Data set from Special educational needs in England

FSM, Ethnicity and Language, by type of SEN provision and type of need - 2016 to 2025

Latest data

Published 12 June 2025

Last updated 25 September 2025

Number of pupils in state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, non-maintained special schools and AP schools by SEN provision, type of need, free school meal eligibility, language and ethnicity.

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Data set details

• Theme: Pupils and schools
• Publication: Special educational needs in England
• Release: Academic year 2024/25
• Number of rows: 314,273
• Geographic levels: Local authority, National, Regional
• Indicators:
  • Any other ethnic group
  • Any other ethnic group (%)
  • Asian - any other Asian background
• Filters:
  • Phase type of school
  • Primary type of need
  • SEN provision
• Time period: 2015/16 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_name	region_code	old_la_code	la_name	new_la_code	phase_type_grouping	sen_status	sen_primary_need	number_of_pupils	fsm_not_eligible	fsm_eligible	ethnicity_white_british	ethnicity_irish	ethnicity_traveller_of_irish_heritage	ethnicity_any_other_white_background	ethnicity_gypsy_roma	ethnicity_white_and_black_caribbean	ethnicity_white_and_black_african	ethnicity_white_and_asian	ethnicity_any_other_mixed_background	ethnicity_indian	ethnicity_pakistani	ethnicity_bangladeshi	ethnicity_any_other_asian_background	ethnicity_black_caribbean	ethnicity_black_african	ethnicity_any_other_black_background	ethnicity_chinese	ethnicity_any_other_ethnic_group	ethnicity_unclassified	language_english	language_other	language_unclassified	fsm_not_eligible_percent	fsm_eligible_percent	ethnicity_white_british_percent	ethnicity_irish_percent	ethnicity_traveller_of_irish_heritage_percent	ethnicity_any_other_white_background_percent	ethnicity_gypsy_roma_percent	ethnicity_white_and_black_caribbean_percent	ethnicity_white_and_black_african_percent	ethnicity_white_and_asian_percent	ethnicity_any_other_mixed_background_percent	ethnicity_indian_percent	ethnicity_pakistani_percent	ethnicity_bangladeshi_percent	ethnicity_any_other_asian_background_percent	ethnicity_black_caribbean_percent	ethnicity_black_african_percent	ethnicity_any_other_black_background_percent	ethnicity_chinese_percent	ethnicity_any_other_ethnic_group_percent	ethnicity_unclassified_percent	language_english_percent	language_other_percent	language_unclassified_percent
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Non-maintained special school	Education, Health and Care plans	Moderate Learning Difficulty	154	108	46	104	2	0	15	0	3	1	2	2	4	4	0	4	1	6	2	0	3	1	132	22	0	70.12987013	29.87012987	67.53246753	1.298701299	0	9.74025974	0	1.948051948	0.649350649	1.298701299	1.298701299	2.597402597	2.597402597	0	2.597402597	0.649350649	3.896103896	1.298701299	0	1.948051948	0.649350649	85.71428571	14.28571429	0
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Non-maintained special school	Education, Health and Care plans	Multi-sensory impairment	26	18	8	22	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	21	5	0	69.23076923	30.76923077	84.61538462	0	0	3.846153846	0	0	0	0	0	3.846153846	3.846153846	0	0	0	3.846153846	0	0	0	0	80.76923077	19.23076923	0
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Non-maintained special school	Education, Health and Care plans	Other difficulty or disability	71	41	30	59	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	67	4	0	57.74647887	42.25352113	83.09859155	0	0	1.408450704	0	1.408450704	0	2.816901408	4.225352113	1.408450704	0	0	0	0	4.225352113	0	0	1.408450704	0	94.36619718	5.633802817	0
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Non-maintained special school	Education, Health and Care plans	Physical Disability	334	265	69	268	0	0	15	0	5	1	7	8	4	7	0	2	2	3	1	1	3	7	321	12	1	79.34131737	20.65868263	80.23952096	0	0	4.491017964	0	1.497005988	0.299401198	2.095808383	2.395209581	1.19760479	2.095808383	0	0.598802395	0.598802395	0.898203593	0.299401198	0.299401198	0.898203593	2.095808383	96.10778443	3.592814371	0.299401198
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Non-maintained special school	Education, Health and Care plans	Profound & Multiple Learning Difficulty	193	148	45	131	1	0	5	1	3	1	4	22	4	6	1	1	1	3	2	1	2	4	177	16	0	76.68393782	23.31606218	67.87564767	0.518134715	0	2.590673575	0.518134715	1.554404145	0.518134715	2.07253886	11.39896373	2.07253886	3.10880829	0.518134715	0.518134715	0.518134715	1.554404145	1.03626943	0.518134715	1.03626943	2.07253886	91.70984456	8.29015544	0

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Variables in this data set

Table showing first 5 of 52 variables

Variable name	Variable description
ethnicity_any_other_asian_background	Asian - any other Asian background
ethnicity_any_other_asian_background_percent	Asian - any other Asian background (%)
ethnicity_any_other_black_background	Black - Any other Black background
ethnicity_any_other_black_background_percent	Black - Any other Black background (%)
ethnicity_any_other_ethnic_group	Any other ethnic group

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Footnotes

1. Includes state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, non-maintained special schools and state-funded alternative provision schools. Does not include independent schools.
2. EHC plans also includes statements of SEN. Statements were phased out from 2014 to 2018
3. Please note that Down Syndrome has been recorded as a primary need for the first time in the school census in 2024/25. This addition means that there are likely to be pupils recorded with a primary need of Downs syndrome this year that would have been recorded with a different primary need last year.

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