EHCP Personal Budgets Explained
Most parents never find out that the money behind an EHC plan is something they are allowed to see, and in some cases handle. The mechanism is called a personal budget, and it comes with one of the most parent-friendly words in the whole of the Children and Families Act 2014: must. If you ask for a personal budget, the local authority must prepare one. This guide explains what a personal budget actually is, what it can and cannot do, how direct payments fit in and how to ask in a way that gets a useful answer.
What a personal budget is
A personal budget is an identified amount of money that secures provision specified in your child's EHC plan. Instead of the funding being an invisible arrangement between the council and its providers, a personal budget names an amount and connects it to specific provision, with the family involved in how that provision is secured.
Two things follow from that definition. First, a personal budget is about transparency and involvement: it tells you what is being spent on which parts of your child's provision and gives you a voice in how it is arranged. Second, it is anchored to the plan. The budget exists to secure provision the plan already specifies, which is why the quality of the plan itself, and above all of section F, matters so much to what a budget can do.
Struggling to put your child's needs into words?
EHCPhelp turns what you tell us about your child into the formal documents councils respond to. See a section written from your own answers, completely free.
See a free section →Your right to ask: section 49
Section 49 is unambiguous: where the parent or young person asks, the local authority must prepare a personal budget. This is not a discretionary scheme, a pilot or a favour for families the council considers suitable. Asking is the trigger, and the duty to prepare the budget follows.
That is worth knowing because personal budgets are rarely offered spontaneously. Many families go through the entire EHCP process without anyone mentioning that the option exists. If you want one, say so in writing: a single sentence, "I am requesting a personal budget under section 49 of the Children and Families Act 2014", is enough to engage the duty.
Natural moments to ask include when the draft plan is being prepared, since section 38 requires the authority to consult you during preparation and give you the chance to make representations, and at an annual review, since regulation 22 requires the authority to send any proposed amendments with evidence and give at least 15 days for representations. You can raise a personal budget at either point, or simply write to your case officer.
Direct payments and other ways the money can work
A personal budget does not have to mean cash arriving in your bank account, although it can. Direct payments, which are possible under regulations, are money paid out so the family can arrange some of the provision directly, for example booking or employing the people who deliver it. They give families the most direct control, and also the most responsibility.
A budget can also work without direct payments: the authority can hold the identified amount and spend it on the agreed provision, or arrangements can be managed on the family's behalf. Different parts of one budget can be handled differently. The right question is not "how do we get the cash" but "which arrangement gets this provision delivered reliably for this child".
What a personal budget can and cannot cover
The honest, careful answer is that a personal budget covers provision specified in the plan. That is both its power and its limit:
- It can identify the funding behind provision in the plan and give the family real involvement in securing it, which for some families transforms how consistently the provision actually happens.
- It cannot buy things unrelated to the plan. It is not a general grant for anything that might help your child; it is the plan's own provision, made visible and shared.
- It does not weaken the council's obligations. Under section 42 the authority must still secure the special educational provision specified in the plan. A personal budget changes how provision is arranged, never whether it has to happen.
This is also why vague plans make weak budgets. Provision in section F is required by long-established case law and the SEND Code of Practice to be specific, detailed and quantified: who, what, how often, delivered by whom. Wording that specific can be costed and turned into a meaningful budget. "Access to support" cannot. If you are thinking about a personal budget, tightening section F is the best preparation you can do.
Section J: where the budget lives in the plan
Regulation 12 of the SEND Regulations 2014 sets out the sections of every EHC plan, from section A (the views, interests and aspirations of the child and parents) through section F (special educational provision) and section I (placement) to section K (the list of advice). Section J is the personal budget section: it is where the plan records the budget, including arrangements for any direct payments.
When a plan is issued or amended with a personal budget, check section J the way you would check section F: does it record what was actually agreed, what the budget covers and how it will be paid? An agreement that exists only in a meeting note has a way of shrinking; an agreement recorded in section J is part of the plan. Our guide to the plan's sections walks through the whole structure.
Personal budgets and provision outside school
Personal budgets come up most often in conversations about provision delivered outside a conventional school day, and especially around EOTAS, where the local authority arranges education otherwise than at school under section 61. Where a package of provision is delivered across different settings and providers, an identified budget with family involvement is often the practical machinery that holds it together. If that is your situation, our EOTAS guide is the companion piece to this one.
A final word of encouragement. Personal budgets sound technical, and councils sometimes treat requests as exotic. They are not. The right to ask is in primary legislation, the duty to prepare is unqualified by council policy and the entire point of the mechanism is that families are not meant to be spectators to their own child's provision. Ask in writing, get the answer in writing and make sure section J tells the truth.
Want the whole request pack written for you?
EHCPhelp turns a 15 minute form about your child into the complete EHCNA request: a formal letter citing the legal test, detailed parental views, an evidence checklist, a school letter and a deadline timeline. See a free section first, no card needed.
Frequently asked questions
Does the council have to prepare a personal budget if I ask?
Yes. Section 49 of the Children and Families Act 2014 says the local authority must prepare a personal budget if the parent or young person asks. It is a right you trigger by asking, not a discretionary extra, and the family must be involved in how the amount is used to secure provision.
Is a personal budget extra money on top of the plan?
No. A personal budget is an identified amount that secures provision already specified in the EHC plan. It makes the funding behind the plan visible and gives the family a say in how it is used, but it does not add new entitlements and it does not replace the council's duty under section 42 to secure the provision in the plan.
What are direct payments?
Direct payments are one way a personal budget can be delivered: money paid so the family can arrange some of the provision directly, for example by employing or booking the people who deliver it. They are possible under regulations. A personal budget does not have to involve direct payments; the money can also be held and used by the authority or managed on the family's behalf.
Where is a personal budget recorded in the EHC plan?
In section J. Regulation 12 sets out the plan's sections from A to K, and section J is where the personal budget is recorded. Check that section J reflects what was actually agreed, including what the budget covers and how it will be paid.