EOTAS FUNDING IF SESSIONS ARE CANCELLED

[Redwolf86]

Hi,

I'm looking for some clarification on EOTAS funding. Its our first time offering this type of provision and I cannot find the answer I'm looking for.

What happens to the funding if the parent chooses to end their contract with us before the end of the funding period?
Our contract is with the parent and states there would be no refund- but can the LA still claim it back?

Both the mum and child are involved in gross misconduct issues with us and when we raised these issues, they threw their toys out the pram and gave us a weeks notice to quit.

Thanks in advance,

We have EOTAS here, LA pay providers directly as I prefer it but I decide whether provision continues. They send invoice to LA who then issues payment One instance only, a provider wasn't working out I informed LA we would no longer be using them then I informed provider. Provider was paid for last session and no more.
If parent is paying through a personal budget LA wouldn't claim it back as it would stay so that parent could source alternative provider to make the provision your service was no longer making.

The LA can reclaim unspent funds allocated for a personal budget. But as PP says, they would expect the parent to source alternative provision so unlikely to do this immediately. The LA should have personal budgets policy which states things like this and there should be a signed agreement between the LA and parent.
From your point of view as a provider, I'd expect your contract to have longer than 1 weeks notice to safeguard both you and the family.

I'll admit I'm confused as to how a child with additional needs can be guilty of "gross misconduct".

I’m curious about what you would mean by “gross misconduct” in a situation like this. Also what does your contract state about notice to end provision.

Also I’ve provided services for EOTAS and what I will say is these can be stressful situations all round and it’s imperative that service providers and families have a good working relationship. I think a weeks notice to end provision if the relationship is breaking down is fine. Families under this kind of stress shouldn’t be forced to worked with service providers they are uncomfortable with for long notice periods.

I agree that if the working relationship has broken down it wouldn't be in the child's best interest for the provider to 'work out' their notice, but that doesn't mean the notice period in the contract shouldn't be longer than a week.

I think a weeks notice here is reasonable.

What happens to the funding is between them and the LA. Presumably they will find a new supplier.

LA's normally require evidence that Personal Budget is spent appropriately on meeting the need.

Edited to add - if you can't continue with providing the service the child has to have it provided by another supplier. I think it would be unreasonable for them to continue paying you if you are saying that you cannot continue. The contract is frustrated effectively.

Ultimately the impact of the EHCP is that the child must receive the provision under s.F and that the Personal Budget must pay for the provision.

Are you suggesting that you should continue to receive the funding when you are not making the provision?

Yes it's really difficult when there isn't a good relationship between family and provider. For me I spoke to provider and then emailed the provider telling them that they needed to consider d's needs rather than rigidly following their plan as it was impacting on d's anxiety. When they ignored my advice and continued with the plan I informed LA. Yes they weren't happy as obviously they lost income but I tried to address what was wrong before letting them go. LA weren't in the least bit bothered just asked me for the alternative.

Both the parent and child were stealing equipment from me during the time we were providing sessions.
We caught them on camera and when we approached the parent about it she got upset and said the child was refusing to attend future sessions and wanted to end them immediately.
We have been paid by our LA for a years worth of sessions and have spent 60% on the equipment they were helping themselves too so have lost that too.
It's been a horrible situation.

Our notice period is a minimum of 2 weeks to enable us to be able to fill the space we had allocated to the family.

Oh dear that does sound messy. If you’ve been paid in advance by the LA then presumably they can advise.

I think you need to speak to the LA. Does your business have insurance which includes legal advice? I think that if it does, that will be worth a look at.

If you have evidence of items being stolen then I would report that to the police @Redwolf86 or claim on your insurance?
An LA paying a whole year's PB 'up front' sounds unusual to me, but every authority does their own thing, I know.
If you were employed by the parent then the LA will deal with the parent because the parent has the responsibility to manage the LA's funding appropriately.
I had to sign a financial agreement with my LA before being allocated the funds for my dd's eotas. Then I had individual contacts with providers. The longest I received funds ahead was a term at a time. They then changed to monthly which was a complete pain because provision was term time only so costs were spread differently.
Did your contract with the parent specify how the funding was to be used?

@Redwolf86 can you clarify if the LA paid you or the parent paid you using their direct payments.
Who was your contract with?

Yikes, our LA don't pay up front in case the relationship breaks down. One of our providers they pay an hourly rate and also because "all materials and resources" are in the EHCP they also invoice them for the materials and resources used when working with d as well. For d the materials and resources are then hers and not the providers. You might want to reconsider how you invoice going forward as it's likely LA are going to want funding returned if provision is no longer being made.

It is extremely poor of the LA to pay for a whole academic year up front. Whether the LA can try to recoup the funds will depend on your contract.

I agree with @hiredandsqueak, you should reconsider how you invoice.

The LA will still need to ensure the SEP in F of the child’s EHCP is provided, though. That will be between the parent and LA.

The LA should be able to advise you but I know how hard it is to get answers from them.
I think you can charge for number of weeks tuition you have completed, the 2weeks notice period and also for equipment you have already purchased (and has been stolen from you)
Any other equipment purchased from LAs budget and not stolen you perhaps could offer to return to LA for the next tutor to use?
Also check your insurances etc for stolen equipment.