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EHC plans and personal budgets

This guidance is about personal budgets for children and young people who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC plan).

What is a personal budget?

  • A personal budget is an allocation of money available from Croydon Council or Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group to fund provision to meet the a child or young person’s identified needs and outcomes as detailed in their EHC plan.
  • A personal budget gives funding for additional provision which is above that available for most children and young people in education settings and from other local services.
  • A personal budget gives children and young people and their families more control and flexibility over the resources and support available to them so that needs can be met in the best way.
  • A personal budget may consist of elements of funding for support from Croydon education, health and social care services.

Who can request a personal budget?

  • Once an assessment for an Education and Health Care Plan has been agreed by the Croydon 0-25 SEND Service young people or parents can request a personal budget.
  • If the child or young person already has an EHC plan a request for a personal budget can be made at the annual EHC Plan review meeting.

The allocated EHC Coordinator will explain the process for making a personal budget request.

If a request for a personal budget is not agreed the EHC Coordinator will explain this decision.

What is available?

In Croydon the following services can be funded by a personal budget.

Education and Social Care
  • Short Breaks which enable a child or young person to try new experiences, both with and away from their siblings and parents or carers, giving them the opportunity to learn new skills and develop confidence or to give parents and carers a break from their caring role (respite).
  • Personal Assistance to give regular support to enable a child or young person to attend a club or activity
  • Personal care
  • Specialist equipment
  • Home to school/college travel assistance
Health
  • A continuing care package
  • Therapeutic support
  • Specialist equipment

Access to all services will be dependent on eligibility criteria.

Croydon is working with partner agencies to make a wider range of services available for personal budgets.

Managing a personal budget

The 0-25 SEND team and or health professionals will work with you to decide how the personal budget will be allocated and monitored. There are four ways in which to do this:

  1. Notional budget - The support is arranged directly by the council or health services. This works for a young person or parents who do not wish to manage the budget themselves.
  2. Direct payment - A cash payment to the parents or young person to choose and buy and manage some support and services detailed in the EHC plan.
  3. Managed budget - A third-party arrangement where funds are paid to an individual or organisation to manage on the behalf of the parents or young person.
  4. Combination - A combination of funding allocations where young people or parents take direct payments for some services and resources and ask the council or a third party to manage other services on their behalf.

Review of personal budgets

Use of personal budgets will be reviewed as part of the wider review of the child's or young person's EHC plan. The review will look at what is working well and whether any parts of the plan need to be changed, including checking that the personal budget is meeting the planned outcomes of this support.

Further information about personal budgets

You can find more information on Croydon SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disability Independent Advice and Support Service) website (external link).

Kids SENDIASS have also produced a video about personal budgets with subtiltles.

You can also download the Making It Personal 3 booklet from the Council for Disabled Children website (external link), or the Preparing for Adulthood factsheet personal budgets for post 16 provision and FE colleges.

How to get in touch

You can contact the 0-25 SEND service by:


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