Academic year 2024/25

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

Latest release

Next release March 2027

All releases in this series

Download all data (ZIP)Create your own tables

• Produced by: Department for Education
• Published: 19 March 2026
• Last updated: 20 March 2026

1 update

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 primary schools in 2024/25 by local authority

  Schools and school places as at 1 May 2025. Pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census. Schools and pupils in excess of capacity. Schools with unfilled places and number of unfilled places.

  View, edit or download

• School capacity in secondary schools in 2024/25 by local authority

  Schools and school places as at 1 May 2025. Pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census. Schools and pupils in excess of capacity. Schools with unfilled places and number of unfilled places.

  View, edit or download

• School capacity in England by phase and academic year, 2009/10 to 2024/25

  Schools and school places as at 1 May 2025. Pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census. Schools and pupils in excess of capacity. Schools with unfilled places and number of unfilled places.

  View, edit or download

• Actual pupil numbers for 2024/25 and pupil forecasts for 2025/26 to 2031/32 in England by national curriculum year group

  Actual pupil numbers for 2024/25 and pupil forecasts for 2025/26 to 2031/32 in England by national curriculum year group

  View, edit or download

• Actual primary pupil numbers for 2024/25 and primary pupil forecasts from 2025/26 to 2029/30 by local authority

  Actual primary pupil numbers for 2024/25 and primary pupil forecasts from 2025/26 to 2029/30 by local authority

  View, edit or download

• Actual primary secondary numbers for 2024/25 and secondary pupil forecasts for 2025/26 to 2031/32 by local authority

  Actual primary secondary numbers for 2024/25 and secondary pupil forecasts for 2025/26 to 2031/32 by local authority

  View, edit or download

• Number of additional and removed places planned for delivery by 2027/28 by local authority

  Number of additional and removed places planned for delivery by 2027/28 by local authority

  View, edit or download

• Estimated number of primary places needed from 2025/26 to 2029/30 by local authority (additional need only)

  Estimated number of primary places needed from 2025/26 to 2029/30 by local authority (additional need only)

  View, edit or download

• Estimated number of secondary places needed from 2025/26 to 2031/32 by local authority (additional need only)

  Estimated number of secondary places needed from 2025/26 to 2031/32 by local authority (additional need only)

  View, edit or download

• School sixth form capacity in 2024/25 by local authority

  Schools with sixth form capacity and sixth form places as at 1 May 2025. Sixth form pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census

  View, edit or download

• Special school capacity in England in 2024/25

  Schools and school places as at 1 May 2025. Pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census.

  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.

13 data sets available for download

Download all (ZIP)

• Capacity - national

  National

  Number of schools, schools with sixth form places, school places (which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places) and sixth form places as at 1 May 2025. Pupils on roll and sixth form pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census.

  • Number of rows: 48
  • 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 2024/25

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Capacity - national, regional, local authority

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Number of schools, schools with sixth form places, school places (which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places) and sixth form places as at 1 May 2025. Pupils on roll and sixth form pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census.

  • Number of rows: 7,386
  • Indicators:
    • Number of pupils on roll
    • Number of school places
    • Number of schools
  • Filters:
    • School phase
  • Time period: 2009/10 to 2024/25

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Capacity - school

  School

  Number of schools, schools with sixth form places, school places (which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places) and sixth form places as at 1 May 2025. Pupils on roll and sixth form pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census.

  • Number of rows: 302,304
  • Indicators:
    • Number of pupils on roll
    • Number of school places
    • Pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity
  • Time period: 2009/10 to 2024/25

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Sixth form capacity - national, regional, local authority

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Number of schools with sixth form places and reported sixth form places as at 1 May 2025. Sixth form pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census.

  • Number of rows: 1,150
  • Indicators:
    • Number of schools with reported sixth form places
    • Reported sixth form places
    • Sixth form pupils on roll in schools with reported sixth form places
  • Time period: 2017/18 to 2024/25

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Sixth form capacity - school

  School

  Number of schools with sixth form places and reported sixth form places as at 1 May 2025. Sixth form pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census.

  • Number of rows: 14,230
  • Indicators:
    • Number of pupils on roll
    • Number of school places
    • Reported sixth form places
  • Time period: 2017/18 to 2024/25

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Special school capacity - school

  School

  Number of schools and school places (which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places) as at 1 May 2025. Pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census.

  • Number of rows: 3,267
  • Indicators:
    • Number of primary pupils on roll
    • Number of primary school places
    • Number of pupils on roll
  • Time period: 2022/23 to 2024/25

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Special school capacity - national, regional, local authority

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Number of schools and school places (which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places) as at 1 May 2025. Pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census.

  • Number of rows: 1,274
  • Indicators:
    • Number of primary places
    • Number of primary pupils on roll
    • Number of pupils on roll
  • Filters:
    • School main phase
  • Time period: 2022/23 to 2024/25

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Local authority specialist provision pupil forecasts - national, regional, local authority

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Pupils on roll for the 2024/25 academic year from the January 2025 school census and local authority pupil forecasts for 2025/26 onwards. Planning area data is only available in the data file.

  • Number of rows: 3,300
  • Indicators:
    • Local authority pupil forecasts
  • Filters:
    • School phase
  • Time period: 2024/25 to 2031/32

  Data set information page
  Create table

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

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Number of mainstream schools with specialist provision places, school places (which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places), SEN unit and resourced provision places as at 1 May 2025. Pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census.

  • Number of rows: 1,361
  • Indicators:
    • Number of school places
    • Number of school pupils on roll
    • Number of schools
  • Filters:
    • School main phase
  • Time period: 2022/23 to 2024/25

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Specialist provision capacity in mainstream schools - school

  School

  Number of mainstream schools with specialist provision places, school places (which includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places), SEN unit and resourced provision places as at 1 May 2025. Pupils on roll from the May 2025 school census.

  • Number of rows: 5,327
  • Indicators:
    • Number of school places
    • Number of school pupils on roll
    • Primary resourced provision capacity
  • Time period: 2022/23 to 2024/25

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Local authority pupil forecasts - national, regional, local authority, planning area

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Pupils on roll for the 2024/25 academic year from the January 2025 school census, local authority pupil forecasts for 2025/26 onwards, and forecasts of HDC and HIF funded places for 2025/26 onwards. PA data is only available in the data file.

  • Number of rows: 211,854
  • Indicators:
    • Forecast housing developing contribution (HDC) funded places
    • Forecast housing infrastructure fund (HIF) funded places
    • Local authority pupil forecasts (includes 2024/25 actual pupil numbers)
  • Filters:
    • Phase and year group
  • Time period: 2024/25 to 2031/32

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Estimates of future school place demand - national, regional, local authority, planning area

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Estimates of future school places needed to meet modelled demand. Estimates are based on capacity as at 1 May 2025, forecasts and planned changes to school capacity as reported during summer 2025. PA data is only available in the data file.

  • Number of rows: 162,537
  • Indicators:
    • Estimated number of places needed: Additional need as positives and spare places as negatives
    • Estimated number of places needed: Additional need only
  • Filters:
    • Phase and year group
  • Time period: 2025/26 to 2031/32

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Local authority planned changes to school places - national, regional, local authority, planning area, school

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Number of school places planned to be added or permanently removed from school capacity for 2025/26 to 2027/28. Only includes places with firm plans for delivery. Number of places are cumulative. PA and school data is only available in the data file.

  • Number of rows: 105,231
  • Indicators:
    • Additional places (permanent)
    • Bulge places (temporary additional places for large cohort)
    • Places to remove (permanent)
  • Filters:
    • Phase and year group
  • Time period: 2025/26 to 2027/28

  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 2025

  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, 246 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 2024/25’ 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 a 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 2024/25, as of 1 May 2025. Data are as reported by local authorities in the annual School Capacity (SCAP) Survey.

Information is included on:

• The number of primary and secondary school places from 2009/10 to 2024/25 , 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 reported, from 2017/18 to 2024/25 (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 2029/30  at primary level and 2031/32 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 up to 2027/28, including additional, bulge (temporary additional places for large cohorts) and places to remove;
• The department ‘s modelled estimates of future number of places needed, up to 2029/30 at primary level and 2031/32 at secondary level.

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, 
• Local authority forecast demand for specialist provision up to 2029/30  at primary level and 2031/32 at secondary level.

File formats and 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)