Key Facts
| SEND Code of Practice: page last updated | 12 September 2024. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25 |
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| EHC needs assessment decision | The local authority must say whether it will assess within 6 weeks of the request, decide whether to issue a plan within 16 weeks and issue the final plan within 20 weeks. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25 (as set out in the SEND Regulations) |
Figures correct at the time of writing. Confirm current fees and deadlines with the school or university directly.
EHCP-funded tuition exists only where an education, health and care plan specifies one-to-one teaching as special educational provision, or where the local authority agrees a Personal Budget that covers it. Section F of the plan sets out the provision the local authority must secure, so the wording there decides whether tuition is funded. Each Personal Budget request is decided on its own merits, which means no family can assume tuition funding before the local authority has decided.
For a parent weighing this up, the first steps are reading Section F of the plan and the local authority's local policy on Personal Budgets, since those two documents show what is specified and how any budget would be managed. A tutor's part, where tuition goes ahead, is one-to-one teaching paced and structured around how the child learns, giving more time with one adult on the skills school support has identified.
What does an EHC plan contain?
An EHC plan is divided into lettered sections, each recording a different part of what the child or young person receives. Reading them in order shows where provision is named, where health and social care sit, which school is named and whether a Personal Budget exists. A parent holding a draft or final plan can check each section against the list below, starting with Section F, because that is the section the local authority must secure.
- Section F: the special educational provision required by the child or young person
- Section G: any health provision
- Sections H1 and H2: social care provision
- Placement section: the name and type of the school or other institution
- Section J: where there is a Personal Budget, the details of how it will be used
Does an EHC plan pay for tuition?
An EHC plan pays for tuition only if Section F specifies it, because the local authority must secure the special educational provision that Section F sets out. A parent who wants tuition funded this way can begin by checking whether Section F names one-to-one teaching or describes provision a tutor would deliver. Where Section F is silent on tuition, no funding follows from the plan, and the family can ask the local authority what options it offers for that provision.
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Enquire about this tutorWhat can a Personal Budget include?
A Personal Budget can include funding from education, health and social care, although its scope varies with the individual's needs, the eligibility criteria and local arrangements. Parents have the right to request a Personal Budget for elements of an EHC plan, and Section J records how it will be used where one exists. The local authority must consider each request on its individual merits, so the outcome for one family says little about the outcome for another.
How can a Personal Budget be managed?
The Code of Practice names direct payments, an arrangement where someone else holds the funds, and third party arrangements, and it also allows a combination of these. Each local authority must set out a local policy for Personal Budgets that includes these mechanisms of control, so the policy shows which options a parent's own authority offers. A parent can ask the local authority for a copy before choosing which arrangement to request.
The arrangements work as follows.
- Direct payments: individuals receive the cash to contract, purchase and manage services themselves
- Local authority, school or college holds the funds and commissions the support specified in the plan, sometimes called a notional budget
- Third party arrangements
- A combination of these
Does the school have to agree to a direct payment?
A direct payment for special educational provision needs the school's agreement whenever any of the provision is to be delivered on its premises. The local authority must secure that agreement from the school or college before going ahead. Where agreement cannot be reached, the local authority must not proceed with the direct payment, though it should explore other ways to personalise provision. A parent considering a tutor who would work on site can raise this with the school early.
How does a parent start the process or appeal?
A parent can ask the local authority for an EHC needs assessment at any time. The decision on whether to assess, the decision on whether to issue a plan and the final plan each follow set time limits, and the key-facts table and the source page give the exact figures. The guide to getting an EHCP walks through each stage in order.
A parent who disagrees with a decision can appeal to the SEND Tribunal after receiving mediation advice.
How does a tutor work to the plan's outcomes?
A tutor works to the plan by carrying the strategies in an SEN support plan or EHC plan into regular, well-paced weekly practice. Sessions concentrate on skills the child's needs make harder in a busy classroom, taught in shorter steps with more practice and review. A parent can share the outcomes named in the plan with the tutor, so that the work in each session links back to them and the tutor can describe progress in those terms.
What can a family ask the tutor and the local authority?
A family can put separate questions to the tutor and to the local authority, because the tutor shapes the teaching and the local authority decides funding. Asking in writing gives a parent a record of each answer to refer back to when the plan is reviewed or a decision is queried.
- Tutor: which strategies from the plan each session will carry into weekly practice
- Tutor: how the work will be broken into shorter steps, with practice and review
- Local authority: whether Section F specifies tuition
- Local authority: which mechanisms of control its Personal Budget policy offers
- Local authority: whether the school has been asked to agree to provision on its premises
Related guides
- EOTAS tutors
- SEN tutors
- Catch-up tutoring
- How to get an EHCP
- SEN support plans in England
- Home education with an EHCP or SEN
- EOTAS tutoring
- Choosing a tutor for a child with SEND
- JCQ access arrangements: extra time, readers and scribes
SEN tutoring with Taylor Tuition
Families who come to us alongside SEN support at school, an EHC plan or an access arrangements application usually want one-to-one tuition that fits around the support the school already gives. More than half of our tutors hold Qualified Teacher Status and around three in five hold a master's degree or doctorate, and the pool includes former heads of department, exam-board examiners and teachers from independent and boarding schools.
Sessions run online for families across the UK and internationally, and in person in central London. Fees start from £50 per 50-minute session and depend on tutor level and subject. There is no registration fee. Every tutor who works with children holds an enhanced DBS check and families receive progress reports after sessions.
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Frequently asked questions
- Can a child have a tutor alongside an EHC plan?
- Tuition is designed to run alongside the support the school already provides and any specialist or health input, giving a child more time with one adult on the skills school support has identified. A parent can enquire and receive tutor recommendations matched to the child's age, subjects and needs, then share the plan so the tutor can see the strategies it describes.
- Can a tutor write or change Section F?
- Tutors cannot diagnose a need, assess for access arrangements or set statutory provision. The special educational provision in Section F is what the local authority secures through the plan, so any wish to change what the plan specifies goes to the local authority. A tutor's contribution sits in the teaching that follows from the plan.
- Is tuition online or in person?
- Sessions run online for families across the UK and in person only in central London. A family outside central London therefore works with a tutor online, and a parent can say which format they prefer when enquiring. Both formats are one-to-one, with the teaching paced and structured around how the child learns.
- Can special educational provision be made outside a school?
- Section 61 of the Children and Families Act allows special educational provision to be made otherwise than in a school or post-16 institution, and parents must be consulted about it. A parent can ask the local authority how any such arrangement would work for their child, and can expect to be consulted before it is settled.
- Which funding does a Personal Budget use?
- A Personal Budget uses the local authority's high needs funding. The special educational provision in a plan can include provision funded from the school's budget share and more specialist provision funded wholly or partly from high needs funding, and it is the latter that is used for Personal Budgets. Knowing which source a provision sits in helps a parent frame questions to the local authority.
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