Special Educational Needs and Disability Personal Budgets Statement

Special Educational Needs and Disability Personal Budgets Statement

‘A personal budget is an amount of money identified by the local authority to deliver all or some of the provision set out in an Education, Health and Care(EHC) plan. By having a say in the way this budget is used, a parent or young person can control elements of their support.’ Children and Families Act 2014

Personalisation is one of the key elements of the special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms that come into force on 1st September 2014, this means recognising children and young people with SEND as individuals who have their own preferences, needs and strengths and that they and their parents/carers will be put at the centre of decisions about their lives.In Manchester we want children and young people and their parents/carers to have high aspirations, be able to access universal services, and be as independent as possible. Personal budgets are one of the mechanisms that families may choose to use to have more choice and control.

What is a personal budget?

The 2014 Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 years definesa personal budget as an amount of money identified by the local authority to deliver provision set out in an EHC plan where the parent or young person is involved in securing that provision.

They can be managed in different ways:

• A Direct Payment – where individuals receive the cash to contract, purchase and manage services themselves
• An arrangement – whereby the local authority, school or college holds the funds and commissions the support specified in the EHC plan (notional budget)
• Third party arrangements – where funds are paid to and managed by an organisation on behalf of the child’s parent or young person
• A combination of the above.

The Special Educational Needs and DisabilityCode of Practice: and the Personal Budgets Regulationsrequire the local authority is to publish, through our Local Offerthe following information:

• a description of the services across education, health and social care that currently lend themselves to the use of personal budgets,
• information on eligibility criteria, and
• the support available to help families manage a personal budget.

Existing arrangements in Manchester in September 2014.

Currently children and young people with SEND (who meet the eligibility criteria) and their parents/carers can opt to receive a personal budget which is managed as a direct payment or notional budget for the following services:

• Short Breaks
• Social Care
• Personal Health

In education, in our capacity as a ‘Preparing for Adulthood Pathfinder’ , we have been working with school sixth forms, colleges and supported employment providers to personalise post 16 programmes for young people with SEND, through the use of notional budgets.

From 1st September 2014 until September 2017 the local authority together with our health partners (Clinical Commissioning Groups) has to identify how joint commissioning arrangements can develop the market and free up further funding streams, so that there are more opportunities for usingpersonal budgets.

Families have been fully involved in the design of the Short Break, Social Care Individual Budget and Personal Health Budget offers. We plan to continue to involve young people, parents/carers over the next three years in helping us refine our personal budgets policy and processes and in telling us which services could be decommissioned so that more fundingis made available as personal budgets.

Personal Budgets and Education, Health and Care plans

From 1st September 2014 Statements of SEN and Learning Difficulty Assessments are being replaced by Education, Health and Care plans (EHC) for children with the highest level of special educational needs. To be eligible for an EHC plan children/young people aged 0-25 must require special educational support that is different from or additional to what is normally available in a mainstream school or college.

The SEND reforms have introduced a new approach that will join up support across Education, Health and Care services. Personal budgets are optional. From 1st September 2014 parents and young people can request a personal budget once the local authority has confirmed that it will prepare a draft Education, Health and Care plan. A personal budget can also be requested during a statutory review of an EHC plan.

Decision making processes for personal budgets

Direct payments for special educational provision, health care and social care provision are subject to separate regulations. These are:

• The Community Care, services for Carers and Children’s Services (Direct Payments) Regulations 2009 (the 2009 regulations will be replaced by those made under the Care Act 2014)

• The National Health Service (Direct Payments) Regulations 2013

• The Special Educational Needs (Personal Budgets) Regulations 2014

Local authorities must offer direct payments for social care services. For both education and social care the local authority must be satisfied that the person who receives the direct payments will use them in an appropriate way and that they will act in the best interests of the child or young person. Regulations governing the use of direct payments for special educational provision place a number of additional requirements on both local authorities and parents before a direct payment can be agreed. These include requirements to consider the impact on other service users and value for money and to seek agreement from educational establishments where a service funded by a direct payment is delivered on their premises.

Special Educational Provision

Following a request being made by a parent/carer/young person to the Statutory Assessment Team for a direct payment for special educational provision, the local authority must consider each request on its own individual merits.

The Local Authority will give an indication of the level of funding that is likely to be required for the SEN provision specified in the EHC plan. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Panel is responsible for making decisions about the provision specified in EHC plans and will also decide whether a personal budget can be offered. The panel is made up of representatives from Education, Health and Social Care.

If the local authority is unable to identify a sum of money they will inform the child's parent or young person of the reasons. For example, the local authority might agree that the provision is needed but may be unable, at that point in time, to disaggregate funding that is currently supporting provision of services to a number of children and young people.

If the local authority refuses a request for a direct payment for special educational provision on any of the grounds set out in The Special Educational Needs (Personal Budgets) Regulations 2014, the local authority must set out their reasons in writing and inform the child’s parent or the young person of their right to request a formal review of the decision.

The local authority must consider any subsequent representation made by the child’s parent or the young person and notify them of the outcome, in writing, setting out the reasons for their decision.

The young person or parent/carer can request a formal review of the decision by senior managers not involved in the original decision by writing to theStatutory Assessment Team

Statutory Assessment team

Universal Square

Devonshire Street North

Manchester

M12 6JH

Tel: 0161 245 7439

Email:

Direct Payments

Where a young person or parent/carer has asked for the personal budget to be paid as a direct payment, a broker, specialist resource team worker or social worker will work with the family to draw up a support plan that will show how the budget will deliver the provisions in the EHC plan. The support plan will be reviewed at least annually and spending on provision will be monitored.

What can the personal budget be spent on?

Personal budgets can only be used to fund the provision specified in an EHC plan and be designed to help achieve the outcomes agreed in the plan. The personal budget must be set at a level to secure the agreed provision in the EHC plan.

Where a direct payment is proposed for special educational provision, local authorities must secure the agreement of the early years setting, school or college, if any of the provision is to be delivered on their premises and the educational establishment can refuse. Local authorities should usually do this when they consult the institution about naming it on the child or young person's EHC plan. The local authority should also seek assurance from the child's parent, young person or nominee that any person employed by the child's parent or young person, but working on early years, school or college premises, will conform to the policies and procedures of that institution and may write such an assurance into the conditions for receipt of the direct payment. The local authority must also consider the impact on other service users and value for money.

Direct payments cannot be used to fund:

• Anything that would put the child/young person at risk of harm
• A place at a school or college
• Elective home education
• Buying services from the local authority
• Personal health budgets cannot be used to purchase GP or emergency services

Other types of personal budgets and eligibility

In addition to the right to request a personal budget at the time that an Education, Health and Care plan is being drafted or reviewed, young people and parents/carers of children with SEND can request a personal budget for the following services:

Social Care

Manchester City Council offers the option of a personal budget, paid as a Direct Payment, notional budget or third party arrangement, to the parents/carers of children aged 0-17 eligible for a targeted or specialist Short Break.

Applications for a Short Break direct payment can be made at the same time as requesting an Education, Health and Care plan or at other times by emailing:

or telephoning 0161 234 5001

The Short Breaks statement gives more details about who is eligible, what can be funded and how to apply

Adults aged 18+who meet Fair Access to Care eligibilitycan apply for a Social Care Individual Budget.

To find out more about Social Care support and eligibility contact:

or telephone 0161 234 5001

The Manchester City Council website provides more information on who is eligible and how to apply:

Health

The ‘right to ask’ for a Personal Health Budget came in on 1st April 2014 and applies to children in receipt of children’s continuing care and adults eligible for NHS continuing healthcare.From April 2015 the right to request a Personal Health Budget will be extended to people with long term conditions.

Manchester Central, North and South Clinical Commissioning Groups offer Personal Health Budgets to:

• The parents/carers of children eligible for NHS continuing care for children. To be eligible, the child must have very severe or complex health needs.

Parents of children who may be eligible for NHS continuing care can request an assessment by speaking to a health or social care professional working with them.

• Adults eligible for continuing care. To be eligible, the person must have a ‘primary health need’ a complex medical condition and ongoing care needs.

Adults who may be eligible for continuing care can request an assessment from a healthcare professional or the Clinical Commissioning Group.

Home to school/college travel assistance

• Young people or the parent/carer of a child eligible for special educational needs travel assistance can request a direct payment for mileage to school/college.

Travel Assistance

Information, Advice and Support

Information on all aspects of the SEND reforms, including applying for an Education, Health and Care plan is available on the Manchester Local Offer website at

Or by contacting Information, Advice and Support Manchester:

Tel: 0161 209 8356

Email:

Further information

Kids – information on personal budgets

Department for Education – SEND Guide for parents and carers

In Control and Together for Short Lives - briefings on personal budgets

Video clips regarding personalisation in health

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Version 1, September 2014. All statements are subject to review.