Personal Budgets & Person Centred Planning

What is a personal budget? A PB is 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 (9.95) A PB is a sum of funding available for children and young people where it is clear that they need additional provision above that available to most children and young people through local services (SEND Implementation Guidance, July 2014)

3

Personal Budgets Local offer must include information about the option of having a personal budget, including a local policy for Personal Budgets, produced with parents and young people (4.58) Partners must set out in their joint commissioning arrangements their arrangements for agreeing Personal Budgets (3.11)

Local policy for Personal Budgets that includes: (4.58) A description of the services across education, health & social care that currently lend themselves to the use of personal budgets Mechanisms of control for funding available Clear and simple statements setting out eligibility criteria & the decision-making processes that underpin them Support available to help families manage a PB Arrangements for complaints, mediation, disagreement resolution and appeals

Requests for a Personal Budget The parent or young person has a right to request a personal budget:- when the LA has completed an EHC assessment and confirmed that it will prepare an EHC plan (9.98) during a statutory review (9.98) LAs must consider each request for a Personal Budget on its own individual merits (9.106)

Requests – SEND COP (9.106) LAs must consider each request on its individual merits and prepare a PB in each case unless the sum is part of a larger amount and disaggregation of the funds for the PB:- – Would have an adverse impact on services provided or arranged by the LA for other EHC plan holders, or – Where it would not be an efficient use of the LA’s resources

Clarification

Personal budgets and families Survey carried out by National network for Parent Carer Forums and In Control Rough and ready – not scientific – a snapshot 161 responses Usefully highlighting issues to discuss with the Department for Education and local areas

What did the survey tell us? 1 Of 161 responses, 88 families had not been offered a personal budget Lack of information offered to families to help them make an informed choice Lack of consistent and shared knowledge across the workforce Confusion about what is and isn’t a personal budget and direct payments

What did the survey tell us? 2 Some evidence of personal budgets working for social care Families told ‘we don’t do personal budgets’ Or families simply told ‘they are not eligible’ Lack of any mention of personal health budgets ……basically not the best of findings… little evidence of a genuinely positive or proactive approach towards personal budgets.

However …… As much as it didn’t surprise us it probably doesn’t surprise you….so maybe this is an opportunity….. We need….. – A clear simple definition which is consistent across the country – We need the DfE to restate the importance of personal budgets as core to the reforms – We need ‘Local Offers’ to share easy to understand and accessible information about personal budgets and for all those supporting families to understand them and to discuss with all families

…..and most importantly….. We need people to see personal budgets as positive …….that families wishing to get more involved in their child’s support and lives is a good thing We all, at least of those of us here, know personal budgets have a huge potential to improve the support we and families can make available ….. So……….

Collecting and sharing ‘Good practice’

Commissioners guidanceProviders guidance A family guide to Personal Budgets Case studies E learning Making it Personal Products