Personal Budgets in Education 2025
Dear Greenwich Borough Council,
Personal Budgets for Education January 2025 update (information previously accessed January 2024)
Please could you answer the following questions in relation to your Local Education Authority:-
1. How many children/young people within your Local Authority with an EHCP have no school or setting named in Section I of their Plan (as at Jan 25)?
2. How many children/young people within your Local Authority with an EHCP are registered as being electively home educated (as at Jan 25)?
3. How many children/young people within your Local Authority with an EHCP are registered as EOTAS/EOTIS/EOTIC (Educated Otherwise Than In a School or College as per Section 61 of the Children & Families Act 2014) (as at Jan 25)
4. How many children/young people within your Local Authority have been awarded and currently access Personal Budgets for Education (as at Jan 25)?
5. How many of the Personal Budgets for Education currently accessed have been provided as part of an Education Otherwise Than At/In School or College (EOTAS(C)/EOTIS(C)) provision described in their Education Health and Care Plan (as at Jan 25)?
6. How many of the Personal Budgets for Education currently accessed have been awarded to children/young people who are being Electively Home Educated (EHE) (as at Jan 25)?
7. How many of the Personal Budgets for Education currently being accessed are awarded in the form of Direct Payments to families (as at Jan 25)?
8. What is the total annual cost of Personal Budgets for Education within your Local Authority (as at Jan 25)?
9. What is the total annual cost of Personal Budgets for Education allocated as Direct Payments to families within your Local Authority (as at Jan 25)?
I very much appreciate your response in this matter.
Yours faithfully,
Sarah Lockwood
Dear Ms Lockwood,
FOI request: FOI-3260
Thank you for your request dated 13/01/2025
Your request will be answered by 10/02/2025
If you have any queries about this request, please contact me, quoting the
reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
David White
Head of Information, Safety and Community Services
Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central
Royal Borough of Greenwich
* 3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ
ü Please consider the environment before printing this email
Dear Ms Lockwood
Freedom of Information request: FOI-3260
Thank you for your request dated 13 January 2025
Our response is as follows:
Section 12 see below
1. How many children/young people within your Local Authority with
an EHCP have no school or setting named in Section I of their Plan (as at
Jan 25)?
2. How many children/young people within your Local Authority with
an EHCP are registered as being electively home educated (as at Jan 25)?
20
3. How many children/young people within your Local Authority with
an EHCP are registered as EOTAS/EOTIS/EOTIC (Educated Otherwise Than In a
School or College as per Section 61 of the Children & Families Act 2014)
(as at Jan 25) 14
4. How many children/young people within your Local Authority have
been awarded and currently access Personal Budgets for Education (as at
Jan 25)?11
5. How many of the Personal Budgets for Education currently
accessed have been provided as part of an Education Otherwise Than At/In
School or College (EOTAS(C)/EOTIS(C)) provision described in their
Education Health and Care Plan (as at Jan 25)? 2
6. How many of the Personal Budgets for Education currently
accessed have been awarded to children/young people who are being
Electively Home Educated (EHE) (as at Jan 25)? 0
7. How many of the Personal Budgets for Education currently being
accessed are awarded in the form of Direct Payments to families (as at Jan
25)? 11
8. What is the total annual cost of Personal Budgets for Education
within your Local Authority (as at Jan 25)? £398,036.18
9. What is the total annual cost of Personal Budgets for Education
allocated as Direct Payments to families within your Local Authority (as
at Jan 25)? £398,036.18
Section 12
Section 12(1) does not oblige a local authority to comply with a request
for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with
the request would exceed the appropriate limit.
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and
Fees) Regulations 2004 (“the Fees Regulations) sets the appropriate limit
at £450 for the public authority in question. Under these Regulations, a
public authority can charge a maximum of £25 per hour for work undertaken
to comply with a request. This equates to 18 hours work.
A public authority is only required to provide a reasonable estimate or
breakdown of costs and in putting together its estimate it can take the
following processes into consideration:-
a. Determining whether it holds the information
b. Locating the information, or a document which may contain the
information;
c. Retrieving the information, or a document which may contain the
information, and
d. Extracting the information from a document containing it.
We have estimated the length of time it will take to do the following
tasks in accordance with section 12.
Retrieving and extracting the information.
To retrieve and extract the information one officer will have to read
through each electronic file this would take approximately 15 minutes (5
minutes to locate file and 10 minutes to retrieve and extract the
information. (15 minutes x 3,147 records /60) =786.75 hours
Total hours to complete the request equates to 786.75 hours
We estimate that it will take us in excess of 18 hours to determine the
appropriate material and locate, retrieve and extract the information in
reference to your request. The council is not obliged to comply with this
request because it exceeds the appropriate limit.
Section 16 of the Act imposes an obligation on public authorities to
provide advice and assistance to a person making a request, so far as it
is reasonable to do so.
The council is not a position to provide you with advice and assistance
due to the volume of records held by the council.
If you have any queries about this correspondence, please contact me,
quoting the reference number above.
If you are not satisfied with our response to your request, you can ask
for an Internal Review. Internal review requests must be submitted within
two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original
request. If you wish to do this, please contact us in writing, setting
out why you are dissatisfied.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Internal Review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision.
Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
Internal Review procedure provided by the Council. You can contact the ICO
by emailing [1][email address], or by post at Customer Contact,
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
David White
Head of Information, Safety and Community Services
Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central
Royal Borough of Greenwich
* 3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ
ü Please consider the environment before printing this email
From: foi <[Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Sent: 13 January 2025 09:36
To: 'Sarah Lockwood' <[FOI #1224350 email]>
Cc: foi <[Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Subject: FOI-3260: Freedom of Information request - Personal Budgets in
Education 2025
Dear Ms Lockwood,
FOI request: FOI-3260
Thank you for your request dated 13/01/2025
Your request will be answered by 10/02/2025
If you have any queries about this request, please contact me, quoting the
reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
David White
Head of Information, Safety and Community Services
Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central
Royal Borough of Greenwich
* 3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ
ü Please consider the environment before printing this email
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