Data set from Widening participation in higher education

Special Educational Needs

Latest data

Published 9 July 2026

Last updated 9 July 2026

HE participation by Special Educational Needs Status by age 18, 19, 20, 25 and 30

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Data set details

• Theme: Higher education
• Publication: Widening participation in higher education
• Release: Academic year 2024/25
• Number of rows: 30,672
• Geographic levels: Local authority, National, Regional
• Indicators:
  • HE Participation Rate
  • HE Participation Rate (High Tariff)
  • Number of HE Students
• Filters:
  • Entry age
  • SEN Status
• Time period: 2005/06 to 2021/22

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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	entry_age	sen_status	participation_rate	high_tariff_participation_rate	number_of_he_students	number_of_high_tariff_he_students	number_of_students
201213	Academic year	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000008	South East	846	E06000043	Brighton and Hove	By Age 19	Any special educational need	16	2.9	99	18	618
201314	Academic year	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000008	South East	846	E06000043	Brighton and Hove	By Age 19	Total	37.9	14	884	327	2334
201314	Academic year	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000008	South East	846	E06000043	Brighton and Hove	By Age 19	No Identified special educational need	45.4	17.6	764	297	1684
201314	Academic year	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000008	South East	846	E06000043	Brighton and Hove	By Age 19	Any special educational need	18.5	4.6	120	30	650
201415	Academic year	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000008	South East	846	E06000043	Brighton and Hove	By Age 19	Total	40.1	16.3	899	365	2244

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Variables in this data set

Table showing first 5 of 7 variables

Variable name	Variable description
entry_age	Entry age
high_tariff_participation_rate	HE Participation Rate (High Tariff)
number_of_he_students	Number of HE Students
number_of_high_tariff_he_students	Number of HE Students (High Tariff)
number_of_students	Number of Pupils

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Footnotes

1. Where "no data" is shown, this indicates that there is no current record of HE participation in that category for the cohort of 15-year-olds
2. Cohorts of 15-year-olds in the period 2017/18 to 2019/20 who achieved A levels between 2020/21 and 2022/23 had higher attainment than typical years due to alternative processes put in place during the Covid pandemic. This led to more students in these cohorts being accepted to HE and in particular to high tariff HE.

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Special Educational Needs statistics and data:

Widening participation statistics

Email: HE.statistics@education.gov.uk
Contact name: John Simes

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