What is EOTAS?
EOTAS stands for Education Otherwise Than At School. It is special educational provision that a local authority arranges outside a school or college, under section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014, where the authority is satisfied it would be inappropriate for that provision to be made in a school.
How it compares with home education and high needs funding: three routes, and who pays for each.
The important part, and the part most families are never told clearly: EOTAS is not you giving up on education. It is the local authority accepting that a classroom is the wrong place for this child, right now, and funding something that works instead.
A child on an EOTAS package still has an EHCP. The local authority still holds the legal duty to arrange and fund everything that plan specifies. Nothing is withdrawn.
EOTAS is not the same as home education
These two get confused constantly, including by professionals, and the difference has real financial and legal consequences.
EOTAS
- Arranged by the local authority
- Funded by the local authority
- Child keeps their EHCP, and the LA keeps its legal duty to deliver it
- Set out in Section F of the EHCP
- Reviewed at annual review like any other provision
Elective home education
- Arranged by the parent
- Funded by the parent
- Parent takes on responsibility for the child’s education
- LA duty to arrange provision generally falls away
- Harder to reverse than families expect
If home education is what you want, we support that too — see SEND home education support.
Families are sometimes encouraged to deregister when what they actually needed was an EOTAS request. Before you sign anything, it is worth a conversation.
Is EOTAS right for your child?
There is no checklist that decides this, and anyone who gives you one is oversimplifying. But these are the situations where EOTAS is most often the right conversation.
Your child has an EHCP but no school place
No setting has been named, or the named setting cannot meet need. The local authority still owes your child a suitable full-time education in the meantime.
Placements have broken down — more than once
A pattern of failed placements is evidence in itself. It usually means the issue is the setting type, not the child.
Attendance has collapsed and anxiety is the reason
Where emotionally based school avoidance has become entrenched, forcing attendance tends to deepen it. More on EBSA here.
Your child is out of school and nothing has replaced it
Weeks become terms. Gaps compound. The longer provision is absent, the harder re-engagement becomes.
Part-time EOTAS is lawful. It is a common misconception that EOTAS is all-or-nothing. The Upper Tribunal confirmed in AM and SP v Wokingham Borough Council [2026] UKUT 327 (AAC) that section 61 applies where any part of a child’s provision would be inappropriate in school — and to that part only. Hybrid arrangements are lawful. Read our breakdown of the ruling. Flexi-schooling is different: it is agreed with the school, and the home days are arranged and funded by the parent.
What an EWL EOTAS package includes
Built around the individual child, with the structure, evidence and reporting a local authority expects.
EOTAS Support Service
Education Otherwise Than At School provision, tailored to the needs of each child, for children whose needs cannot currently be met in a school setting.
- EOTAS packages built around the individual child
- Delivered by a Kent County Council-approved education supplier
- Structured provision plans mapped to the EHCP
- Regular written progress reporting for parents and the local authority
- Ongoing review and adaptation as your child’s needs change
Funded via EHCP Personal Budget or EOTAS allocation. Pricing depends on the budget allocated to each child.
Enquire About EOTASEvidence to support an EOTAS request
Before EOTAS is agreed, you need evidence that school provision is inappropriate for your child. That is what a Gap Analysis Assessment produces.
- Independent assessment of learning, cognition, working memory and processing
- Written in the language local authority panels and tribunals expect
- Suitable to support an EOTAS request, EHCP application or appeal
- No waiting list
EWL provides the evidence. We do not act as legal representatives — for free advice on appeals, see IPSEA or SOS!SEN, or in Kent, IASK (Information, Advice and Support Kent, 03000 41 3000).
About Gap AnalysisHow EOTAS is funded
Where EOTAS is named in an EHCP, the local authority is responsible for arranging and funding the provision. You are not paying for this out of pocket.
Because the budget allocated differs for every child, EOTAS packages are priced on application. We will tell you honestly whether what has been allocated is enough to deliver what your child needs — and if it is not, what the shortfall is.
Why it matters who delivers your child’s EOTAS
The government consulted during 2026 on reforming EOTAS. One of the central proposals is a national set of standards for approved EOTAS providers — because provision quality currently varies enormously, and oversight is patchy.
Education With Lauren is already a Kent County Council-approved education supplier — the same kind of local-authority accountability the consultation proposes to make a national requirement. Provision is mapped to the EHCP, progress is reported in writing to both parents and the local authority, and the package is reviewed as needs change.
If reform lands as proposed, families already with an approved provider are the least disrupted. Read our summary of what is changing.