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You'll be given a personal budget to spend if the local council decide you're eligible for help with any social care and support you need. You can request an assessment from the council to establish your needs.
The money in your personal budget can be paid to you, to help you make more decisions about how it's spent. This is known as a direct payment.
Personal budgets can help families
• know how much things cost
• have more control in deciding the best and appropriate support
• tailor their own unique package of care
• decide how the personal budget is looked after
A personal budget can be spent on support and service which meet the outcomes set out in the Education, Health and Care Plan (ECHP). This includes the funds needed to buy more specialist or individual support than the school or college is expected to provide from within it’s general resources.
A personal budget does not cover:
• Payment/funding for a place at a school or college
• Payment/funding for the extra help the school, college or local authority is expected to provide for all young people with special education needs as part of the local offer/ordinary available provision.
• Payment for anything that does not meet the identified outcomes for the young person in their EHC
• by direct payments - you receive the money
• notional - The local authority or Clinical Commissioning Group commission services for you
• third party - you can request a third party such as a broker to manage your support for you
• combination - a mix of the above
If you have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or get social care help, your family can ask a SEN support worker to explain more about personal budgets.
Young people over 16 can also receive a personal budget in their own right.
An EHCP can contain provision from education, health or social care agencies. A personal budget should be described in section J of an EHCP. It links as provision agreed in Section F (education), Section G (health) or Section H (social care), or any combination of these.
Section J must set out:
• The details of how the Personal Budget will support meeting the outcomes in the EHCP (set out in Section E)
• The provision (education, health and/or social care) it will be used for, including any flexibility
• Arrangement for any Direct Payments
If you get social care funding through The Children and Families Act 2014 or Care Act 2014, you might get direct payments. You can use this money to pay for things agreed in your EHCP or social care support plan, such as:
• Going to local community groups
• Taking short breaks
• Getting personal care
• Going on day trips or doing activities
• Hiring personal assistants
Personal budgets explain what you can and can't spend the money on. You and your family should know the total amount you have so you can make good decisions.
Most young people with special needs or disabilities will get the same healthcare as other young people. This includes seeing a doctor, visiting a hospital, or getting help from therapists like speech or physical therapists.
However, some young people have more serious health needs that require extra help. These might be conditions where they need support to breathe, have epilepsy that isn't controlled by medicine, or have a significant health need that means they need someone with them all the time to keep them as healthy as possible. These young people are said to have "continuing care needs" and might have had a "Continuing Care Assessment."
Personal health budgets are given to those who meet the criteria for continuing health care funding to meet their specific health needs.
Most young people with special needs don't get help from social care, either because they don't qualify or they choose not to use it. When social care or health budgets are looked at, they are given based on an assessment showing there are needs that qualify.
These needs can change during the year, so they will be checked and reviewed based on what the child and family needs.
To qualify, a young person must be assessed before they are 18 and have a disability that strongly affects their daily life for more than 12 months in one or more of these ways:
• A severe or profound learning disability or global development delays
• A severe physical disability and health-related conditions
• A substantial degree of sensory impairment
• Complex Autistic Spectrum disorders
• Complex Social Communication disorders
For more information on personal budgets, visit Finance and Personal Budgets - Bury Council