SEN - Personal Budget through EHCP for homeschooling

[dolphinsta]

Hi,

Has anyone managed to get a personal budget for EHE through EHCP?

I'm on a low income but the LA cannot find an appropriate setting for my son for secondary. They are offering EOTAS for him with a tutor or online tuition.

I personally think my son would be better off being hoe schooled however it would be the extra cost it would involve.

I know I'll be able to find settings to be able to help him in socialization etc.

Any help or advice from you guys would be great please.

thanks

PBs for EHE are very rare, especially in the current climate. The amount is usually limited too.

Why do you think EHE will be better than EOTAS/EOTIS? From DS’s perspective EOTAS/EOTIS can look like EHE, just funded with the LA responsible for provision. EOTAS/EOTIS doesn’t have to be limited to tuition or online provision. The package doesn’t have to include them at all. Or it might include tuition, but not traditional academic tuition.

thanks for replying. My son has a lot of additional needs and is working between KS1 and KS2.

Engaging my son in activities can be challenging. I have also already paid out a lot of money for home-schooling items for my son to help him as thy cannot find an appropriate setting for him as I said above.

My son also has a lot of anxieties with new people and emotional regulation is major with him too.

All DC with EOTAS/EOTIS have needs that are complex enough to mean it is inappropriate for provision to be made in a school (or college for those old enough). DS’s additional needs, the level he is working at, and there not being a suitable placement, don’t prevent him from receiving EOTAS/EOTIS.

Because of the nature of their additional needs, and for many their educational history, many with EOTAS/EOTIS are difficult to engage, extremely anxious and having difficulty with emotional regulation. That doesn’t have or prevent EOTAS/EOTIS either.

A package can build up to introducing new people slowly. Many packages are like that. Some don’t have direct contact with new people for a long time.

Unless you are already EHEing, you don’t have to buy resources. The LA should be providing s19 provision. They are responsible for ensuring DS receives a suitable full-time education. Suitable being the operative word. If DS’s EHCP is already finalised they are also responsible for anything detailed, specified and quantified in F.

thank you for the information. can an EOTAS/EOTIS be put in place if I home school myself and incorporate his EHCP?

EOTAS/EOTIS is not EHE. You can’t have both at the same time. With EOTAS/EOTIS, the LA would be responsible. With EHE, you would be and you don’t have or provide the provision in the EHCP.

With EOTAS/EOTIS, you can’t be compelled to organise, facilitate or deliver any part of the provision. The LA is responsible for it all. However, for some DC, the parents are involved by choice in organising/facilitating/delivering the provision in section F and that is allowed.

Just to add to my last post. If you EHE and have direct payments (one way a PB can be funded) the provision acquired by means of a direct payment made by a local authority is to be treated as having been secured by the authority in pursuance of its duty under section 42(2).

so would this be a way of being able to EHE instead of a PB having a direct payment?

A direct payment isn’t instead of a personal budget.

A direct payment is one way a personal budget can be paid.

It is very rare to secure a personal budget (paid by direct payment or otherwise) for EHE.

To put it into perspective, someone did FOI requests to all LAs in England. Nationally, in January 2025, there were 168 DC with a PB who are EHE plus a few that weren’t disclosed because 11 LAs thought disclosing the small numbers would lead to data protection issues and 11 LAs couldn’t separate out the data. So we are talking very, very small numbers in comparison to the number of DC with EHCPs - 638,745 as of Jan 2025.

You don’t say how old DS is. I have no data to back this up, but IME it is also less likely if your DC is not CSA.

My son is 11 YO. I mean if they can fund schools for SEND children surely they can give a budget for those that decide to EHE. Schools are obviously costing more than those that are EHE.

I mean I can do the socialization with him at a SEN session with climbing which will help him in every area possible.

The LA does not have to provide a PB for EHE. They can, but 99.9% of the time, they don’t.

Many people only get SS placements because they force the LA’s hand via SENDIST. That isn’t an option for a PB for EHE.

A proper EOTAS/EOTIS package isn’t the cheap option many LAs think it is. It can be far more expensive than SS placement, even independent SS placements.

Climbing can be part of an EOTAS/EOTIS package. Not just for socialisation but as PE, emotional regulation, motor skills and so much more.

so what can be included in the EOTAS/EOTIS? does it have to be a tutor or online learning?

sorry it's quite difficult to understand. so much has changed since I qualified, at the age of 18 and haven't bee able to work since. so completely out of the know now.

EOTAS/EOTIS packages are completely bespoke. Packages are tailored to the individual child. The possibilities are endless. There is so much to a comprehensive EOTAS/EOTIS package.

For example:

• Tuition - F2F either at home or elsewhere or online. Individual or group or online school. Academic or otherwise. Some have completely self-led provision. Others don’t.
• Therapies - e.g. SALT, OT, SIOT, rebound therapy, hydrotherapy, music therapy, animal-assisted therapy, hippotherapy, drama therapy, physio, CBT, play therapy…
• Music/cooking/drama/singing/art/coding/pottery/sewing… lessons
• Sport/exercise - e.g. climbing, swimming, surfing, skiing, football, dance, horse riding, personal trainer…
• Alternative provision settings - there is a huge range of these from more academic ones, forest schools, care farms, outwards bounds, sports, art, gaming type ones and so many more. Some run online as well as in person.
• Mentoring - F2F or online. For some this might be something like MindJam, for others, it isn’t.
• Equipment - e.g. technology, software and assistive tech. Sensory equipment. Gym equipment…
• Subscriptions/memberships - this can be anything from cookery boxes to subscription boxes for Lego/sciences/technology/art/knitting/gardening/cooking/sweets, spectrum space boxes (these are bespoke to the individual and work well for DC who struggle to engage), magazine subscriptions, membership to the gym/trampolining/National Trust…
• A budget for resources/sundries.
• Staff (e.g. tutor &/or LSA/HLTA/TA/mentor) and budget to access the community (e.g. they may go to the cinema, theatre, beach, games cafe, shopping, museum, Lego group…)
• Not forgetting professional time - e.g. for planning, report writing/updated advice and information, preparing for and attending MDTs and ARs, leading and co-ordinating the package, EP time…
• Travel - for DS to attend activities and for professionals to travel to him.

Provision in EHCPs is taken from the evidence.

I realise I didn’t answer your second question. No, it doesn’t have to be a tutor. Or it might be a tutor but not in the academic sense. And, no, it doesn’t have to include any online provision.

If you opt for EHE you are deemed to be choosing to put yourself outside the state education system, so the LA do not have duty to provide anything for you. As another poster has said, EOTIS is tailored to meet your child’s individual needs, based on the EHCP. However, it’s not a wish list as such, there needs to be clear evidence of need in order for provision to be agreed. I’ve seen some excellent EOTIS packages over the years.

Thank you so much for the information. Sorry it's taken me a few days to reply. it's been hectic. This sounds a lot better

As with @flawlessflipper we have a comletely bespoke EOTIS. I EHE for some years (it was never, ever elective) but reached a point where my health, and his learning, made that impossible, so I had him assessed with the idea that he could get an EHCP and go to school with that support. Only he couldn't. At all, So we fought very hard, and now he has a great EOTIS package that does, thank God, provide him with life chances and a future.

I plan, organise and manage the whole thing. Literally all our LA do is provide the funding, audit me to ensure it is being appropriately spent (rightly - it's public money) and hold annual review. I am lucky and have a genuinely kind and decent caseworker who gets what I am trying to do and doesn't put barriers up.

It's ferociously hard work, I won't lie. But it's infinitely better than any alternative.

@perfectstorm do you have any hours for someone to act as a lead professional/co-ordinator to oversee, lead, and co-ordinate the package? My 2 with EOTAS/EOTIS have some hours. Not enough for me to do nothing, but enough to be helpful.