Data items
Source: gov.uk (2025-07-14)

Details about the information that you must submit.

Unique pupil number (UPN)

The UPN is a 13-character code in the format Annnnnnnnnnnn that identifies each pupil.

You should not calculate it manually as the UPN would either be:
- generated by your management information system (MIS)
- transferred from another school in a common transfer file (CTF)
A UPN in the format of ‘AnnnnnnnnnnnA’ is a temporary UPN that you should only use as an interim measure. For further information see UPN policy and practice guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unique-pupil-numbers).

Unique learner number (ULN)

It is important that if a ULN has been assigned to a student it is included in the AP census.

ULNs are assigned to pupils aged 14 or over in publicly funded education and training.

If a student does not already have a ULN assigned to them, local authorities can sign the learning provider agreement which will provide local authorities with access to the learning records service (LRS) (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lrs-help-and-support). This will enable them to issue and manage ULNs for those pupils only receiving alternative provision and who are not associated with a school or provider which has a UKPRN and LRS access of its own.

Surname

This is the pupil’s full legal surname as local authorities believe it to be. There’s no need to verify birth certificates or any other legal documents.

Forename

This is the pupil’s first name. Provide it in full. Do not use a shortened or familiar form.

Middle name

Provide all middle names in full. Do not use shortened or familiar forms.

Leave this field blank if a pupil does not have any middle names.

Preferred surname

This is the surname that a child may be most commonly known as. Only use this if it’s applicable.

Date of birth

Use the YYYY-MM-DD format, for example, ‘2010-01-31’.

Sex

We (mandatory) require data on sex for all pupils. For census purposes ‘sex’ is the sex of a person as recognised in law:
- F - female
- M - male
- U - unknown (for use when, for example, the question has not been asked)
Ethnicity

Record ethnicity according to parents’ or pupils’ wishes. Do not ascribe ethnicity to any pupils. Instead, use:
- NOBT if you have not received ethnicity information
- REFU if a parent or pupil refuses to record or return their ethnicity
The ethnicity codeset reflects categories used in the 2021 national population census.

Find ethnicity code set (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/alternative-provision-ap-census/codes).

Free school meal (FSM) eligibility

This data is only collected for pupils in an open placement on census day.

The following 3 data items will be used to collect this information:
- FSM eligibility start date
- FSM eligibility end date
- country of UK, (this will be generated by the system – schools do not have to enter any data)
To minimise the impact of the rollout of universal credit and the introduction of a net-earned income threshold to determine eligibility for free school meals, transitional arrangements have been put in place to ensure that no pupil loses a meal as a result of these changes.

These transitional protections will ensure that any pupil, in receipt of free school meals on or after 31 March 2018, will continue to receive free school meals until the end of the universal credit roll out period, and then until their phase of education ends. This will last until at least March 2025 and applies even if their circumstances change and they would no longer meet the eligibility criteria.

You should not enter end dates unless:
- a parent has said that they do not wish the child to be recorded as eligible for free school meals and receive a free school meal
- a pupil transfers from another UK country – their non-English free school meals must have an end date
- a parent notifies the school that their support under the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999 or the pension credit has ended
- a parent notifies the school that they no longer qualify for free school meals under the criteria for families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF)
Further information will be provided in due course for arrangements post March 2025.

Recording children receiving free school meals under the criteria for families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF)

Free school meal eligibility has been permanently extended to children from all groups with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), subject to the following income thresholds where applicable:
- £22,700 per annum for families outside London with 1 child
- £31,200 per annum for families within London with 1 child
- £26,300 per annum for families outside London with 2 or more children
- £34,800 per annum for families within London with 2 or more children
These children should be marked as receiving free school meals on the AP census, in the same way, that children who are eligible for free school meals under the benefits-based criteria would be.

You should retain any evidence of eligibility for audit purposes. More information is available on free schools meals (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools-and-local-authorities).

Collection periods

These data items will be collected for pupils within the scope of the collections with any periods of FSM eligibility since the last census, those with either:
- an FSM eligibility start date on or before the current census day and no FSM eligibility end date (eligibility on-going on census day)
- an FSM eligibility end date from the first day after the previous census and on or before the current census day (this will only be expected where a valid exception applies) - the FSM eligibility end dates are between 17 January 2025 and 15 January 2026
Multiple FSM eligibility start and end dates falling within the period should be returned where applicable - this will only be where a valid exception applies.

Pupils should only be recorded as FSM eligible if they meet the FSM eligibility criteria (in respect to family income) and make a claim.

Pupils who are only in receipt of a free school lunch due to the universal infant free school meal entitlement – should not be recorded as FSM eligible and therefore will not be eligible to receive pupil premium.

Pupil premium funding

The provision of additional funding to schools via the deprivation pupil premium is directed to those pupils from deprived backgrounds and is based on their eligibility for FSM.

Only pupils aged 4 and above in Reception to year 11 (or aged 4 to 15 as at 31 August, where national curriculum year groups do not apply) are eligible for pupil premium funding.

The terms under which the payment of pupil premium operates are set out in the pupil premium conditions of grant (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2022-to-2023).

The provision of additional funding through the pupil premium only covers FSM eligibility in England. Any periods of FSM eligibility in any other country do not count when determining a pupil’s eligibility for the pupil premium.

Each period of FSM eligibility will have a system-generated country of UK code attached to enable DfE to ensure that those pupils who have only experienced periods of FSM eligibility outside of England do not attract the pupil premium.

For periods of eligibility when a pupil was on roll at a school in England the Country of UK code will be ‘ENG’. Pupils who were on roll at a school in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland will have been assigned a code of ‘WLS’, ‘SCT’ or ‘NIR’ respectively.

Eligibility for FSM

You’ll need to record periods of free school meal eligibility (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools-and-local-authorities) accurately as we will use this information for schools’ pupil premium allocations.

Periods of ‘FSM’ eligibility for pupils are recorded where a claim for free school meals has been made by them or on their behalf and either:
- the relevant local authority or school has confirmed that they are entitled to free school meals
- the relevant local authority, or school has seen the necessary documentation, for example, a TC602 tax credit award notice or confirmation of universal credit, that confirms the pupil is entitled to free school meals
The Education (School Lunches) (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Order 2003 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/382/contents/made) describes an additional requirement for children who have not attained compulsory school age but receive education in a maintained setting. These children must be registered pupils and be ‘receiving education both before and after the lunch period’ before being eligible for free school meals.

Schools or local authorities do not need to calculate a family’s annual taxable income as HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) do this. This figure can then be used to determine free school meal entitlement.

FSM eligibility checking service

The FSM eligibility checking service (ECS) streamlines the FSM eligibility checking process for both local authorities and parents. The ECS allows local authorities to electronically check in a single application all the relevant data held by 3 government departments to confirm pupils’ FSM eligibility.

The ECS is only accessible by local authorities, who use it on behalf of schools to check pupils’ entitlement to free meals.

Some local authorities also provide a web-based service which enables parents to check their own eligibility via the ECS.

Service children in education indicator

We collect the service child in education indicator for all pupils.

You must only record this information if it has come from the parent, guardian or child. Valid codes are:
- ‘Y’ for yes
- ‘N’ for no
- ‘R’ for refused
- ‘U’ for unknown - to indicate no response given or other reason for no information
This field defaults to ‘N’ so you only need to change it for entries for children from service families.

It is essential that you record this data item correctly as we use this to determine the pupil premium allocations.

A ‘service child’ has a parent or parents – or person or persons with exercising parental responsibility – who is/are service personnel serving:
- in regular HM Forces military units
- in full commitment as part of the full-time reserve service
- in the armed forces of another nation and stationed in England
Reserve units are not classed as the regular armed forces and such pupils are not recorded as service children on the AP census. However, where a reserve soldier is acting in a full-time capacity, this is classified as regular service.

The service children indicator is only relevant to children whose parents are designated as personal category 1 or 2 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-status-category-definitions). All parents will be aware of their personal category.

Post looked after arrangements

This data item records pupils who are on roll on census day and who have left local authority care in England and Wales immediately before adoption, or prior to being subject of a residence or child arrangement order, or special guardianship order.

We have extended these options to include code ‘O’ - children adopted from state care outside of England and Wales. ‘State care’ is care provided by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other organisation whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society. It is intended these pupils will also attract the pupil premium in 2025 to 2026.

It will be up to those who have parental responsibility (adoptive parents, special guardians and carers) to decide if they wish local authority or provider to know whether such children have been adopted or are under a special guardianship order or a residence or child arrangements order.

Where parents choose to declare their child’s status as being adopted from state care from abroad, the local authority must be satisfied that the child has been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. Parents will be expected to provide documentary evidence of their child’s adopted from abroad status.

The local authority or provider will be able to record the information using the following codeset; only one of the values will apply to each pupil:

Use:
- N for not declared (default setting)
- A for ceased to be looked after through adoption from within England and Wales
- G for ceased to be looked after through a special guardianship order (SGO) from within England and Wales
- R for ceased to be looked after through a residence order (RO) from within England and Wales - residence orders were superseded by child arrangements orders in April 2014
- C for ceased to be looked after through a child arrangement order (CAO) from within England and Wales
- O for ceased to be looked after through adoption from state care outside of England and Wales
A template letter (DOCX, 20KB) (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62f0cd45e90e0714343544f3/Children_adopted_from_care_and_the_pupil_premium_template_letter.docx) is available for local authorities to adapt and send out to AP providers to help assist with the identification and allocation of the pupil premium to pupils in alternative provision who have left care under an adoption, special guardianship or residential or child arrangements order.

Early years pupil premium [used for funding]

The early years pupil premium (EYPP) (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-funding-2025-to-2026) is additional funding to improve the education provided for disadvantaged 2, 3 and 4 year olds (all 3 and 4 year olds are entitled to up to 15 hours per week of government-funded free early education for 38 weeks of the year).

Early years pupil premium data is required from all children aged 9 months to 3 years old included on the AP census (those born between 1 September 2021 and 31 March 2025 inclusive).

Children aged 4 at the start of the academic year are eligible for the school age pupil premium. They are not eligible for early years pupil premium funding.

Children are eligible to receive EYPP if they are taking any of the following:
- universal (15 hours) funded entitlement
- disadvantaged entitlement for 2 year olds
- expanded entitlement for 9 month olds to 2 year olds
And meet one of the following eligibility criteria:
- meet the benefits related criteria equivalent to those for free school meals (meals delivered as part of the universal entitlement are not free school meals) - receipt of FSM does not automatically qualify a child for EYPP[footnote 1] (#fn:1)
- are in the care of the local authority (in England or Wales)
- adoption
- special guardianship
- a child arrangement order (formally known as a residence order)
Only children in receipt of EYPP in census week should be recorded with early years pupil premium receipt equal to “true”.

For those pupils in receipt of the early years pupil premium, the reason why is also required against the basis of eligibility field. This should be recorded as follows: Record the reason why a pupil is eligible by using:
- RE for in receipt through economic reasons (where they are in receipt via the benefits related criteria for FSM)
- RO for in receipt through other reasons (where they are in receipt due to being in care or due to leaving care through adoption, special guardianship order or a child arrangement order)
- RB for in receipt through both reasons (where they are in receipt through both economic and other reasons)
- RU for in receipt through unknown basis (where the school or AP provider knows the child is in receipt of EYPP (due to receiving funding from the local authority) but does not necessarily know the reason why)
The data collected via the AP census will be used by the department to determine the early years pupil premium allocation which we provide to local authorities to fund their early years providers.

SEN provision

SEN provision is collected for all pupils using the following codes:
- E for education, health and care plan
- K for SEN support
- N for non-SEN provision (this is the default value)
If no longer in placement, the SEN provision and type should reflect that at the time of the most recent placement.

Pupil SEN type

The ‘pupil SEN type’ data item records the nature (type) of the pupil’s special educational need for pupils with SEN provision of education, health and care plan (code E) or SEN support (code K).

Only 2 pupil SEN types may be returned in the AP census. These are ranked using the pupil SEN type ranking:
- SPLD for specific learning difficulty
- MLD for moderate learning difficulty
- SLD for severe learning difficulty
- PMLD for profound and multiple learning difficulty
- SEMH for social, emotional and mental health
- SLCN for speech, language and communication needs
- HI for hearing impairment
- VI for vision impairment
- MSI for multi-sensory impairment
- PD for physical disability
- ASD for autistic spectrum disorder
- DS for Down syndrome
- OTH for other difficulty or disorder
- NSA for SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need
Pupil SEN type ranking

Record:
- the primary need as 1
- any secondary need as 2 (if needed)
If a child has 2 types of SEN need, the most significant one must be the primary need and the other as a secondary need. Do not record more than 2 SEN needs.

Home information module

There is no change to the way address information is held in the MIS. You should be able to provide address details, including a postcode for pupils with non-UK addresses.

In extreme cases, where you have no address information, leave fields blank, ignore any validation errors and add a notepad explanation. You should, however, always try to provide valid address information.

Record the pupil’s current address as it appears in your MIS by using any of these:
- SAON
- PAON
- post town (BS7666 address) - record the SAON and street, and at least one of town, locality, administrative area or post town if you use this format
- address line 1 to 5
- the pupil’s most recent address if a pupil is no longer in placement
- both addresses if a pupil has multiple addresses (for example, the pupil lives with both parents at different stages in the week)
For boarding pupils, record all addresses, including their:
- home address (this is the address where they reside during school term time – it may also be the provider’s address)
- second or non-UK address if they live abroad (ignore validation errors on the postcode)
SAON

This is the secondary addressable object name to refer to the flat, apartment name or number or other sub-division of a dwelling

PAON

This the primary addressable object name to refer to the dwelling name or number

Street

This is the street name or description.

There will be a validation query if you enter a dwelling name or number but no street. You can ignore this query if the address has no street.

Locality

This is the neighbourhood, suburb, district, village, estate, settlement, or parish that may form part of a town, or stand in its own right within the context of an administrative area. Industrial estates which contain streets are defined as localities in their own right.

Town

This is the town or city name that is not an administrative area, a suburb of an administrative area that does not form part of another town or a London district.

Administrative area

The administrative area is a geographic area that may be the highest level local administrative area, which may be a county or a unitary authority, an island or island group or London.

Post town

The post office usually assigns these based on the sorting office.

Postcode

This is the code allocated by the post office.

Always try to provide a postcode. If you cannot enter a postcode, you can change this field from ‘error’ to ‘query’ but this should only be done in exceptional cases.

Unique property reference number

A unique property reference number (UPRN) is a unique integer identifier for every address in Great Britain and can be found in the ordnance survey (OS) AddressBase products. It provides a comprehensive, complete, consistent identifier throughout a property’s life cycle – from planning permission through to demolition.

The UPRN is a voluntary data item to be returned alongside the full address (in either BS7666 or address line structure). However, where UPRN is not populated within systems, the data is not required to be submitted.

Address line 1

This is the first line of address.

Address line 2

This is the second line of address.

Address line 3

This is the third line of address.

Address line 4

This is the fourth line of address.

Address line 5

This is the fifth line of address.

Only one format is required for addresses. Care should be taken not to mix the two formats. Where the BS7666 format is used then the SAON and street must be provided and at least one of town, locality, administrative area or post town. In addition, the postcode must be provided. For a line address, the minimum of postcode and one address line must be provided. However, up to a maximum of 5 lines are available for the address, if required.

Placement module

This section lists, in detail, the placement-specific data items required for the 2026 AP census.

This module records information about the latest or last placement within the ‘census period’. This will either be the:
- current placement
- last placement, where the child is no longer in AP
Any placement commissioned and funded by an English local authority (in a setting other than a school or a PRU, AP academy or AP free school) is in scope – this can include placements in Scotland and Wales.

URN (unique reference number) (used for funding)

This records which AP establishment a pupil is attending or is registered with. If you record a URN, do not record the UKPRN or AP type of setting.

Record and submit the GIAS (https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/) unique reference number (URN), where available, of the establishment within which the AP placement has been arranged.

If the provider does not appear on GIAS, you should leave this field blank.

If you leave the URN and UKPRN blank, record the ‘AP type of setting’.

UKPRN (UK provider register number)

This records, where available, which AP placement a pupil is attending.

If the placement does not have a UKPRN, leave this field blank. If you record a UKPRN, do not record the URN or AP type of setting.

If you leave the URN and UKPRN blank, record the ‘AP type of setting’.

Type of setting

The ‘AP setting type’ data item records, where the placement does not have a URN or UKPRN (left blank), and is the type of setting within which the pupil has taken up an alternative provision placement.

Use:
- NFE for non-maintained further education provision
- OOT for one-on-one tuition
- OTH for other unregistered provider
- WBP for work-based placement
Where type of setting is completed, URN and UKPRN must be blank. If URN or UKPRN are completed, type of setting must remain blank.

Primary reason for placement

This records the main reason why a placement was commissioned rather than what the needs of the pupil are.

Example

If a pupil has a mental or physical health need, but has also been permanently excluded, the primary reason for placement would be the permanent exclusion which triggered the commissioning of the alternative provision.

Use:
- EHC for setting named on EHC plan
- MHN for mental health need
- NEW for new arrival without a school place
- OTH for other
- PCC for pregnancy or childcare
- PEX for permanent exclusion
- PHN for physical health need
- YOI for pupil in young offender institutes or secure training centres
Date of entry into AP

Record the date a pupil entered alternative provision.

If a pupil entered AP more than once within the same census period, record and return the latest date that they entered.

Date of leaving AP

Record the date a pupil left alternative provision.

If a pupil left AP, re-entered and then left again, record and return the latest date that they left.

Association

This records whether the placement is associated with any other services that are not education or supporting the pupil.

Set the default value to ‘NO’ or use:
- YC for yes – provision linked to a children’s home
- YH for yes – provision linked to a healthcare setting
- YO for yes – provision linked to other service
- NO for no – provision is not linked
Attendance pattern

The ‘AP attendance pattern’ data item records the pupil’s planned attendance pattern at the alternative provision provider.

Use:
- FT if a pupil attends full-time
- PT if a pupil attends the placement part-time
Where the pupil is in part-time provision (attends less than 10 sessions a week in the alternative provision placement), the number of sessions must be provided. For the purposes of this data item, part-time is defined as being expected to attend fewer than 10 sessions per week at the placement.

Sessions per week

Record the number of sessions that a pupil attends if fewer than 10 session per week during the census period.

If a pupil is no longer at a placement during the census period, for example because they’ve left, record the number of sessions per week the pupil was expected to attend.

Hours at setting

You do not have to record this data item. It is voluntary.

The ‘Hours at setting’ data item records, the pupil’s planned number of hours in education provision during the census week.

If no longer in placement, for the most recent placement, we would expect the number of hours the pupil was usually expected to attend education provision to be returned.

URN of previous school attended

This should be the latest ‘previous URN’ on record that is held by the alternative provision provider.

‘Previous URN’ records the URN of the school that the pupil attended prior to entering an alternative provision placement. As this is only recorded once in the record, this should be the latest ‘previous URN’ on record that is held by the alternative provision provider.

Further guidance on EYPP eligibility is available in the early years entitlements: local authority funding of providers operational guide 2025-26 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-funding-2025-to-2026/early-years-entitlements-local-authority-funding-operational-guide-2025-to-2026). ↩ (#fnref:1)