From September 2014, any parent whose child has an EHC plan can request a personal budget, if the request falls outside the areas currently offered, each case will be considered on an individual basis through the SEN panel.

A personal budget is an amount of money or resources available in order to deliver the outcomes set out in an Education, Health and Care Plan. The total personal budget should be made clear to parent / carers and young person so they can be involved in all decision making in order to choose the right provision to best meet the outcomes identified in the child or young person’s care plan. Personal budgets aim to give parents and young people more control over the support their child receives and enable flexible approach to achieving goals.

Personal budgets leaflet

Personal Budgets Policy

A YouTube clip produced by NASEN, which explains Personal Budgets can be found via the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxkckrX5YOI

Resource links

All parents whose child has an EHC plan, or has been assessed as needing a plan, are entitled to request a personal budget. The Department for Education has funded projects to assist parents, children and young people, and practitioners when making decisions about personal budgets. KIDS charity were funded to produce a suite of resources called Making it Personal.

The aim of Making it Personal 2 was to help prepare providers for personal budgets and informed families of opportunities and challenges these could bring. The link contains further access to publications for providers, families, commissioners and Family Information Services.

Making it Personal 3 saw KIDS working with young people’s engagement Groups from across the country to develop information on what is important for young disabled people when making decisions that affects them, and how personal budgets can be used in innovative ways to help them achieve their aspirations for the future. The young people helped to make this video to explain about personal budgets and what they can be used for.