Primary and infant classes
Primary admissions and appeals are split between infant (reception and years one and two) and other primary classes. Restrictions embodied in the The School Admissions (Infant Class Sizes) (England) Regulations 2012 (opens in a new tab) require infant classes to be limited to 30 children apart from a number of lawful exceptions. This reduces the possibilities of appeals for these year groups.
Parents and carers are accordingly less likely to lodge appeals for these year groups (1.3% of admissions vs 4.6% for older primary year groups), less likely to pursue them to a hearing (0.8% vs 2.8%) and less likely to experience a successful outcome (9.7% vs 28.3%).
Primary appeals over time
The proportion of appeals heard decreased from 2.6% in 2016 to 1.2% in 2022 and has since remained stable. The proportion of appeals that were successful varied over time between a low of 16.2% in 2021 and a high of 19.7% in 2019 with no overall trend.
Note that the underlying data gives breakdowns by primary sub-group. In light of relatively small numbers and methodology changes in 2025, caution is advised when comparing the 2025 rates for other (non-infant) primary appeals lodged and heard with earlier years. See the methodology document for explanation of how estimates of admission numbers have been derived for purposes of calculating rates in 2025.
Geographic variations in primary appeals
There is some regional variation in rates of primary appeals heard and success rates. In 2025 the North East region had the lowest rate of appeals heard (0.6%) but the highest success rate at 34.3%. This was considerably higher than South West region with the second highest success rate at 24.9% and joint second lowest rate of appeals heard at 0.7%.
Low appeal rates are not always associated with high success rates. The appeal heard rate across London local authorities was 0.7% but the success rate was the lowest of any region at 6.7%.
The overall pattern of regional variation between 2016 and 2025 is consistent. North West, Yorkshire and The Humber, East Midlands and West Midlands have been the regions with the highest rates of primary appeals heard and London has generally had the lowest. North East, Yorkshire and The Humber and South West regions have generally had the highest successful primary appeal rates, and London has had the lowest.
Each year a small number of local authorities hear no primary appeals. City of London has only one primary school with around 30 admissions annually and hears appeals rarely. In 2025 Redcar and Cleveland was the only other LA recording no primary appeals heard. Of those that recorded hearing at least one appeal, 24 LAs recorded no successful appeals. These included Havering (68 appeals heard), Solihull (46), Brent (37), Greenwich (34) and Luton (24). The others had all heard fewer than 20 appeals each.
Tables showing geographic variations over time can be found in the featured tables: appeal rates by region and number of appeals by LA.
