What is a personal budget?
A personal budget gives families greater choice and control in the provision of services that are linked to the outcomes in an EHC plan.
It’s expected the scope for personal budgets will increase over time as local joint commissioning arrangements (across, education, health and care partners) provide greater opportunity.
You can request a Personal Budget following assessment, where the local authority have said they will be preparing an EHC plan, and also as part of an Annual Review.
If the local authority declines, they must let you know why.
The SEND Code of Practice 2015 says:
“Local authorities must provide information on Personal Budgets as part of the Local Offer. This should include a policy on Personal Budgets that sets out a description of the services across education, health and social care that currently lend themselves to the use of Personal Budgets, how that funding will be made available, and clear and simple statements of eligibility criteria and the decision-making processes” (9.96)
Learn more about personal budgets
This family guide from ‘Kids’, ‘Making it personal‘, includes lots of information about personal budgets and some examples of how they have been used.
You can also read the Suffolk information, including their personal budget policy.
