Funding
Information can be found around funding on chapter 2 - funding. For information on funding around Preparing for Adulthood, this can be found in Chapter 13 - preparing for adulthood.
Personalisation
Personalisation is at the heart of the special educational needs and disability (SEND) legislation. Personal budgets are one element of personalisation.
Personalisation is about putting children, young people and their families at the centre of the education, health and care (EHC) process. It means starting with the person as an individual with strengths, preferences and aspirations, identifying their needs and making choices about how and when they are supported to live their lives.
Personalisation is developed in a range of different ways:
- Person-centred approaches where disabled children and their families are put at the centre of processes, enabling them to express their views, wishes and feelings and be included in decision making
- Personalising the support that families receive by working in partnership with services across education, health and social care
- Funding mechanisms through the use of direct payments and personal budgets
- Brokerage support, to support families to develop a personalised and creative personal support agreement that describes how they will use their indicative budget to meet the agreed outcomes.
What is a personal budget?
A personal budget is an allocation of money identified to provide support for an eligible person to meet their identified needs, which must support the outcomes identified in the EHC plan.
Young people and parents of children can request a personal budget once the Local Authority has confirmed that it will prepare a draft EHC plan. Parents and young people may also request a personal budget if they already have an EHC plan and during a statutory review of an existing EHC plan. An EHC plan is the product of a co-ordinated assessment which specifies the outcomes sought for the child or young person across education, health and social care. The EHC plan will clearly state which outcomes can be met by a personal budget (if a personal budget is agreed).
The scope of the budget will vary depending on the needs of the individual and local eligibility criteria. A personal budget may consist of elements of funding from education, health and social care.
- For education - element 3 (top-up funding)
- For health - Continuing care funding
- For social care - specialist provisions as assessed by the target disability service (TDS).
More information, visit personalisation and personal budgets.