Academic year 2022/23

School capacity

School places in primary and secondary state-funded schools including sixth form. Local authorities’ pupil forecasts and planned changes to school places.

Get email alerts

Not the latest releaseView latest release: Academic year 2024/25All releases in this series

Download all data (ZIP)Create your own tables

• Produced by: Department for Education
• Published: 21 March 2024
• Last updated: 17 May 2024

2 updates

On this page

Skip in page navigation

Explore data used in this release

This page provides a range of routes to access data from within this statistical release to suit different users.

Download all data (ZIP)

This includes all data sets, guidance files and any supporting files

More options

• Featured tables

  Featured tables are pre-prepared tables created from a statistical release's data sets. They provide statistics that are regularly requested by users and can be adapted to switch between different categories.

• Data sets: download or create tables

  Data sets present comprehensive open data from which users can create their own tables using the EES table tool or download a zipped CSV file.

• Supporting files

  Supporting files provide an area for teams to supply non-standard files for download by users where required.

• Data guidance

  Description of the data sets included in this release, including information on data sources, coverage, quality and any data conventions used.

• Data catalogue

  Alternatively use our data catalogue to search and filter for specific data sets from this release or our entire library, providing full data summaries, data previews and access to API data sets.

---

Featured tables

Featured tables are pre-prepared tables created from a statistical release's data sets. They provide statistics that are regularly requested by some users (such as local councils, regional government or government policy teams) and can be adapted to switch between different categories (such as different geographies, time periods or characteristics where available).

11 featured tables

• School capacity in England, 2009/10 to 2022/23

  School capacity in England from 2009/10 to 2022/23. This includes: number of schools , number of school places, number of pupils on roll, number of schools at or in excess of capacity, pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity, pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity as a percentage of total places, number of schools with one or more unfilled places, unfilled places and unfilled places as a percentage of total places

  View, edit or download

• School capacity in state-funded secondary schools in 2022/23 by local authority

  School capacity in 2022/23 by local authority for primary schools. This includes: number of schools, number of school places, number of pupils on roll, number of schools at or in excess of capacity, pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity, pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity as a percentage of total places, number of schools with one or more unfilled places, unfilled places and unfilled places as a percentage of total places

  View, edit or download

• School capacity in state-funded secondary schools in 2022/23 by local authority

  School capacity in 2022/23 by local authority for secondary schools. This includes: number of schools, number of school places, number of pupils on roll, number of schools at or in excess of capacity, pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity, pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity as a percentage of total places, number of schools with one or more unfilled places, unfilled places and unfilled places as a percentage of total places

  View, edit or download

• Actual pupil numbers for 2022/23 and pupil forecasts for 2023/24 to 2029/30 in England by national curriculum year group

  Pupil forecasts and actual pupil numbers for 2022/23 nto 2029/30 for year groups reception to year 13

  View, edit or download

• Actual primary pupil numbers for 2022/23 and primary pupil forecasts for 2023/24 - 2027/28 by local authority

  Local authority level primary forecasts and actual pupil numbers for 2022/23 - 2027/28

  View, edit or download

• Actual pupil numbers and pupil forecasts by local authority, 2022/23 to 2029/30 - SecondaryActual pupil numbers and pupil forecasts by local authority, 2022/23 to 2029/30 - Secondary

  Local authority level secondary forecasts and actual pupil numbers for 2022/23 to 2029/30

  View, edit or download

• Planned places by local authority, 2023/24 to 2025/26

  This includes local authority level data for primary and secondary schools on: planned additional places (permanent), bulge places (temporary for large cohort) and p laces to remove (permanent) from 2023/24 to 2025/26

  View, edit or download

• Estimated number of primary places needed to meet modelled demand from 2023/24 to 2027/28 by local authority (additional need only)

  This includes primary local authority level data on the estimated number of primary places needed to meet modelled demand from 2023/24 to 2027/28.

  View, edit or download

• Estimated school places needed by local authority, 2023/24 to 2029/30 – Secondary

  This includes secondary local authority level data on the estimated number of secondary places needed to meet modelled demand from 2023/24 to 2029/30.

  View, edit or download

• School sixth form capacity, by local authority, 2022/23

  Number of schools with reported sixth form capacity, reported sixth form places and Sixth form pupils on roll in schools with reported sixth form capacity, by local authority, 2022/23

  View, edit or download

• Specialist capacity provision in England for 2022/23

  Includes the number of pupils on roll, number of school places, number of schools, primary capacity, secondary capacity, number of primary pupils on roll, number of secondary pupils on roll.

  View, edit or download

---

Data sets: download or create tables

Data sets present comprehensive open data from which users can create their own tables using the EES table tool or download a zipped CSV file.

12 data sets available for download

Download all (ZIP)

• School capacity - national only

  National

  Total number of school places, which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places, reported by local authorities. Includes yearly and long-term change in the number of school places. File also includes number of pupils on roll from the May School Census; the number of schools at or in excess of capacity and the number of pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity; the number schools with one or more unfilled places and the number of unfilled places.

  • Number of rows: 42
  • Indicators:
    • Net change in number of school places since 2010
    • Net change in number of school places since previous SCAP survey
    • Number of pupils on roll
  • Filters:
    • School phase
  • Time period: 2009/10 to 2022/23

  Data set information page
  Create table

• School capacity - national, regional, local authority

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Total number of school places, which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places, reported by local authorities. File also includes number of pupils on roll from the May School Census; the number of schools at or in excess of capacity and the number of pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity; the number schools with one or more unfilled places and the number of unfilled places.

  • Number of rows: 6,396
  • Indicators:
    • Number of pupils on roll
    • Number of school places
    • Number of schools
  • Filters:
    • School phase
  • Time period: 2009/10 to 2022/23

  Data set information page
  Create table

• School capacity

  School

  School places, which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places, reported by local authorities. File also includes number of pupils on roll from the May School Census;  the number of pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity and the number of unfilled places.

  • Number of rows: 261,945
  • Indicators:
    • Number of pupils on roll
    • Number of school places
    • Pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity
  • Time period: 2009/10 to 2022/23

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Sixth form capacity - national, regional, local authority

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Total number of sixth form places as reported voluntarily by local authorities; sixth form pupil numbers on roll from the May School Census.

  • Number of rows: 820
  • Indicators:
    • Number of schools with reported sixth form capacity
    • Reported sixth form places
    • Sixth form pupils on roll in schools with reported sixth form capacity
  • Time period: 2017/18 to 2022/23

  Data set information page
  Create table

• School sixth form capacity

  School

  School sixth form places as reported voluntarily by local authorities; sixth form pupil numbers on roll from the May School Census.

  • Number of rows: 10,251
  • Indicators:
    • Number of pupils on roll
    • Number of school places
    • Reported sixth form places
  • Time period: 2017/18 to 2022/23

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Local authority pupil forecasts

  Local authority, National, Regional

  2022/23 actual pupil numbers on roll from the January 2023 School Census and local authority forecasts of pupil numbers for 2023/24 onwards. File also includes school places expected to be funded by housing developer contribution (HDC) agreements and housing infrastructure fund (HIF) agreements. Includes national curriculum year groups from reception to Year 13.

  • Number of rows: 210,754
  • Indicators:
    • Forecast housing developing contribution (HDC) funded places
    • Forecast housing infrastructure fund (HIF) funded places
    • Local authority pupil forecasts (includes 2022/23 actual pupil numbers)
  • Filters:
    • Year group
  • Time period: 2022/23 to 2029/30

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Local authority planned changes to school places

  Local authority, National, Regional

  School places reported by local authorities in summer 2023 as planned to be added or permanently removed from their school capacity. Includes only projects with firm plans for delivery. Includes national curriculum year groups from reception to Year 13.

  • Number of rows: 109,413
  • Indicators:
    • Bulge places (temporary for large cohort)
    • Places to remove (permanent)
    • Planned additional places (permanent)
  • Filters:
    • National curriculum year group
  • Time period: 2023/24 to 2025/26

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Estimates of future school place demand - places needed, spare places (place planning)

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Estimates of future school places needed to meet modelled demand, calculated at planning area level and aggregated to local authority, regional and national level. Estimates reflect the position reported by local authorities at May 2023 through the School Capacity survey, supplemented with DFE internal data on central programmes which will add or remove school places. Includes national curriculum year groups from reception to Year 11.

  • Number of rows: 161,689
  • Indicators:
    • Estimated number of places needed: Additional need as positives and spare places as negatives
    • Estimated number of places needed: Additional need only
  • Filters:
    • National curriculum year group
  • Time period: 2023/24 to 2029/30

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Specialist provision- mainstream schools, school level

  School

  School places, which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places, reported by local authorities. File also includes number of pupils on roll from the May School Census; SEND unit capacity; resourced provision capacity in mainstream schools.

  • Number of rows: 1,631
  • Indicators:
    • Number of school places
    • Number of school pupils on roll
    • Primary resourced provision capacity
  • Time period: 2022/23

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Specialist provision- special schools, school level

  School

  School places in special schools, which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places, reported by local authorities. File also includes number of pupils on roll from the May School Census.

  • Number of rows: 1,077
  • Indicators:
    • Number of primary pupils on roll
    • Number of primary school places
    • Number of pupils on roll
  • Time period: 2022/23

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Specialist provision capacity- national, regional, local authority

  Local authority, National, Regional

  School places in special schools aggregated to local authority, regional and national level. This includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places, reported by local authorities. File also includes number of pupils on roll from the May School Census, primary capacity, secondary capacity, number of primary pupils on roll and number of secondary pupils on roll.

  • Number of rows: 486
  • Indicators:
    • Number of primary pupils on roll
    • Number of pupils on roll
    • Number of school places
  • Filters:
    • School main phase
  • Time period: 2022/23

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Specialist provision- mainstream schools, national, regional, local authority

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Specialist provision in mainstream schools aggregated to local authority, regional and national level. School places, which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places, reported by local authorities. File also includes number of pupils on roll from the May School Census; SEND unit capacity; resourced provision capacity in mainstream schools.

  • Number of rows: 439
  • Indicators:
    • Number of school places
    • Number of school pupils on roll
    • Number of schools
  • Filters:
    • School main phase
  • Time period: 2022/23

  Data set information page
  Create table

---

Supporting files

Supporting files provide an area for teams to supply non-standard files for download by users where required.

1 supporting data file

• School Place Planning Estimates Technical Guidance 2023

  The guidance contains information on: a) the methodology used by the department in estimating future school places needed; b) the data sources and how they are used; c) how to interpret the place planning estimates data (including key limitations)

  Download (pdf, 316 Kb)

---

Data guidance

Description of the data sets included in this release, including information on data sources, coverage, quality and any data conventions used.

Description

This document describes the data included in the ‘School Capacity: Academic Year 2022/23’ Official Statistics release’s underlying data files. This data is released under the terms of the Open Government License and is intended to meet at least 3 stars for Open Data.

The methodology accompanying this release should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality as well as explaining methodology used in producing the data.

A description of how the school place planning estimates have been derived and how to interpret them is also provided in technical guidance document accompanying this release. Users should read this technical guidance to understand the practical applications and limitations of the data.

Coverage

This release reports on school capacity information in state-funded primary and secondary schools in England in the academic year 2022/23, as of 1 May 2023. Data are as reported by local authorities in the annual School Capacity (SCAP) Survey. 

Information is included on: 

• The numbers of primary and secondary school places from 2009/10 to 2022/23 , including unfilled school places and pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity (2019/20 data is not available due to the cancellation of the 2020 SCAP survey due to Covid-19);

• Sixth form capacity in schools, where submitted, from 2017/18 to 2022/23 (2019/20 data is not available due to the cancellation of the 2020 SCAP survey due to Covid-19);

• Local authorities’ pupil forecasts up to 2027/28  at primary level and 2029/30 at secondary level; including places to be funded through housing developer contributions (HDCs) and housing infrastructure fund (HIF)

• Local authority planned changes to school places to 2025/26, including additional, bulge (temporary places for large cohorts) and places to remove; 

• The department ‘s modelled estimate’s of future number of places needed, up to 2027/28 at primary level and 2029/30 at secondary level.

•Official statistics in development on specialist provision capacity in mainstream schools and special schools 

File formats and conventions

Conventions

The following conventions are used throughout the underlying data.
‘z’ Not applicable.
‘x’ Not available.

---

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about School capacity 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)