Funding for Private Provision
My daughter is diagnosed AuDHD and receives high rate daily living DLA and low mobility. No EHCP.
She attended a private Waldorf school until it closed down in 2024. Waldorf has a very different approach to education which was accessible to her.
After the closure there was a nearly 2yr court battle between myself and her father as he tried to force her into state school. CAFCASS concluded that would not be in her best interests and would in fact be harmful for her to attend state school and it was court ordered that she would not be made to. She was to be home educated and attend a Waldorf home education group four days a week - highlighting that the Waldorf approach is the type of education that she can access. I was able to receive financial support for this through UC as it was Ofsted registered as childcare.
She has now aged out of that provision and wishes to attend another private Waldorf school, ideally starting in Sept for the next two years for her GCSE's. (She would be going into year 10)
Unfortunately the fees would stretch the family budget to it's max and the schools own funding applications have closed for this upcoming year.
What funding sources are available?
Would a section 19 be applicable here?
A: SenseCheck
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- 26 Aug 2026
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Dear Louise C,
This is not a typical SEND-related question, so please treat the following as suggestions to consider rather than a definitive view on the funding options available.
There are potentially two statutory routes here, although section 19 of the Education Act 1996 is unlikely, by itself, to provide a straightforward route to funding the private Waldorf school.
Section 19 may be relevant if your daughter is now without suitable education and would not otherwise receive it unless the local authority made arrangements. In broad terms, the section 19 question is whether your daughter, because of illness, exclusion or otherwise, may not receive suitable education unless the local authority makes arrangements for it. Even if that duty is engaged, however, it does not automatically require the authority to fund the particular Waldorf school you have identified.
The more significant longer-term route may be to request an EHC needs assessment under section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014. The test is whether your daughter has or may have special educational needs and whether it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made through an EHCP. The fact that she is currently home educated does not prevent an assessment being sought.
The CAFCASS evidence and Family Court order could be particularly important, although their relevance is slightly different under the two routes. For section 19, the order would not itself create a duty to fund the Waldorf school, but it could be relevant to whether your daughter would otherwise be left without suitable education, particularly if the order effectively prevents attendance at a “state school” and her previous home-education arrangement has now ended. The local authority would still have to apply the section 19 test.
In relation to an EHCP, the Family Court order would again not determine the outcome. The local authority would still have to apply the statutory SEND framework when deciding what provision and placement are appropriate. However, the order, the CAFCASS conclusions and the evidence underlying them could materially influence that decision-making, particularly if they show that attendance at a “state school” would be harmful or inaccessible to her. Much would depend upon the precise terms of the order.
If an EHCP were ultimately issued, a private school can, in appropriate circumstances, be named in the plan. If the Waldorf school were named as the placement to be secured by the local authority, the authority would be responsible for the fees.
Your daughter’s DLA award may form part of the wider evidence about her level of need, but it does not itself provide a route to payment of private-school fees.
There are also independent sources of funding which may be worth exploring. These include the school’s own discretionary or hardship bursary arrangements, educational charitable trusts which contribute towards independent-school fees, and occupation- or location-specific trusts. As the school’s ordinary funding deadline has passed, I would ask specifically whether it has a late discretionary bursary, hardship fund or exceptional application process.
You could also search resources such as the Educational Trusts’ Forum and Turn2us Grants Search, and ask the school whether it is aware of trusts or charities that have previously helped families with fees. Sometimes funding can be put together from more than one source.
In practical terms, I would consider requesting an EHC needs assessment promptly, raising section 19 separately if your daughter is currently without suitable education, and exploring bursary and charitable funding at the same time.
If you would like a fuller treatment of the SEND legal framework, you could also refer to the Noddy No-nonsense Guide to SEN Law, which can be found here:
https://supportsendkids.org/content/resource/161/noddy-no-nonsense-guide-to-sen-law?parentId=157Perhaps others can add some more specific suggestions, particularly about possible charitable or bursary funding.
Sean Kennedy
26 Aug 2026
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