Reporting year 2024

Local authority school places scorecards

School Places scorecard for local authorities in England. School places delivered, planned and needed, pupil forecasting accuracy, cost of school places.

Release type
Published

Background information

Introduction

The 2024 interactive scorecards can be found here: https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/la-school-places-scorecards (opens in new tab)

These scorecards display a snapshot of the progress each local authority across England is making towards ensuring there are sufficient good quality school places.

They contain previously published information from various sources that has been analysed to produce the following.

  • Number of places that have been delivered between 2009/10 and 2023/24
  • Percentage of unfilled places in 2023/24
  • DfE’s estimate of places still needed for 2026/27
  • DfE's estimate of the percentage of spare places in 2026/27
  • Anticipated change in pupil numbers 2024/25 to 2026/27
  • Basic need capital funding allocated to each local authority to create new places from 2011 to 2026
  • Quality of places delivered between 2022/23 and 2023/24
  • Accuracy of local authorities’ latest pupil forecasts for 2024/25
  • How closely school preference was met for September 2024 and September 2025 entry
  • National average cost of providing places, adjusted for regional location factors 

The interactive scorecard provides users with the functionality to compare local authority data in the relevant charts. Please provide any feedback on the interactive scorecards using this short survey (opens in new tab)


Headline facts and figures

This release has been made to share the interactive scorecard (opens in new tab) and underlying data on the Explore Education Statistics platform. The scorecards display a snapshot of the progress local authorities are making in delivering good quality school places. You can use the scorecards to view the progress for England as a whole or any individual local authority. No commentary is usually made alongside this data or the scorecard, but it complements the main School Capacity release in which headlines can be found.


Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Local authority school places scorecards statistics and data:

Pupil Place Planning team

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

Press office

If you have a media enquiry:

Telephone: 020 7783 8300

Public enquiries

If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:

Phone: 0370 000 2288

Opening times

Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm (closed on bank holidays)