How do LAs arrange EOTAS packages?

Once satisfied a school placement is inappropriate, the local authority itself arranges and funds the child’s Section F provision — sometimes through a personal budget — while keeping its legal duty to secure it.

EOTAS means “education otherwise than at school”. The power that makes it lawful is section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014, which lets an authority arrange special educational provision somewhere other than a school or post-16 institution. It applies only where the child or young person already has an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC plan), and only where the authority is satisfied it would be inappropriate for the provision to be made in such a setting. Before exercising the power, the authority must consult the parent or the young person.

The sequence to follow

1. Make the section 61 inappropriateness decision. Apply the test to whether it would be inappropriate for any of the provision, or any part of it, to be made in school. The Upper Tribunal set out how this works in NN v Cheshire East Council (2021). Consult the parent or young person before you decide.
2. Set Section I and Section F correctly. For a full EOTAS package, name no school or institution in Section I and leave it blank. Specify every element of provision in Section F to a level of detail that leaves no room for doubt about what is being secured, by whom, and how often.
3. Commission and fund each element. The authority commissions the provision itself, directly or through providers it engages. Where the parent or young person asks for one and the criteria are met, you may deliver it through a personal budget or direct payments under section 49 of the Act.
4. Monitor and review. Keep the provision under review and revisit it at the annual review. The duty to secure it continues throughout, whatever the delivery route.

The duty that stays with you

The authority is under an absolute duty to secure the special educational provision in Section F (section 42(2)). The only carve-out is where the parent or young person has made suitable alternative arrangements themselves (section 42(5)). In an authority-arranged EOTAS package that carve-out does not apply, so the duty to secure and to fund every Section F element remains with you. A personal budget does not change this: even when direct payments deliver the package, the authority still commissions, monitors and reviews the provision and cannot discharge its section 42 duty by handing money over.

EOTAS is not elective home education

This is the boundary officers most often get wrong, and the most consequential to get wrong. EOTAS is a package the authority arranges and funds. Elective home education is a choice the parent makes, where they take on the responsibility and the cost. Do not conflate the two, and do not confuse a full EOTAS package with a single out-of-school element of provision sitting alongside a school place.

When the child is already out of school

EOTAS packages are often set up for a child who is already out of school after a placement breakdown, an exclusion, or acute mental-health-related school avoidance (EBSA). The section 42 duty means provision must be secured promptly. A vulnerable, out-of-school child must not be left without provision while the package is being arranged, so put interim provision in place rather than treating the set-up period as a gap.

One development to keep in view: reforms proposed in 2026 would narrow EHC plans towards the most complex needs over time, with no changes due before September 2030 and current plan holders protected while a consultation runs. EOTAS sits on the EHC plan structure, but sections 42, 49 and 61 are unchanged and remain the operative framework.

Where a child is in mental-health crisis while a package is being arranged, signpost support alongside the provision: Samaritans 116 123 (free, 24/7); Papyrus HOPELINE247 0800 068 4141 (under-35s, suicide prevention); Shout text 85258; and the YoungMinds Parents Helpline 0808 802 5544. In immediate danger, call 999 or go to A&E.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.