What is EOTAS, and how do you actually get one?

Of everything I get asked about, EOTAS is the one where the gap between what parents are told and what the law actually says is widest.

Parents are told it doesn’t exist. That it’s not available in this authority. That there’s no budget for it. That they’d have to home educate instead.

None of those are legal answers. Here’s what is.

What EOTAS actually means

EOTAS stands for Education Otherwise Than At School. It’s a statutory arrangement under section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014, which allows a local authority to arrange your child’s special educational provision somewhere other than a school.

The Act puts it like this. The LA may arrange provision otherwise than in a school where it is “satisfied that it would be inappropriate for the provision to be made in a school or post-16 institution.”

That’s the whole test. One word does the work: inappropriate.

Note what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say impossible. It doesn’t say no school will take them. It doesn’t say you must have tried and failed at three schools first. It says inappropriate — which the courts have read as meaning not suitable or not proper for this child.

What EOTAS is not

Four things get confused with it constantly.

It is not elective home education. This is the big one. Under EOTAS the local authority remains responsible for arranging and funding provision. Under home education you take that on yourself, and the LA’s duty can fall away entirely.

It is not a part-time timetable. A reduced timetable at a named school is still school.

It is not alternative provision. AP usually means a pupil referral unit or similar — which is still, legally, a setting.

It is not a reward for having exhausted everything else. There’s no requirement to have failed at several schools first, though many authorities behave as though there is.

The two sections that decide everything

An EHCP is split into lettered sections. For EOTAS, only two of them matter.

Section F is the what. It lists the support your child must get — the tuition, the therapies, the hours.

Section I is the where. It names the school.

Why Section I matters so much

EOTAS means your child isn’t educated at a school. So there’s no school to name, and Section I is left blank. Everything moves into Section F instead.

That blank box is what makes it EOTAS:

• Section I blank → full EOTAS
• A school named in Section I → a school placement, whatever else is happening

Which is why some local authorities are keen to put something in Section I. A named school keeps your child on a school’s books.

In 2021 the Upper Tribunal closed that off, in a case called NN v Cheshire East Council. It ruled that if it would be inappropriate for your child’s provision to be made at any school, Section I must be left blank. An LA doesn’t get to name a school just to fill the box.

The catch: part-time still counts as school

This is the bit that catches people out.

If your child will be at school for any part of the week — one afternoon, or even doing something bespoke in a quiet room rather than sitting in lessons — then a school must be named in Section I.

So that arrangement isn’t full EOTAS. It’s a school placement, with extra provision written into Section F.

That isn’t necessarily worse. For some children it’s exactly right. But it’s a different thing with a different legal basis, and it’s worth being clear which one you’re asking for before you ask.

What the decision-maker has to consider

NN v Cheshire East also set out what must be weighed when deciding whether school is inappropriate:

• your child’s background and medical history
• their particular educational needs
• the facilities available at school
• the facilities available outside school
• the comparative costs
• your wishes as a parent
• any other relevant circumstances

Cost is on that list, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. But it is one factor among seven, not a veto. An authority that leads with “we can’t afford it” and stops there has not applied the test.

What can go in an EOTAS package

Whatever meets the needs identified in the plan. In practice packages often include:

• one-to-one specialist tuition, in specific subjects or across the curriculum
• therapies — speech and language, occupational therapy, counselling
• life skills, social opportunities, physical activity
• exam entry and access arrangements
• equipment and materials
• travel where it’s needed to access provision

All of it belongs in Section F, and it should be specific and quantified. “Tuition as required” is not provision. “Six hours per week of one-to-one tuition with a qualified teacher experienced in this area of need” is.

The LA must then secure it, under section 42. Vague wording is how packages shrink at the next review.

How you actually get one

There are three moments where EOTAS gets decided.

1. At draft plan stage. After an EHC needs assessment, you get a draft plan and fifteen days to respond. Ask for EOTAS here, in writing, with reasons and evidence.

2. At an annual review. If circumstances have changed — and a child who has stopped being able to attend is a change — the review is where to raise it.

3. On appeal to the SEND Tribunal. If the final plan names a school and you don’t agree, you can appeal Sections B, F and I. This is where most EOTAS packages are actually won.

Mediation sits before appeal and is worth using, particularly if you have new evidence.

The evidence that matters

Assertion won’t do it. What helps:

• An educational psychologist’s report. Generally considered the minimum. It should address why school placement is inappropriate for this child, not merely that they’re struggling.
• Medical and clinical evidence, particularly anything on the effect of attendance attempts on your child’s health.
• The history. Attendance data, records of what was tried, what happened.
• Your child’s own views, in whatever form they can give them.
• Your account, written calmly and specifically. What actually happens at 8am.

So how hard is it, honestly?

Hard to get agreed by a local authority. Considerably easier to win on appeal.

In 2024/25 there were 25,000 EHCP appeals registered — an 18% rise, and the first time that figure has been reached. Of appeals that reached a decision, parents succeeded on the majority of their case 99% of the time.

Read that carefully, because it’s often quoted loosely. It doesn’t mean every parent gets everything. Placement cases in particular are harder — around 13% went the local authority’s way. But the overall picture is unambiguous: when these disputes are tested against the law by an independent tribunal, authorities lose almost every time.

Which tells you something about how the law is being applied before it gets there.

The appeal process is slow and exhausting and I won’t pretend otherwise. But “the LA said no” is the beginning of the process, not the end of it.

One thing worth knowing

The government consulted specifically on EOTAS as part of the 2026 SEND reforms, with that consultation closing on 18 September 2026. The response has not yet been published.

If you’re relying on EOTAS it’s worth following what comes out of it — though remember that nothing changes to EHCP support before at least September 2030.

What to do now

If school has become genuinely inappropriate for your child — not just difficult, inappropriate — start gathering evidence now. Attendance records, medical letters, a written account of what mornings look like.

Get an EP assessment if you don’t have a current one.

Ask in writing, at draft stage or at review, and ask for reasons in writing if refused.

Don’t deregister first. Whatever else you do, get advice before you take your child off roll. It’s the single most common way families lose their funding.

Get proper support. I’m a teacher and a former SENCO, not a solicitor, and none of this is legal advice. IPSEA and your local SENDIASS both offer free advice, and IPSEA’s guidance is the best there is.

Where this leaves you

EOTAS isn’t a loophole or a favour. It’s a provision in an Act of Parliament, with a test, a body of case law, and a tribunal that upholds it at remarkable rates.

If you’ve been told it isn’t available where you live, that isn’t a legal position. It’s a negotiating one.

Last updated: September 2026