Data set from School capacity

Capacity - national, regional, local authority

Latest data

Published 19 March 2026

Last updated 19 March 2026

Number of schools, schools with sixth form places, school places (which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places) and sixth form places as at 1 May 2025. Pupils on roll and sixth form pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census.

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Data set details

• Theme: Pupils and schools
• Publication: School capacity
• Release: Academic year 2024/25
• Number of rows: 7,386
• Geographic levels: Local authority, National, Regional
• Indicators:
  • Number of pupils on roll
  • Number of school places
  • Number of schools
• Filters:
  • School phase
• Time period: 2009/10 to 2024/25

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Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data

time_period	time_identifier	geographic_level	country_code	country_name	region_code	region_name	old_la_code	new_la_code	la_name	education_phase	school_count	school_places	pupils_on_roll_count	school_at_or_over_capacity_count	school_at_or_over_capacity_percent	pupils_over_capacity_count	pupils_over_capacity_percent	school_under_capacity_count	school_under_capacity_percent	unfilled_places_count	unfilled_places_percent
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Total	20158	9067230	7916109	3004	14.9022	46739	0.51547165	17152	85.0878	1197445	13.20629343
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Primary	16740	4951383	4283709	2353	14.0561	17732	0.35812217	14385	85.9318	684991	13.83433679
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Secondary	3418	4115847	3632400	651	19.0462	29007	0.70476381	2767	80.9537	512454	12.45075436
202425	Academic year	Regional	E92000001	England	E12000004	East Midlands				Total	1944	781762	691916	285	14.6604	4655	0.59544977	1659	85.3395	94501	12.08820587
202425	Academic year	Regional	E92000001	England	E12000004	East Midlands				Primary	1654	431986	376346	221	13.3615	1569	0.36320622	1433	86.6384	57209	13.24325325

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Variables in this data set

Table showing first 5 of 12 variables

Variable name	Variable description
education_phase	School phase
pupils_on_roll_count	Number of pupils on roll
pupils_over_capacity_count	Pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity
pupils_over_capacity_percent	Pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity as a percentage of total places
school_at_or_over_capacity_count	Number of schools at or in excess of capacity

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Footnotes

1. Includes mainstream state schools with capacity in any of the year groups from reception to year 11 on 1 May for the relevant academic year.
2. Primary places include all reported capacity in primary and middle deemed primary schools. Capacity excludes nursery places.
3. Secondary places include all reported capacity in secondary, middle-deemed secondary and all-through schools. Capacity includes sixth form places.
4. Number of pupils on roll for reception year group and above. Taken from the May school census for the relevant academic year, or gathered during the school capacity collection if census data was not available for a school.
5. A school is identified as at or in excess of capacity when their pupil number on roll is greater than or equal to capacity.
6. 2019/20 data not available due to the cancellation of the 2020 School Capacity survey due to COVID-19.
7. Number of pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity is the difference between school places and number of pupils on roll, for schools where the number of pupils on roll is higher than the school’s reported capacity. Calculated at school level and then aggregated.
8. School places and net change in school places for 2024/25 have been affected by the Net Capacity Assessment programme and therefore do not represent school places built between 2023/24 and 2024/25.

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Capacity - national, regional, local authority statistics and data:

Pupil Place Planning team

Email: SCAP.PPP@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Robert Miller

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