Money and Benefits (Local Offer)

A Personal Budget 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 council for education and social care and from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for health.

There are four ways you can use a personal budget:

1. The council, school or college will look after the Personal Budget for you. This is called an Arrangement or a Notional Budget
2. You can receive money directly to manage all or part of the Personal Budget yourself. This is called a Direct Payment. Direct Payments will be monitored regularly to ensure they are used to meet the identified needs and outcomes
3. You can opt to have someone else manage the Personal Budget for you. This is called a Third Party Arrangement
4. You can have a mixture of some or all of these arrangements

A Personal Budget is not additional funding, it is about using existing funding in a way that suits your needs better.

Who can ask for a personal budget?

Parents of a child with an EHC plan, or a young person (16-25) with an EHC plan, can request a Personal Budget either during the drafting of an EHC plan or once the plan has been issued and is under review.

Personal Budgets may also be prepared if there is no EHC plan.  This could be the case when there are no educational needs, but there is a health and/or social care support plan.

What can a personal budget be used for?

Personal Budgets can be used only to fund the support set out in an EHC plan. This must be agreed by the council for education and social care support, and by the CCG for health provision.

The Personal Budget policy for Peterborough is available to download. The policy provides information about the services across education, health and social care that form part of a Personal Budget, how the funding arrangements will work and support available for people in relation to their Direct Payments.

Direct Payments

Direct Payments are an identified sum of money paid directly to the parents of young person to enable them to choose, arrange and pay for services themselves.  An agreement has to be signed and the monitoring arrangements will ensure that these directly arranged services still meet their identified outcomes.

Commissioning is the process for deciding how to use the total resource available for children, young people and parents/carers in order to improve outcomes in the most efficient and effective way which is also fair and sustainable way.

The Children and Families Act 2014 places a legal duty on Local Authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to secure services to meet the provision set out in individual EHC Plans.

This means that the CCG and the Local Authority will work together to ensure the full integration of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision across education, health and care and strengthen the principles of joint planning and commissioning of services as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014, including those that will:

• improve the identification of needs
• support and develop further joint commissioning arrangements through the joint commissioning strategy
• build on work already undertaken in the joint health and wellbeing strategy.

Commissioned services may be provided directly by schools, health services and/or the Council, or they may be purchased from private companies and/or voluntary sector organisations, such as charities. Contracting is the process of negotiating and agreeing the terms of a contract for services, and these contracts are reviewed regularly to make sure that they are delivering the best results and are providing value for money. Commissioners also regularly repeat the Needs Assessment process to make sure that services that are commissioned are still relevant to local needs.

Grants for families raising disabled children available from Family Fund

The DfE has provided a further £10 million to the Family Fund which is a UK-wide charity that provides grants for essential items to families on low incomes raising disabled or seriously ill children.

Families can apply for grants for a wide variety of items that they feel could help their disabled child and ease some of the everyday pressures they face. These can include kitchen appliances, computers and tablets, furniture, family breaks and day trips, sensory toys, clothing and bedding, and more. Family Fund cannot consider requests where a statutory agency has assessed a need and have a responsibility to provide the item.

Families who have previously received a grant from Family Fund before 1 April 2020 and whose circumstances have not changed can re-apply for further funding.

If you are a higher education student living in England, you can apply for a Disabled Students' Allowance if you have a disability, including a:

• long-term health condition
• mental health condition
• specific learning difficulty, eg dyslexia

You must meet the definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010.

The support you get depends on your individual needs and not on income.

There are a number of benefits and tax credits that you may be entitled to. Some benefits can be paid because your child is disabled while others may be paid to you for other reasons. For example, you may be getting disability living allowance (DLA) for your child and Carer's Allowance as their carer.

Depending on your income and certain other factors, you may also be able to claim Universal Credit.

You can find out more on the Contact website.

Mobility

If your child has medium or long term mobility issues then you may need extra help with the costs getting to and from appointments, If you are  using mobility related services you may get help towards additional costs and be eligible for welfare benefits including grants such as

•  Family Fund
  
•  Motability Scheme 
•  Blue Badge scheme
  

What is Universal Credit?

Universal Credit supports you if you are on a low income or out of work. It includes a monthly payment to help with your living costs.

This website produced by The Department for Work and Pensions is really useful if you are:

• New to Universal Credit
• Making a claim
• Already claimed 
• Helping someone claim

Universal Credit for sick and disabled people

The Money Advice Service produce useful information on their website explaining about Universal Credit for sick and disabled people.

New resources on claiming Universal Credit for a disabled young person in education

Claiming Universal Credit for a disabled 16-20 year old can be a complicated process, and this is particularly true if they are still in education.

To help, Contact’s specialist family finances team have produced new resources. These include a set of templates that parents can use to challenge the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) delays in processing claims and in organising medical assessments.

You’ll also find pre-recorded benefit webinars and a link to a free download of their guide: Universal Credit – Claiming for a Young Disabled Person.

The Royal Association for Deaf People (RAD) and HMRC have launched a new website, Royal Deaf Tax, which provides information in British Sign Language on tax and tax credits, as well as enabling you to book a webcam appointment with the RAD’s tax advisor. 

Energy advice service for disabled people

Scope now offer an energy advice service for disabled people across England and Wales.

Scope's Disability Energy Support service provides free energy advice to any household where a disabled person lives across England and Wales. Their expert energy advisers can offer support with: 

• Energy debt
• Switching tariffs or supplier
• Changing your meter
• Green energy 
• Becoming more energy efficient
• Accessing energy benefits, grant and trusts 
• Contact or complaining to your supplier
• Understanding your bills
• Understanding how to use your heating systems 
• Free pre-payment fuel vouchers (conditions apply)

You can book an appointment on our webpage 

Appointments are available Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm (excluding bank holidays)

Freephone: 0808 801 0828 Lines open Monday to Friday 11am to 4pm (excluding bank holidays)

Email: disability.energysupport@scope.org.uk 

Information on the Blue Badge Parking Scheme locally and how to apply for a Blue Badge
can be found on the Blue Badge Parking Scheme page.

Financial skills are vital for young people as they make the transition to adulthood. The ability to manage money is essential in allowing them to take control of their lives. Young people who have learning disabilities are at particular risk of having poor financial management skills.

Most of them have been in a position where their family or carers take care of all of their finances, so they have not been exposed to – or had the opportunity to see – how financial management works.

This booklet by the Money Advice Service will help you understand and manage your money better.

Natwest Money Sense

Natwest moneysense has introduced new tools to help young people and children with special educational needs learn about money. You can find more deytails about this programme by visiting the Young money website

Families of disabled children trying to access savings held in Child Trust Funds can save or reclaim £365 or more after a Government fees overhaul.

The announcement, and how to claim the money, is being reported by the Money Saving Expert website which was founded by Martin Lewis - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/12/child-trust-fund-fees-waived/.

As explained on the article, CTFs are tax-free savings accounts for kids born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. Families were given free cash vouchers from the Government of £250 or £500 to put into the account – and some were also given top-ups, meaning children could have been given £1,000 in total. 

However, until now, If a young person didn't have the capacity to manage their own finances, their parent or guardian had to apply to the Court of Protection to manage and access money on their behalf.

For those who had a certain amount in savings, this came at a cost, starting from £365.

You will still need to go to court to access the money, but under the changes fees for doing so will be waived and those who have already paid can get a refund.

Deputies: make decisions for someone who lacks capacity

You can apply to become someone’s deputy if they ‘lack mental capacity’. This means they cannot make a decision for themselves at the time it needs to be made. They may still be able to make decisions for themselves at certain times.

People may lack mental capacity because, for example:

• they’ve had a serious brain injury or illness
• they have dementia
• they have severe learning disabilities

As a deputy, you’ll be authorised by the Court of Protection to make decisions on their behalf.

There are two types of deputy.

• Property and financial affairs deputy - You’ll do things like pay the person’s bills or organise their pension.
• Personal welfare deputy - You’ll make decisions about medical treatment and how someone is looked after.

Find out more about becoming a deputy at www.gov.uk.

Become an appointee for someone claiming benefits

You can apply for the right to deal with the benefits of someone who cannot manage their own affairs because they lack the capacity to do so or are severely disabled.

To find out more visit the Department for Work and Pensions Website.