Can an EHCP pay for a tutor?

Parents ask me this more than almost anything else, usually in a slightly defeated tone, as though they’re asking for a favour.

They’re not. So let’s be precise about how the money actually works.

First: an EHCP is not a cheque

This is where most of the confusion starts. An EHCP doesn’t arrive with a sum of money attached that you can spend. What it does is create a legal duty.

Section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014 says the local authority “must secure the specified special educational provision for the child or young person.”

Must. Not “should where possible”, not “subject to available resources”. If it is written in the plan, the LA is legally obliged to make it happen, and a shortage of budget is not a defence.

So the question is never really “will they pay for a tutor?” The question is “is specialist one-to-one tuition written into Section F?”

Everything follows from that.

Section F is the section that matters

An EHCP has sections A to K. Most of them describe your child. Only one of them is the enforceable list of what must be provided, and that’s Section F — the special educational provision.

Provision in Section F should be specific and quantified. “Access to literacy support” is close to worthless. “Two hours per week of one-to-one specialist literacy tuition, delivered by a qualified teacher” is enforceable.

If you take one thing from this guide, take this: vague wording in Section F is how provision quietly disappears. It is worth fighting over adjectives.

The three routes to funded tuition

Route 1 — Get tuition named in Section F

The cleanest route. If one-to-one specialist tuition is specified and quantified in Section F, the LA must secure it under section 42. They may arrange it themselves, or commission a provider.

This is usually decided at draft plan stage, at an annual review, or on appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

Route 2 — EOTAS

EOTAS means Education Otherwise Than At School, and it comes from section 61 of the same Act. It allows the LA to arrange provision outside a school where it is “satisfied that it would be inappropriate for the provision to be made in a school.”

That word — inappropriate — is the test. Not impossible, not unavailable. Inappropriate.

In an EOTAS package, Section F contains the whole package of provision, and Section I (the placement section) is left blank, because there is no school. The local authority remains responsible for arranging and funding everything in it, which can include tutors.

This is the route that most often applies to children who cannot manage school at all — and it is a genuine legal right, not a favour. I’ve set out the law, the test and how packages are actually secured in my guide to what EOTAS is and how you get one.

Route 3 — Personal budgets and direct payments

A personal budget is the estimated cost of delivering the provision in Section F. A direct payment is where the LA actually gives you money so you can arrange that provision yourself.

You can ask for one when the LA issues a draft plan, completes a reassessment, or reviews an existing plan.

Two things to know. First, direct payments can only be used for provision specified in Section F — which brings us back to the same point. Second, the LA can refuse, on grounds including that they think the money wouldn’t be used efficiently or that a head teacher hasn’t consented.

And critically: you cannot appeal a refusal of a personal budget to the SEND Tribunal. You can only ask the LA to review its decision. That makes this the weakest of the three routes, and the reason I’d usually push for Route 1 or 2 first.

The trap: home education is not EOTAS

This is the most expensive mistake I see parents make, and it is entirely understandable.

Your child cannot cope with school. Nothing is working. So you take them out and start educating them at home, thinking you’ll sort the paperwork later.

Here is the problem. Section 42 contains a caveat: the local authority’s duty does not apply if the parent has made suitable alternative arrangements.

By electively home educating, you may have done exactly that. You have arranged your child’s education, so the LA’s duty to secure the provision in their plan can fall away — along with the funding.

EOTAS is different. Under EOTAS the LA remains legally responsible for arranging and funding the provision. Under elective home education, you are responsible, and largely on your own.

They can look almost identical from the kitchen table. Legally they are worlds apart.

If you are anywhere near this decision, get advice before you deregister, not after.

“Can an EHCP pay for private school?”

A related question, and a different mechanism.

Independent or non-maintained special schools are named in Section I, the placement section — not Section F. An LA can name an independent school, and sometimes will where no maintained school can meet need, though they will weigh cost against suitability.

That’s a separate fight with its own rules, and not one I’d try to run at the same time as an argument about tuition.

What to do now

Read Section F of your child’s plan properly. Not the whole document — Section F. Ask of every line: is this specific, is it quantified, and would a stranger know exactly what to deliver?

If it’s vague, that’s your next annual review, or grounds for appeal.

If it’s specific and not being delivered, that is unlawful, and it is a different problem from not having it written down. Keep dated evidence of what’s missing.

If school has become genuinely inappropriate, look properly at EOTAS before you consider home education.

Get proper advice. I’m a teacher and a former SENCO, not a solicitor, and nothing here is legal advice. IPSEA run a free advice line and their guidance is the best in the country. Use them.

If you’re also worried about what the 2026 reforms mean for your child’s plan, I’ve written about that separately.

Where this leaves you

Most parents assume funded tuition is something you have to be lucky to get. In fact it’s something you have to be specific to get. The plan is a legal document, and the words in Section F are the whole ballgame.

If you’re looking at your child’s plan tonight and can’t tell whether what’s written would actually get delivered — that’s not you being slow. Most of them are written to be difficult to enforce.

Last updated: September 2026