This release publishes data reported by local authorities in England, in the annual School Capacity (SCAP) survey, as of 1 May 2024.
Information is included on:
This publication also includes Official Statistics in Development for special school capacity, the capacity of special educational needs (SEN) unit and resourced provision in mainstream schools, and local authority forecast demand for specialist provision.
1,213,939
Of which, increases of 724,809 primary and 489,130 secondary places
This shows the net increase in state-funded primary and secondary school places between 2009/10 (when the data collection began) and 2023/24.
24,326
Of which, increases of 879 primary and 23,447 secondary places
This shows the net increase in state-funded primary and secondary school places between 2022/23 and 2023/24.
16%
Down from 17% in 2022/23 and down from a high of 23% in 2016/17
This shows the percentage of state-funded primary schools that are at or over capacity. A school is identified as at or over capacity when their number of pupils on roll is greater than or equal to capacity.
24%
Up from 23% in 2022/23 and up from a low of 14% in 2015/16
This shows the percentage of state-funded secondary schools that are at or over capacity. A school is identified as at or over capacity when their number on roll is greater than or equal to capacity.
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All supporting files from this release are listed for individual download below:
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)
These statistics are used by the department to estimate the future need for additional school places, to aid departmental monitoring of local authority school place sufficiency, and to support a range of policy developments and operational decisions.
Findings in this commentary are at a national level though information at regional, local authority, school or planning area level are provided in the data files associated with this release. Definition of planning area can be found in methodology.
In the commentary, pupil numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand (or to the nearest hundred or ten thousand where appropriate) and school numbers to the nearest ten. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. Unrounded numbers are provided in the accompanying tables and data files.
This publication may be of interest to users who wish to see data on school place provision in their area.
To view local authority level data, please view the featured tables.
To view school level data, you can search for specific schools when creating tables from the school level capacity and school sixth form capacity data. School names may differ between academic years so please select all versions of the school’s name to see all available data.
School capacity measures vary depending on the type of school and any exceptional circumstances. In some cases, the number of pupils on roll can be higher than the reported capacity, even though the school is comfortably accommodating all pupils. Please read the methodology, including the definitions of school capacity and schools at or over capacity, for more information.
To view planning area level data, download the forecasts, planned places or place planning estimates file and filter on planning area in the geographic level column. You can find a schools’ planning area code in the school level capacity file.
Please read ‘School Place Planning Estimates Technical Guidance 2024’, in the supporting files, for guidance on interpreting the place planning estimates. The commentary reports on ‘additional need only’ estimates which are provided in the place planning estimates data file at national, regional, local authority and planning area level. A second version of estimates, ‘additional need minus spare places’ is also provided at local authority and planning area level only. These estimates take into account spare places and are most valid at planning area and year group level. Negative figures show estimates of future unfilled school places.
Local authorities are expected to add school places where needed. These changes in school capacity are reflected in the number of school places reported in the SCAP survey as at 1 May each year. In times of population growth, the number of school places is expected to increase. Even in times of a declining population, there may still be increasing demand in some areas of the country, necessitating an increase in school places.
Overall, the number of school places has been increasing in line with the increase in pupil numbers. The increase in pupil numbers seen across the SCAP surveys are due to a large birth cohort from 2008 to 2012, which has moved through primary and is now in secondary. The number of places started to increase nationally in academic year 2010/11, in preparation for the increase in demand that started in 2011/12. This corresponds to the start of the school capacity data series in this publication; 2009/10 was the start of the SCAP survey.
The number of places being added each year has slowed, particularly since 2021/22, as the large cohort has moved through primary and is now fully in secondary. However, places are still needed and are still being added in some areas of the country.
Between May 2023 and 2024, there has been a net increase of just under 900 primary places and over 23,000 secondary places, over 24,000 in total. This overall net change reflects both increases and decreases in local capacity within state-funded mainstream schools in England.
Nationally, the rate of primary places being added has continued to slow to 0.02% (just under 900 places) in 2023/24, which is similar to 2022/23. This is after previous increases of over 2% (over 100,000 places) per year from 2012/13 to 2015/16 and of around 0.5% (around 27,000 places) per year on average from 2018/19 to 2020/21. Over half of regions have seen a reduction in the number of primary places between 2023 and 2024.
The rate of secondary places being added has also slowed for the fourth consecutive year and in 2023/24 is the lowest annual growth rate (0.6%, just over 23,000 places) since 2011/12. Secondary places have increased by around 1% (around 36,000 places) per year on average since 2012/13, with some fluctuation.
Combined with all the changes in previous years, there has been a net increase of over 1,214,000 school places since this series began in 2009/10, consisting of 725,000 primary places, and just under 489,000 secondary places. Most of this was added by 2016/17 for primary and by 2020/21 for secondary, in preparation for the growing pupil population in each phase.
Secondary places include places in school sixth forms. In 2023/24, 539,000 sixth form places were reported in just under 2,000 schools which is similar to 2021/22 and 2022/23. The number of sixth form pupils on roll in 2023/24 is 412,000 which is lower than 2022/23 (415,000). Sixth form numbers on roll are affected by the proportion of pupils staying on in school sixth forms as well as population changes.
The proportion of schools with unfilled sixth form places (where the number of pupils on roll are lower than capacity) is 77% in 2023/24, the same as 2022/23. In 2023/24, 23% of schools were reported as being at or over reported sixth form capacity, this is the same as 2022/23. See ‘Current pupils in places’ section for notes on schools being over capacity.
Changing pupil numbers and the timing of school places being added or removed will impact:
As places are built in advance of forecast demand, the number of unfilled places increases until those places are filled. As a large pupil cohort moves through schools, the number of schools operating over their reported capacity will increase. This does not mean schools are overcrowded.
A school is identified as at or in excess of capacity when their pupil number on roll is greater than or equal to the capacity reported in SCAP. A school’s reported capacity may not fully reflect the way a school is able to operate/timetable and therefore in some cases the number of pupils on roll can be higher than the reported capacity without the school being overcrowded. Some schools choose to operate in excess of their stated capacity because they feel that they can comfortably do so, for example using non-teaching accommodation for temporary teaching space.
In total, the number of state-funded schools that were at or in excess of capacity in 2023/24 is similar to 2022/23 at 3,532. The proportion of schools at or over capacity was 18% in 2023/24, which has remained similar since 2020/21 and is a reduction from over 20% which occurred each year between between 2009/10 and 2017/18.
The number of state-funded primary schools that were at or in excess of capacity has remained broadly unchanged since last year at 2,721 schools in 2023/24. The proportion of primary schools at or in excess of capacity is at the lowest level since the data collection began at 16%, down from a high of 23% in 2014/15. This reflects places being added to accommodate the population bulge, which has now moved through and out of the primary phase. The vast majority of over capacity primary schools (90%) were operating within 10% of their reported capacity.
The number of state-funded secondary schools at or in excess of capacity was 811 schools in 2023/24 (24% of secondary schools). There have been small year-on-year increases since 2020/21 in the proportion of state-funded secondary schools at or in excess of capacity and 2023/24 is the highest since 2010/11 (25%), which was around the time of a previous peak in the number of secondary pupils. As with primary schools, the majority of over capacity secondary schools (92%) were operating within 10% of their reported capacity.
Where the number on roll is higher than a school’s capacity, the number of pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity is the difference between number on roll and capacity.
In total, the number of pupils in places that exceeded their school's capacity is 58,000 (0.6% of places) in May 2024. This is similar to all years since 2011/12 and is lower than the 97,000 pupils (1.2%) in places that exceeded their schools' capacity in 2009/10.
In primary schools, there were 21,000 pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity. This is a decrease from the 22,000 pupils in 2022/23. The proportion of pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity is 0.4%.
In secondary schools, there were 37,000 (0.9%) pupils in places that exceeded their school’s capacity. This is similar to 2022/23.
A school has unfilled places if its capacity is higher than the number of pupils on roll. The number of unfilled places is the difference between the capacity and the number on roll.
Unfilled places can be evidence of local authorities having planned ahead for future need. This is recently evidenced in the number of unfilled secondary places, as local authorities increased the number of secondary places (and subsequently the number of unfilled secondary places) while the large cohort currently in secondary was in primary. As the cohort has now moved into secondary, the number of unfilled secondary places has now reduced. Unfilled places can also be attributed to the building of whole new schools, which fill up from the bottom, leaving space in the upper years until those year groups work their way through. Low or declining need for places will also contribute to the number of unfilled places.
As of May 2024, 84% of primary schools (14,000) had one or more unfilled place. This rate has been the same since 2020/21, which remains the highest rate since the data collection began and reflects the continuing fall in primary aged pupils.
For secondary schools, 76% had one or more unfilled place (3,000 schools). This rate has been similar in all years since 2020/21. The proportion of secondary schools with unfilled places rose steadily from 72% in 2009/10 to 86% in 2015/16 as secondary schools added capacity in preparation for the larger secondary population. Since then, the proportion of unfilled places has fallen as secondary pupil numbers increased.
In 2023/24, there were 611,000 unfilled places in primary schools, which is a 5.8% increase from the 578,000 places in 2022/23 and is the highest number of unfilled places since the data collection began in 2009/10. The number of unfilled primary places remained similar between 2009/10 and 2018/19 (around 450,000 places) and has increased steadily since 2020/21.
In secondary schools there were 452,000 unfilled places in 2023/24. The number and proportion of unfilled places in secondary rose steadily from 355,000 (10%) in 2009/10 to 636,000 (16.8%) in 2015/16 as secondary schools added capacity in preparation for the larger secondary population. Since then, the number of unfilled places has fallen as secondary pupil numbers increased, and is now at the lowest level since 2011/12.
Across both primary and secondary schools, the total number of unfilled places was 1.1 million in 2023/24 (12% of total school places available). The number and proportion of unfilled places has remained similar since 2013/14, as capacity has been added at a similar pace to school population growth. Before 2013/14, the proportion of unfilled places was slightly lower, at around 11%.
There is variation in the percentage of unfilled school places across and within local authorities.
Each local authority uses a fairly similar methodology, coupled with their own local knowledge, to generate pupil forecasts. These are 5 academic years ahead for primary and 7 academic years ahead for secondary. The forecasts reflect the number of pupils local authorities expect to provide a place for, in each year group for each academic year, in each pupil place planning area.
The total anticipated number of primary pupils forecast by local authorities in England shows a decline of around 1% per year until the end of the forecast period (2028/29).
In contrast, the total number of forecast secondary school pupils is expected to continue to increase to a high of almost 3.7 million pupils in 2027/28. Local authorities then forecast a decline until the end of the forecast period (2030/31).
These trends are also seen in the national pupil projections, however local authorities usually forecast higher numbers in total and predict that the peak will happen one year later for secondary. See ‘Relationship with National Pupil Projections publication’ for further information on reasons for differences.
Please note there will be valid double counting in these total forecasts, because some pupils will move to a different local authority within an academic year. These pupils will need a place in both places within the same academic year. As with all forecasts, the level of accuracy is expected to reduce as forecasts are made further into the future and care should be taken when using forecasts from the later years.
Local authorities add and remove places to manage their school estates as necessary according to future demand. Local authority planned places are the cumulative number of places local authorities plan to add or remove in the next three academic years, at the time of the survey. They exclude places planned through DfE programmes such as centrally funded Free Schools.
Local authorities have reported a planned net increase of just under 49,000 places over the three year reporting period (to 2026/27). This is fewer places than the planned increase for the 3 year reporting period in SCAP 2023, again demonstrating that demand is slowing down.
The department use SCAP 2024 data, as well as other internal data, to produce place planning estimates up to 2028/29 for primary and 2030/31 for secondary. These show the estimated number of additional places needed to meet future predicted demand in each national curriculum year group and pupil place planning area. These estimates of places needed, are in addition to the local authority planned places reported in SCAP.
The cumulative aggregate estimates as at 1 May 2024, show an estimated 36,000 primary places are still needed across England in order to meet demand in academic year 2028/29. This is despite the expected decline in primary pupils nationally. Even in times of a declining population, there will still be increasing demand in some areas of the country. Secondary shows an estimated total of 37,000 places are still needed in order to meet demand in 2028/29.
These estimates identify place need only and do not take into account spare places. This acknowledges that pressure in one part of a local authority cannot necessarily be offset by spare places in another area of the same local authority.
Caution should be taken with interpretation of these estimates. Further information on how these estimates are calculated, how to interpret them and their limitations is provided in the technical guide to the school place planning estimates accompanying this release (see supporting files under 'Explore data and files’).
Data on special educational needs (SEN) provision was collected for the first time in SCAP in 2023 to help support both the Department for Education (DfE) and the local government sector to better identify the location and number of specialist school places that may be needed in future.
These figures are published as official statistics in development. They have been developed under the guidance of the Head of Profession for Statistics and published to involve users and stakeholders at an early stage in assessing their suitability and quality. An account of the methods used, and the accuracy, reliability, and value of the data are set out in the methodology document. As a new data collection, we expect the quality of the data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established, however it should be noted that all local authorities returned data as requested.
We welcome user feedback on these statistics via the details in the “contact us” section below.
Local authorities provided the capacity, as at May 2024, of special schools plus SEN units and resourced provision in mainstream schools, as defined in the data collection guidance (opens in a new tab). This includes post-16 capacity in secondary specialist provision, where appropriate, and does not include independent or alternative provision.
Capacity reported in SCAP may not reflect the current pupils on roll in a school due to the different and changing needs that a school caters for. Please note that the national aggregate hides the local variations as specialist provision is not uniform across the country or within each local authority. This section provides national level indicators, and data is available at school, local authority and regional level in the underlying data.
Local authorities reported capacity at May 2024 for 1,089 special schools; 198 primary, 277 secondary, and 614 all through special schools. This is an increase of 12 schools compared to May 2023. This includes local authority maintained special schools, special academies, and non-maintained special schools.
There were 153,000 special school places reported; 61,000 primary places and 92,000 secondary places in primary, secondary, and all-through schools. This is an increase of 1,000 primary places and 4,000 secondary places, which represents data quality improvements as well as added places.
The corresponding pupil numbers on roll from the May 2024 school census for these special school places were around 160,000 pupils in total; 60,000 in primary and 100,000 in secondary. This means that there are approximately 8,000 more secondary pupils on roll in special schools than reported capacity. This is due to the number of schools at or over capacity (around two thirds), but also may be a result of the way capacity has been measured which does not take account of type of need. The surplus of primary special places according to the data may be a result of how the total capacity of all-through schools has been apportioned between the primary and secondary phases.
Local authorities reported SEN unit and resourced provision capacity at May 2024 for 1,781 mainstream schools (local authority maintained and academies); 1,155 primary, 598 secondary, and 28 all-through schools.
There were 9,800 places in SEN units in mainstream schools reported; 6,600 primary places and 3,300 secondary places. There were 20,000 places in resourced provision in mainstream schools reported; 11,600 primary places and 8,300 secondary places.
The number of schools reported to have SEN unit or resourced provision capacity and the places within that provision have increased since the last survey, which represents increased coverage as well as added places.
There are no corresponding pupil numbers on roll in SEN units and resourced provision available from the published school census.
Local authorities provided forecasts of the number of pupils resident in the LA who are expected to have an EHC plan and who require a place in specialist provision. These forecasts cover the following types of provision that these pupils are expected to need a place in.
The Education, health and care plans, Reporting year 2024 and the Special educational needs in England, Academic year 2023/24 publications both contain information about pupils with special educational needs. The local authority forecasts in this publication are a subset of these populations, as they relate to only those with EHC plans who need a place in specialist provision and are of compulsory school age (year groups R to 11). Like for like comparisons cannot be made directly, but the data in these two publications provide a picture of historical trends that are useful for context.
Capacity data cannot be used with forecast data to calculate future additional places needed. This is for a number of reasons.
The total anticipated number of pupils in years R to 11 with an EHC plan that will need a place in specialist provision is forecast by local authorities to be 229,000 in 2024/25. Local authorities forecast this to increase to an estimated 273,000 by 2028/29.
For context, the Education, health and care plans publication indicates that overall there were 212,000 pupils with EHCPs in England in 2023/24 in the specialist provision types covered by SCAP. This is an 8% increase on 2022/23. Although not fully like for like, the first LA forecast year, at 229,000 for 2024/25, is in line with this increase and continues the 8% annual growth. Local authorities then forecast annual growth to slow to around 5% per year in the first half of the forecast period (2024/25 to 2026/27) and again to around 4% per year by the end of the period (2026/27 to 2028/29)
The fact that the number of pupils with an EHC plan that need a place in specialist provision is forecast to grow at the same time that the school age population is forecast to decline (primary) or level off (secondary), implies that the proportion of pupils with an EHC plan that need a place in specialist provision is forecast to increase. Although not directly comparable due to differing age group coverage, this is in line with the current trend in the overall EHC plan rate, which has been increasing year on year since 2016.
The total national level forecasts of demand for school places in this release will differ from the national pupil projections published annually by the Department for Education due to methodological and timing reasons. This publication includes local authorities’ own forecasts of future pupil numbers in each of their local areas, incorporating their own local-level information. The department’s main pupil projections are produced at national level only within the department using a set methodology. They are published annually as an official statistical release. See ‘Relationship with National Pupil Projections publication’ for more information.
The Education, health and care plans, Reporting year 2024 and the Special educational needs in England, Academic year 2023/24 publications both contain information about pupils with special educational needs. The data on capacity and forecasts in this publication are a subset of these populations due to the age groups and provision types asked about in SCAP. Like for like comparisons cannot be made directly, but the data in these two publications provide a picture of historical trends that are useful for context.
Capacity data in this publication may differ to other sources due to different methods of measurement, the timing of measurements, and/or the types of need a school caters for.
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