaint procedures, Children's Social Care, Education and SEND complaints.
Where can I go to for further support?
We recognise setting up your child’s personal budget is complex and some of the processes can take time. If you have any questions about the use of personal budgets, please contact your Officer. SEND Advice Surrey can also provide free and impartial advice and support.
Financial arrangements
Direct Payment Agreement
We will draft a Direct Payment Agreement for you to sign. This is the contract between us (SCC) and you. It details the terms and conditions, obligations, payment schedules and responsibilities of everyone involved. You will need to sign this to show you agree to the terms of the agreement.
You must keep clear records of how the money received has been spent in real time by uploading invoices and receipts to your Prepaid Financial Services account. Surrey Finance has a specific internal team who complete quarterly checks on all accounts.
Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) Pre-Paid Account (PPA)
A PFS PPA is an online bank account. This will be opened for you to purchase and pay for goods and services associated with your child’s personal budget. You can do this by using a physical card or using online banking. The annual amount of money specified within the personal budget for your child will be divided and paid into your PFS account by SEND finance on a monthly basis.
Monitoring
Direct payments for your personal budget are designed as an alternative way of meeting assessed needs which are detailed within your child’s EHCP. Therefore, direct payments should be used to buy services and resources to meet the needs of your child. We will provide you with full details of the terms and conditions for the use of your direct payment in your payment agreement. We will monitor the use of these payments.
You must keep clear records of how the money you have received has been spent in real time by uploading invoices and receipts to your PFS account. Your PFS account will be checked by the SEND finance team to make sure it is accurate and consistent on a quarterly basis. We will allow an excess of thirteen weeks’ worth of money in your account at any one time. If funds are more than this at the quarterly check, we may seek to recover any underspend. You will be advised of this in advance of any recovery.
Direct payments can only be used to buy services or resources that are outlined in your child’s EHCP or your personal budget agreement. If direct payments are used for anything other than what is outlined in the EHCP or agreement, we will need to find out why this has happened. This is so that we can work with you to identify and resolve any issues. In some cases, if we discover a misuse of spending, we may decide to withdraw direct payments, offer an alternative service or ask for the money back. This will be assessed on an individual basis.
What are the reasons the Council can turn down a personal budget?
There are specific reasons which a Council can turn down a personal budget, including a direct payment. These are set out in Section 6 of The Special Educational Needs (Personal Budgets) Regulations 2014
1) 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:
a) The recipient will use them to secure the agreed provision in an appropriate way.
b) 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;
(c) 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; and
(d) Securing the proposed agreed provision by direct payments is an efficient use of the authority’s resources.
(2) 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.
What happens if my personal budget request is turned down?
If we decide not to provide a personal budget, we will write to you to let you know, giving you the reason for the decision. We will continue to work with you to explore other ways to personalise the provision in your child’s EHCP.
If you do not agree with our decision, you will have the right to request that we review it. When we review our decision, we will consider your views, alongside any new information or supporting documents you are able to provide. We will write to you to let you know the outcome of our formal review, setting out the reasons for our decision. We will always do our best to work with you and resolve any concerns or disagreements.
You cannot appeal to the SEND Tribunal if you disagree with a decision about a personal budget. However, if you are still not happy with the decision made, you can use the formal complaints process. You can find more detail about Children's Social Care, Education and SEND complaints procedures on our Local Offer website.
How does the request for a personal budget differ if I am going through a tribunal?
Your Tribunal Officer will work closely with you and your EHCNA Officer/EHCP Coordination Officer to establish the provision to meet your child’s needs and whether this may be available through a personal budget. If a personal budget is requested following an appeal, the process of preparing a personal budget can begin once the Council is in receipt of the SEND Tribunal’s final orders.
If you disagree with our decision to turn down a Personal Budget
If we refuse your request for a direct payment for special educational provision, we will set out our reasons for this in writing within 15 days.
If you disagree with our decision, you cannot appeal to the SEND Tribunal. However, you can ask us to look at it again. To do this, please write to your Officer within 15 days of receiving the decision.
Review of decision
We will review the decision within 28 days. You will be invited to meet with us so you can talk through your concerns. After this meeting, we will look at any information you have provided before making a final decision.
When we carry out a formal review of our decision, we will consider any further views and information you provide. We will carefully consider everything you tell us before deciding. We will write to you to let you know the outcome of our formal review, setting out the reasons for our decision. We are only required to review our decision once, and after this review we may not be able to look at the same decision again.
We will always do our best to work with you and resolve any concerns or disagreements. However, if you still don’t agree with the outcome, this is not something that can be appealed to the SEND Tribunal. If you feel that the review process hasn’t been managed properly, you can make a complaint and we will make sure your concerns are looked into.
Complaints
Complaints about the process of setting up, administering, and monitoring personal budgets will be managed under the Council and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) complaint procedures.
You can find more detail about Children's Social Care, Education and SEND complaints procedures on our Local Offer website.
If you are not happy with a decision made in relation to the health element of a personal budget within an EHCP, you should refer to the appropriate complaints procedure Integrated Care Board (ICB) as set out on their website.
Appeals
If you disagree with the special educational provision specified within your child’s EHCP you can appeal to the SEND Tribunal, as with any disagreement about provision to be specified in an EHCP. More information on making SEND appeals can be found on the GOV.UK website. You can also visit the Surrey Local Offer appeals and mediation web page.