School preference data collections: guide to submitting data
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-12)

How local authorities should submit data for the annual school preference collections.

Overview

The school preference data collections are statutory collections. You must complete statutory collections by law unless there’s a good reason not to.

These collections take place every year in March and April. They gather information about the total number of primary or secondary school places available in your area.

They also collect the following information about every child in your area:
- their parents’ preferences
- the school place offer they received
- some personal information - for example, their address and date of birth
The collections cover all schools that are part of your co-ordinated admissions process, including:
- academies (https://www.gov.uk/types-of-school/academies)
- free schools (https://www.gov.uk/types-of-school/free-schools)
- community schools (schools controlled by a local authority and not influenced by business or religious groups)
- foundation schools (schools where the governing body is the employer and admissions authority, and where the land and buildings are either owned by the governing body or by a charity)
- voluntary-controlled and voluntary-aided schools (schools established by a religious organisation, and partly or entirely funded by a local authority)
- special schools (schools for children with special educational needs or disabilities)
Important dates

The 2025 to 2026 collection deadlines are:
- secondary school national offer day: Monday 2 March 2026
- deadline for submitting secondary school data: Friday 6 March 2026
- primary school national offer day: Thursday 16 April 2026
- deadline for submitting primary school data: Wednesday 22 April 2026
You must base collections on the appropriate national offer day, but you have 5 days to make your submission.

Submit your data

You’ll need to:
- register and log in with DfE Sign-in (https://services.signin.education.gov.uk)
- use COLLECT to submit your data
Contact your school or local authority approver if:
- you want to request a DfE Sign-in username or password so you can access COLLECT
- ‘school preference data’ is not on the list of collections you can see in COLLECT
Get help using DfE Sign-in

If you do not know who your approver is, use the DfE Sign-in help form (https://edd-help.signin.education.gov.uk/contact).

If you’ve forgotten your password, use DfE Sign-in (https://services.signin.education.gov.uk) to reset it. You will need to click ‘Start now’ and then the ‘I’ve forgotten my password’ link.

We’ll only be able to change the status of your data submission to ‘authorised’ once you’ve cleared all errors in the data in COLLECT.

Refer to the collection documents

Our guidance will help you complete the school preference collections:
- guide for local authorities (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-preference-data-collections-guide)
- 2026 technical specification (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-preference-data-collections-technical-specification)
- COLLECT guides (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/collect-guides-for-schools-and-local-authorities)
Resolve questions or offer feedback

You can use the feedback form (https://form.education.gov.uk/service/Data-collections-feedback-form) if you have any questions about your data or wish to make a comment about our data collection service, including about COLLECT and the helpdesk. We aim to respond within 5 working days.