Personal budgets for special educational needs

What is a Personal Budget?

A Personal Budget for SEN is money identified to pay for support specified in an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC plan) for a child or young person with special educational needs. It can include funds from the local authority for education and social care and from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for health.

There are four ways you can use a personal budget:

  • Sometimes the local authority, school or college will look after the Personal Budget for you. This is called an Arrangement or a Notional Budget
  • Sometimes you can receive money directly to manage all or part of the Personal Budget yourself. This is called a Direct Payment
  • Sometimes you can opt to have someone else to manage the Personal Budget for you. This is called a Third Party Arrangement
  • Sometimes you can have a mixture of some or all of these arrangements