Direct payments and personal budgets for children and young people with SEND

• A personal budget is an amount of money that can come from education, health and social care which families can spend on services and support to help meet the assessed needs of your child or young person. It is not the total amount of funding available to support your child or young person.
• A personal budget is not additional funding; it is about using the available funding in the best way to meet needs and agreed outcomes.
• It can be used for services from both statutory and independent sector providers, mixing and matching what is available from different organisations.
• If a direct payment is used, helping families may be able to employ staff directly.
• It is a way of giving families more choice about the way they are supported and about who provides the support, helping families to live more independently.
• Having a personal budget does not change your child or young person’s eligibility for services.

A personal budget can offer families and young people the freedom to plan how support is delivered to meet agreed outcomes in a child or young person’s Education Health & Care plan (EHC Plan, often referred to as an EHCP). Within certain boundaries, families will be able to choose how the money is spent. This allows a more personalised service for disabled children and young people and increases choice, flexibility and control.

A personal budget should enable families and young people to have more involvement in creating a plan for how their needs can be met.

A personal budget offers choice over how the funding is held and managed. If this is taken as a direct payment the services can be bought and managed directly by the parent/carer or young person.

Families will be given support by our provider Disability Syndicate to develop a support plan showing how identified needs and outcomes will be met.

• Parents or carers, or the young person themselves (age 16 or over and able to make their own decisions), can request a personal budget through their lead professional or key worker once they have confirmation that an EHC plan will be prepared. The lead professional or key worker should discuss this option with you as part of the process.
• In some cases, a personal budget may not be available. This is usually because funding for a child or young person’s support needs cannot be paid for in that way, for example where the funding is already tied into existing contracting arrangements.
• In these cases, the lead professional or key worker will record that a request was made so can be considered in future contract reviews.
• A personal budget may be used solely for Education, Health or Social Care purposes, or for any combination of these.

Local Authorities and Health Services often purchase services in advance for groups of children and young people. These are known as ‘block contracts’. Because this funding pays for services for many children or young people, it is not always possible to separate out an individual amount of funding for a personal budget.

The personal budget should reflect your child or young person’s individual needs and the level of support required to meet those needs. The amount must be enough to cover the costs of all the additional support that has been agreed.

If families are not satisfied with the agreed personal budget allocation, they can request a review of the decision.

Personal budgets are designed to give children, young people and families more choice and control and should not be a burden.

There are three ways in which a personal budget can be managed:

• Direct payment - the parent/carer or young person receives the money directly so they can arrange and pay for the support they need.
• Individual Service Fund (sometimes called a third-party arrangement) – the money is paid to a third-party organisation, which organises services and manages the funding on behalf of the family or young person.
• Managed Fund – Bromley (Education, Social Care or Health), manages the funding on the family’s behalf.

It is possible to use a combination of these options. For example, education support may be managed by the local authority, while social care support is provided through a direct payment.

A direct payment is a cash payment that enables the parent, carer or young person to purchase and manage services themselves, or to nominate someone to manage this on their behalf.

A separate bank account will be required, and invoices and receipts must be provided to show how the funding has been spent. The local authority will monitor this expenditure.

Information and support will be provided if funding is used to employ a support worker.

Bromley has an agreement with an organisation, Disability Syndicate (Disability Syndicate – Built on care, Powered by Purpose), who will support families in finding relevant services providers and assist them in completing support plans which set out how outcomes will be achieved.

There are national and local rules about how personal budgets can be used. For example, where funding has already been used to commission services for a wider group of children and young people, individual funding may not be available (Please refer to the question reading 'What does block contracts mean and why are they important?').

A personal budget cannot be agreed before an EHC Plan is completed and cannot be used to pay for assessments that form part of the EHC Needs Assessment process.

The education element of a personal budget only includes funding needed for additional or specialist support above what a school or college is expected to provide. It does not cover the cost of the school or college placement itself. In some cases, schools may request additional ‘top‑up’ funding where a child or young person has exceptional levels of need. The local authority is responsible for managing this funding.

A personal budget cannot be used to pay for a school or college placement itself or used for Universal Services already commissioned.

A personal budget cannot be used for provision, equipment, or resources more than that which is in the EHCP, or more than that which would be ordinarily available in a school or setting, unless specified within the EHCP.

Personal budgets for Health cannot be used to purchase primary health services such as GP services or surgical procedures.

While it is not possible to list every restriction, there is often flexibility in how outcomes can be met, as long as national and local rules are followed.

No. Choosing to have a personal budget is optional. If you decide not to have one, your child or young person will still receive support to meet their assessed needs.

If a young person is aged 16 or over and able to make their own decisions about how their services are managed, they can have a personal budget in their own name, where appropriate.

If you feel that your child’s needs, or your own needs (if aged 16 or over), have changed significantly, you should contact your lead professional or key worker as soon as possible so that a re-assessment can be considered.

No. Receiving a personal budget does not affect entitlement to Welfare Benefits and is not classed as income.

No. There is no link between Welfare Benefits and eligibility for a personal budget.

Personal budgets for Social Care or Health may be available without an EHC Plan. However, an EHC Plan is required for a personal budget related to educational provision. Please speak to your Social Worker or Health professional for more information.