Check your data

You can view the errors and queries from within (or once you’ve opened) the school census return in COLLECT.

Click on ‘all errors’ at the top of the screen to see a list of all errors and queries relating to your return.

Click on the details button to see which data items the validation is checking. If you click on one of the underlined fields, you will see the corresponding data item in the return.

There are 2 levels of errors, ‘return level’ and ‘data item level’. Return level errors relate to your whole return rather than an individual data item.

You can identify which data contains the incorrect value by clicking on the field value in the details section in COLLECT.

To resolve errors we recommend that schools correct the data in their management information system (MIS), then reload their data collection file to COLLECT, overwriting the incorrect one.

You need to provide explanatory information for individual queries as a note on COLLECT. All queries need an explanation but you can enter one note to cover numerous queries.

You can add notes in the ‘return level notes’ section. COLLECT guides for schools and local authorities are available for assistance.

To add a return level note double click on the pen or notepad (where there is already a note present) icon in the return level notes section.

Click add new note.

Type the error or query number along with your explanation in the box provided, ensuring you provide an explanation for all of your unresolvable errors and queries.

Click create to save your notes. Once saved, you are unable to edit the note however, you can add further notes to supplement throughout the collection.

List of COLLECT queries and explanatory notes to help you complete the school census.

The school census data will be used to finalise funding allocations. It is important that you check the accuracy of your schools’ returns before you submit them.

There are a number of reports in COLLECT which you should use to check your data.

You can access your reports using the ‘launch reports’ button on the school ‘source page’ of COLLECT. Some reports only get updated overnight.

Find out how to run these reports in the COLLECT guides for schools and local authorities.

Pupil number report

Provides a headcount of your pupils by NC year group, headcount of your pupils minus subsidiary registrations and the number of pupils that will be used in numerous funding streams and therefore will account for funded and extended hours and unresolved duplicate UPNs.

Duplicate unique pupil number (UPN) and duplicate pupil report

The duplicate UPN report shows any pupils appearing on your census and that of another school where there is an invalid combination of enrolment statuses. Your funding may be affected if these remain unresolved at database closure.

The duplicate pupil report identifies pupils whose personal details are the same but the UPN differs.

Free school meals (FSM) report

Allows schools to check the FSM eligibility data submitted in their census return. This report only refers to FSM eligibility reported in the current census and not the FSM ever measure used to allocate the pupil premium.

Universal infant free school meals

Provides a breakdown of the infant pupils that we will use in the universal infant free school meals funding calculation.

Zero funded hours

Highlights the number of early years pupils who have ‘zero’ funded hours recorded on the school census return. We use funded hours to calculate the early years block of the dedicated schools grant.

Pupil premium

Allows schools to check and verify the data in their spring school census, which will feed into the deprivation, service child and post looked after children report elements of the pupil premium allocation.

Early years pupil premium

Allows schools to check and verify the data in their spring school census, which we use for the early years pupil premium allocations.

Learner funding and monitoring (FAM)

Allows schools to check and verify the data returned in each termly census on pupils in receipt of specific elements of the education recovery package.

Post-16 funding reports

Schools will also be able to access a series of ESFA funding reports in the autumn census. These reports show schools the data we will use for our post-16 funding calculations:

funded student summary report
student detail report
16 to 19 maths and English GCSE status by student

Duplicate reports indicate pupils who are registered at more than one school.

These reports look for duplicates across all pupils on roll in the current school census only. Reports will not look for duplicates between the school census and any other pupil level collections, such as the alternative provision census and early years census.

A unique pupil number (UPN) identifies each individual learner in England. Learners’ UPNs are intended to remain with them throughout their school career regardless of any change in school or local authority.

A duplicate UPN is one where more than one pupil registration shares the same UPN and the registrations sharing the UPN have an invalid combination of enrolment statuses.

‘M’ and ‘S’ is the only valid combinations of pupil enrolment status codes for pairs of duplicate UPNs.

As unresolved duplicates will impact on funding allocations such as the dedicated schools grant and pupil premium, we expect local authorities, non-maintained special schools, academies and CTCs to work together to determine whether the pupils identified in this report are indeed the same pupil.

Find a code to indicate pupil enrolment status.

Reports available

Local authorities can access reports through COLLECT showing:

all pupils where a duplicate UPN has been identified within your own authority only
all pupils where a duplicate UPN has been identified within your authority and also in another authority

School reports

Each individual school will be able to run a duplicate report showing all pupils within their school where a duplicate UPN has been identified looking across all other schools.

Identifying duplicates

For each on roll pupil included within a return with a status of ‘loaded’ or above the report will:

check for another pupil record with the same UPN in the school census
identify UPNs where there is an invalid combination of enrolment statuses

For each duplicate UPN identified, the report will contain:

local authority number
establishment number
COLLECT blade (school census)
school name
UPN
pupil’s surname, forename and date of birth
enrolment status
entry date
school status
error description

The error description in the report explains the reason the UPN has been flagged as a duplicate.

Enrolment status
Error number
Error message
C and C
1
A pupil cannot be solely registered at more than one school.
C and M
2
A pupil cannot be solely registered and have a main (dual registration).
C and S
3
A pupil cannot be solely registered and have a subsidiary (dual registration).
M and M
4
A pupil cannot have more than one main (dual registered) record.
S and S
5
A pupil would not normally have more than one subsidiary (dual registered) record.
M and S
6
Date of births for pupils do not match.
C and F
7
A pupil cannot have an enrolment status of ‘F’ and also be solely registered at another school.
C and O
8
A pupil cannot have an enrolment status of ‘O’ and also be solely registered at another school.
M and F
9
A pupil cannot have an enrolment status of ‘F’ and also have a main registration at another school.
M and O
10
A pupil cannot have an enrolment status of ‘O’ and also have a main registration at another school.
S and F
11
A pupil cannot have an enrolment status of ‘F’ and also have a subsidiary registration at another school.
S and O
12
A pupil cannot have an enrolment status of ‘O’ and also have a subsidiary registration at another school.
F and O
13
A pupil cannot have an enrolment status of ‘F’ and also have an enrolment status of ‘O’ at another school.
F and F
14
A pupil cannot have an enrolment status of ‘F’ at more than one school.
O and O
15
A pupil cannot have an enrolment status of ‘O’ at more than one school.

Correcting duplicates

To correct duplicates, schools should make the changes on their school management information system and re-submit. This makes sure the school’s system matches the position on COLLECT.

Changes could include:

changing the pupil’s registration code to produce a valid combination of enrolment status (for dual registered pupils the only valid combination is M and S)
deleting the pupil record (only do this if pupil has been entered in error)
moving the pupil record to ‘NoLongerOnRoll’ adding a date of leaving
if the pupil was permanently excluded, moving their record to ‘NoLongerOnRoll’, adding a date of leaving and creating an exclusion record
changing the UPN (only do this if the pupil UPN has been entered incorrectly)

No longer on roll

If the pupil recorded on census left the school before the census date, it is important for attendance data requirements that the pupil is not deleted but moved to ‘NoLongerOnRoll’.

Schools should follow this process when a pupil does not arrive on the expected start date and has started another school.

1. Enrolment

School A (school expecting a pupil) enters pupil on admission register with enrolment status of C, F or O.

School B (school where pupil actually starts) enters pupil on admission register with enrolment status of C, F or O.

2. Attendance (prior to school A finding out where pupil is)

School A marks pupil as absent, no reason given (code N).

School B marks pupil as present or absent in the normal way.

3. Marking as a leaver

it is unlawful to backdate a leaving date. School A marks the pupil as a leaver from the date that the pupil is found registered at another school.

4. Enrolment (once school A finds where pupil is)

School A changes the enrolment status to S (dual subsidiary) (from the date of enrolment to the date of leaving).

School B changes the enrolment status to M (dual main) (from the date of enrolment to the date agreed with school A that the pupil will be made a leaver at school A). The enrolment status reverts to C, F or O from the date that the pupil is marked as a leaver from school A.

5. Attendance (once school A finds where pupil is)

School A marks any possible session as code D. The pupil would be shown as dual registered with 0 possible sessions.

School B doesn’t need to make any more changes to the attendance register.

The ‘duplicate report – same person different UPN’ report includes all cases where there appears to be duplication of a pupil based on the characteristics, for example surname, forename, middle name, date of birth and gender, but where different UPNs are present.

Where the match is correct, and it is the same pupil, they should have the same UPN.

All enrolment statuses and pupils on and off roll are included in this report.

Reports available

Local authorities can access reports through COLLECT showing:

all pupils where a duplicate pupil has been identified within your own authority
all pupils where a duplicate pupil has been identified within your authority and also in another authority

School report

Each individual school is able to run a duplicate report showing all pupils within their school where a duplicate pupil has been identified looking across all other schools.

Identifying duplicates

For each duplicate pupil identified, the report will contain:

local authority number
establishment number
school name
UPN
Pupil’s surname, forename, middle names, date of birth and gender
enrolment status
entry date
leaving date
on/off roll
school status

Correcting duplicates

To correct duplicates, schools should make the changes on their school management information system and re-submit. This ensures the school’s system matches the position on COLLECT.

Where it is the same pupil, they should have the same UPN and you will need to amend one record. The 2 records should also have the correct combination of enrolment statuses otherwise they will then appear on the duplicate UPN report, so if dual registered, one registration should have a dual main registration (‘M’) and the other should have a dual subsidiary registration (‘S’).

Changes could include:

same pupil: change one of the UPNs
same pupil and pupil is dually registered: change one of the UPNs and make sure the pupil is recorded as dual main at one registration and dual subsidiary at the other
same pupil but pupil is off roll: one record to be moved to ‘NoLongerOnRoll’ with date of leaving provided and change one of the UPNs
pupil was permanently excluded: pupil record to be moved to ‘NoLongerOnRoll’, date of leaving provided, create an exclusion record and change one of the UPNs
one record is entered in error: delete one of the records
different pupil: report back as false duplicate

False matches

If the 2 duplicate records are in fact different pupils and the match is incorrect, you can notify us of false matches and we will build these into COLLECT and take them into account for future reports and censuses. This will save you checking the same pupil every census.

To notify us of false duplicates, export your report and then simply put in ‘F’ after the last column on your duplicate pupils’ sheet after each pupil to indicate that the pair of duplicates is a false match and it is different pupils. Save the file and return to us using the S2S site at any time during a census. We will update the list in COLLECT once a week, so you may not notice a change on your report immediately.

To use the S2S website you will need to follow this file naming convention:

local authorities: LALLLL_DFESXXX_DupPupils.ext – LA is your 3 digit local authority number and ext is the file extension for example, xls, csv, txt
schools: LASSSS_DFESXXX_DupPupils.ext – LASSSS is your 3 digit local authority number followed by your 4 digit DfE establishment number and ext is the file extension for example, xls, csv, txt

When uploading generic files to S2S, you should follow government security standards. If you need help transferring data using S2S, contact us using our data collections service request form.

The COLLECT funding report will contain a full breakdown of the pupil numbers from the autumn 2021 school census. We will use this in the calculation of the schools block element of your dedicated schools grant allocation for 2022 to 2023.

The funding reports should update daily and take into account the duplicates report. It reflects the position from COLLECT as at close the previous working day.

2022 to 2023 dedicated schools grant allocation: schools block

The funding methodology for 2022 to 2023 has not changed from 2021 to 2022. The schools block of the 2022 to 2023 dedicated schools grant allocation will again be calculated based on sole and dual main registered pupils attending local authority maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools and mainstream academies who are:

aged 4 and above as at 31 August 2021 in national curriculum year group reception to year 11 at the time of the census
aged 4 to 15 as at 31 August 2021 where national curriculum year groups do not apply (those in national curriculum year group X) at the time of the census

All pupils will be funded as 1 full time equivalent irrespective of the full time/part time status or funded hours recorded on the census.

2022 to 2023 growth funding

Growth funding enables local authorities to support schools with significant in-year pupil growth, which is not otherwise immediately recognised by the current lagged funding system. Local authorities may also retain a small fund to support schools with temporarily falling rolls. Local authorities will continue to manage their growth funding locally in 2022 to 2023 as they did in 2021 to 2022.

Although growth allocations for 2022 to 2023 will be based on pupil data from the autumn census, the pupil numbers that will be used in the calculation of this growth funding allocated are not included within the COLLECT funding report. We will provide local authorities with a data tool in the autumn to support them in predicting what their growth allocation for 2022 to 2023 is likely to be, allowing them to input the latest pupil numbers they hold.

Reports available

There are 2 versions of this report available for local authorities to run.

Funding report run against approved data

This version of the funding report will include data from schools whose return status is ‘approved’ or above. It will reflect the data which we use in your dedicated schools grant allocation. We will only fund based on data which has been approved by local authorities.

Funding report run against data all loaded data

This version of the funding report will be identical in format to the funding report run against ‘approved’ data but will include all loaded data from schools in your local authority.

As the data may change at the loaded and submitted stage, please do not send queries about discrepancies in the data in your funding report until the returns are at the ‘approved’ stage.

You should check and verify these funding reports with local authority finance officers before the autumn census database closes on 1 December 2021. It’s not possible to make amendments to your return after this date.

Queries with the funding report

If you have any queries about the use of school census data for school funding, complete a service request form.

We base post-16 funding allocations on census data from individual institutions, so returning accurate data is a key factor in ensuring that you receive the right allocation.

The reports are based on the data you submitted in your autumn census, and will help you check, validate and quality assure your submission. We have worked hard to ensure these reports reflect the 16 to 19 funding methodology as closely as possible. The categories and values shown in the reports are indicative and will not necessarily directly match those in your 16 to 19 allocation.

Each report is split into 2 sections:

study programmes
T Levels

We identify programmes with the programme type field (T Levels must have the technical qualification (TQ) as the core aim). The programme type field not used to identify academic and vocational study programmes, for which we still use qualification type and core aim (for vocational programmes).

If you have questions about the reports, or 16 to 19 funding policy and methodology, complete the ESFA enquiry form.

You can also find further information in the:

16 to 19 funded student summary reports

The 16 to 19 funded student summary reports show the number of students who are eligible for 16 to 19 funding, according to the data returned in the census. The students are grouped according to their funding line type and their funding band.

The reports only show students:

whose enrolment status is current (C) or main (M) – students with dual subsidiary status (S) are funded through other institutions’ allocations and students with guest status (G) are excluded from the census return
who have stayed on their study programmes long enough to count as valid starts – you can find more information on this in the ‘student numbers’ and ‘SN examples’ sections of the interactive post-16 school census tool
who are recorded in national curriculum years 12, 13, or 14 in the relevant academic year
who have learning aims in the relevant academic year

The reports split the number of students into 3 categories by funding line type. This allows you to make sure that students are correctly recorded in the census with regard to their age and special educational needs (SEN) provision.

16 to 19 students (including high needs students). All 16 to 19 students are included in this funding line type, regardless of their SEN provision indicator.
19 to 24 students with an EHC plan. 19 to 24 year old students not recorded as having an EHC Plan will be placed in the ‘19+ continuing students’ funding line.
19+ continuing students (excluding students with an EHC plan). This category includes any 19 to 24 year old students not recorded as having an EHC plan.

The reports also split students by funding band, within funding line types. This allows you to make sure that the student’s planned hours are correctly recorded in the census. Funding band is determined by the total of planned learning hours and planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours.

The report uses these fields from your census return:

planned learning hours (previous year or current year)
planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours (previous year or current year)
T Level planned hours
T Level planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours
enrolment status
learning start date
learning planned end date
learning actual end date
pupil date of birth
SEN provision
top up funding indicator
actual national curriculum year
programme type

16 to 19 student detail reports

The 16 to 19 student detail reports show all students who are recorded in the census with basic post 16 eligibility, regardless of whether they qualify as a start or not. This is different to the 16 to 19 funded student summary reports, which only show students who are valid starts.

The reports use the same other criteria as the 16 to 19 funded student summary report. They show students:

whose enrolment status is current (C) or main (M)
who are recorded in national curriculum years 12, 13, or 14 in the relevant academic year
who have learning aims in the relevant academic year

They show information for each student, grouped according to their funding line type.

The reports show:

unique pupil number (UPN)
student’s surname, forename and date of birth
planned learning hours or T Level planned hours
planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours or T Level planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours
total planned hours – planned learning hours plus planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours
funding band, which is determined by the total planned hours or T Level planned learning hours plus T Level planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours
whether the student qualifies for funding (students who qualify for funding are shown with the status of ‘1’, students who do not qualify are shown with the status of ‘0’)
national curriculum year – we only include students in the reports when they are in years 12, 13, and 14
any disadvantage block 1 funding – this field shows you the disadvantage uplift each student generates based on their home postcode
any instances of disadvantage block 2 – this information is from the values you returned in the English and maths prior attainment year group fields
programme type (academic or vocational) – if you think a student has an incorrect programme type in this field you should review the recording of your core aims and learning aim status
programme cost weighting – this field shows you the programme cost weighting uplift attracted by your students undertaking vocational study programmes
retention – if you have students who are not retained, whom you expected to be retained, you should check you have recorded a core aim for an academic programme, and that the student does not have a vocational core aim

You can find more information the post-16 funding rates and formula guidance.

The report uses these fields from your census return:

unique learner number (ULN)
unique pupil number (UPN)
former UPN
pupil surname
pupil forename
pupil date of birth
planned learning hours (previous year or current year)
planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours (previous year or current year)
T Level planned hours
T Level planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours
SEN provision
top up funding indicator
actual national curriculum year
national curriculum year leaving
pupil enrolment status
qualification number
learning aim start date
learning aim planned end date
learning aim actual end date
learning aim status
core aim
postcode
programme type

16 to 19 maths and English GCSE status by student

The 16 to 19 maths and English GCSE status by student reports show the maths and English statuses for individual students according to the condition of funding rules.

The reports show students:

whose enrolment status is current (C) or main (M)
who have stayed on their study programmes long enough to count as valid starts
who are recorded in national curriculum years 12, 13, or 14 in the relevant academic year
who have learning aims in the relevant academic year

They show information for each student, grouped according to their funding line type.

The report shows:

unique pupil number (UPN)
surname
forename
date of birth
maths status
English status

The maths/English field of the reports will show one of the following statuses.

Condition of funding does not apply – for students you record on small part time study programmes (under 150 hours per year), and for students who are aged 15 or under.
Exempt from the GCSE maths/English A* to C or 9-4 requirement – for students you record as being exempt from the condition of funding.
Has maths/English, studying maths/English – the student has met the condition of funding through prior attainment, but is also studying for a valid qualification for the condition of funding. This status is most likely to show when a student is studying for an A level in maths or English, as these are valid qualifications for the condition of funding.
Has maths/English, not studying maths/English – the student has met the condition of funding through prior attainment and is not undertaking a valid maths/English qualification.
Has maths/English GCSE grade D/3, not studying GCSE maths/English – students who start a new full time programme who hold a grade D or grade 3 in the relevant subject must study for a valid GCSE qualification rather than a stepping stone qualification, such as functional skills. These students will not attract full funding when your allocation is calculated.
Has English below GCSE grade D or grade 3, holds maths/English FSL2 pass – students who do not have a GCSE at grade C or grade 4 in maths or English meet the condition of funding if they have achieved a level 2 functional skill in the subject.
Doesn’t have maths/English, studying maths/English – the student meets the condition of funding not through prior attainment but because they are studying a valid qualification for the condition of funding.
Doesn’t have maths/English, not studying maths/English – students who do not have at least a GCSE grade C or grade 4 in the relevant subject and who are not studying for a valid condition of funding qualification do not meet the condition. These students will not attract full funding when your allocation is calculated.

The reports use these fields from your census return:

unique learner number (ULN)
unique pupil number (UPN)
former UPN
pupil surname
pupil forename
pupil date of birth
planned learning hours (previous year or current year)
planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours (previous year or current year)
SEN provision
top up funding indicator
actual national curriculum year
pupil enrolment status
learning aim start date
learning aim planned end date
learning aim actual end date
maths GCSE highest prior attainment (previous year or current year)
maths GCSE funding exemption
English GCSE highest prior attainment (previous year or current year)
English GCSE funding exemption
qualification accreditation number

The report also uses reference data from LARS to determine whether:

the maths/English qualification is valid for the condition of funding or not
the qualification is valid for the period during which the student is studying for it
the qualification is a GCSE or equivalent, or a stepping stone

Correcting data errors highlighted by the reports

An out of date maths or English qualification will not count towards the condition of funding and so the student will not be compliant.

You should check:

that all qualifications recorded using the correct qualification number for the course
that all qualification numbers are in date by making sure the start date of the aim falls between the funding validity start and end dates – you can find these dates in QAN Web Services (QWS) and LARS

Incorrectly recorded study programme planned hours

Your planned hours should reflect the planned activity for the academic year covering both qualification and non-qualification activity in the relevant fields.

If you don’t return any planned hours for a student, that student won’t generate any funding.

Under-recording planned hours (often a result of recording qualification hours but not non-qualification hours) is likely to result in a student being funded at a lower level than they should be.

You should also check you have correctly recorded any high need students in receipt of element 3 top-up funding using the top-up funding indicator.

You should make sure that the hours recorded for both years are correct. We will use the information in the previous year fields to calculate the funding bands used for your 2021 to 2022 allocation. If the information is incorrect, this may have a negative effect on your allocation as the calculation puts students in the wrong funding bands.

You should check that you have:

recorded the correct year for each date
recorded any learning aims spanning more than one academic year with the start and end dates reflecting this multi-year delivery and not as separate learning aims for each year

Incorrect recording of or failure to record maths and English prior attainment grades

Prior attainment grades indicate whether or not a student needs to take approved maths and/or English qualifications to meet the condition of funding.

If the grade is missing, we assume the student does not hold the relevant qualification and has to take an approved qualification.

If the student is not enrolled on a suitable qualification or an incorrect prior attainment is recorded, they will not meet the condition of funding.

Incorrectly recording transfers

When a student transfers (for example, they stop studying one qualification and take up another in its place, while staying at the same institution), you must record them with learning aim status 4.

If you record them with status 3 (withdrawn), then the elements that use the status may be incorrectly calculated.

Incorrectly recording core aims

We use the core aim to determine if a student’s programme is academic or vocational (those with a core aim are vocational and those without are academic), and which retention criteria we apply.

You must ensure only students who are following a vocational programme have a core aim and those on academic programmes do not have a core aim recorded. You can find more information on recording core aims in the interactive post-16 school census tool.

Incorrectly recording programme type

We use the new programme type code to categorise all types of study programme. You must record the programme type for every learning aim, taking particular care with the core aim and the programme aim as these are key drivers for funding. It is also more likely for errors to occur when students do more than one programme.

You can find more details and examples of other errors in the interactive post-16 school census tool.

Recording T Levels correctly

T Level programmes are new, and we encourage schools to check that they have recorded all elements correctly to ensure that the funding is calculated correctly.

Incorrectly recorded T Level hours

The hours in the T Level planned hours fields must cover the hours for the full T Level programme – that is, the hours planned for all years of the programme.

If you return study programme planned hours, rather than T Level hours, the student cannot be funded in the higher T Level bands.

Omitting T Level components

You must record qualification numbers (QNs) for all the elements of a T Level:

T Level qualification
T Level occupational specialism (QN starting with ZTLOS)
T Level industry placement
T Level programme aim

The T Level qualification must be the core aim. If you do not record a QN for the occupational specialism, we cannot select the correct funding band and programme cost weighting and the student will generate less funding.

Incorrectly recording programme type

We use the new programme type code to identify T Levels. If the T Level technical qualification (TQ) is not the core aim and does not have the correct programe type code, a student will be counted as studying on a study programme and will not be funded in the higher T Level funding bands.

You can find more details and examples of other errors in the interactive post-16 school census tool.

On 18 March we announced that we are temporarily varying our approach to funding local authorities for the early years entitlements this financial year to give local authorities and providers more certainty over their funding income, and local authorities will be funded on a termly attendance count basis in 2021 to 2022.

For maintained settings, we intend to use the termly data from the 2021 summer term and the 2021 autumn term school census to determine the early years block funding allocation for 3 and 4 year olds in school nurseries, maintained nursery schools and academies. Therefore we are providing an early years block funding report for the autumn 2021 census.

The COLLECT funding report will contain a full breakdown of the pupil numbers from the 2021 autumn school census. We will use this to calculate the early years block element of your dedicated schools grant (DSG) allocation for the financial year 2021 to 2022.

The funding reports should update daily and take into account the duplicates report. It reflects the position from COLLECT as at close the previous working day.

School funding arrangements for 2021 to 2022

For the financial year 2021 to 2022 the DSG will be split into 3 main blocks of funding:

schools
early years
high needs

For 2021 to 2022 the early years’ block will be allocated based on the spring 2021, summer 2021 and autumn 2021 school census. The schools’ block has already been funded using the completed autumn 2020 census collection.

See the early years national funding formula funding rates and guidance for more information.

Funding calculations

Early years funding streams are calculated based on the numbers of pupils attending from:

local authority maintained nurseries
primary, secondary and all through schools
all mainstream academies (excluding special academies, AP academies and AP free schools)

The funding for all early years entitlements will be split between any unresolved duplicate UPNs.

Early years entitlement for disadvantaged 2 year olds – 2021 autumn census

Data is used on pupils aged 2 at 31 August 2021 (born between 01/09/18 and 31/08/19) in all year groups. The part time equivalent number of pupils aged under 5 is based on the funded hours recorded on the autumn school census. It is not based on the full time/part time indicator.

Early years universal entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds

To calculate funding, we use your data on:

pupils aged 3 at 31 August 2021 (born between 01/09/17 and 31/08/18) in all year groups
pupils aged 4 and above as at 31 August 2021 (born on or before 31/08/17) in national curriculum year group E1, E2, N1 and N2 at the time of the census

The part time equivalent number of pupils aged under 5 is based on the funded hours recorded on the spring school census. It is not based on the full time/part time indicator.

Funding for pupils aged 5 and above in E1, E2, N1 or N2 is based on a headcount of all sole and dual main registrations.

Early years additional entitlement for 3 and 4 year old children of eligible working parents

To calculate funding, we use your data on:

pupils aged 3 at 31 August 2021 (born between 01/09/17 and 31/08/18) in all year groups
pupils aged 4 and above as at 31 August 2021 (born on or before 31/08/17) in national curriculum year group E1, E2, N1 and N2 at the time of the census

The part time equivalent number of pupils aged under 5 is based on:

the return of a 30 hours eligibility code
the extended hours recorded in the census

It is not based on the full time/part time indicator.

Funding for pupils aged 5 and above in E1, E2, N1 or N2 is based on a headcount of all sole and dual main registrations.

Reports available

There are 2 versions of this report available for local authorities to run.

Funding report run against approved data

This version of the funding report will include data from schools whose return status is ‘approved’ or above. It will reflect the data which we use in your dedicated schools grant allocation. We will only fund based on data which has been approved by local authorities.

Funding report run against data all loaded data

This version of the funding report will be identical in format to the funding report run against ‘approved’ data but will include all loaded data from schools in your local authority.

As the data may change at the loaded and submitted stage, please do not send queries about discrepancies in the data in your funding report until the returns are at the ‘approved’ stage.

You should check and verify these funding reports with local authority finance officers before the autumn census database closes on 1 December 2021. It will not be possible to make amendments to your return after this date.

Queries with the funding report

If you have any queries about the use of school census data for school funding, complete a service request form.

The COLLECT funding report will contain a full breakdown of the pupil numbers from the 2021 spring school census. We will use this to calculate the early years block element of your dedicated schools grant (DSG) allocation for the financial year 2021 to 2023.

The funding reports should update daily and take into account the duplicates report. It reflects the position from COLLECT as at close the previous working day.

School funding arrangements for 2022 to 2023

For the financial year 2022 to 2023 the DSG will be split into 3 main blocks of funding:

schools
early years
high needs

Only the early years’ block will be allocated based on the spring 2022 school census. The schools’ block has already been funded using the completed autumn 2021 census collection.

See the early years national funding formula funding rates and guidance for more information.

Funding calculations

Early years funding streams are calculated based on the numbers of pupils attending from:

local authority maintained nurseries
primary, secondary and all through schools
all mainstream academies (excluding special academies, AP academies and AP free schools)

The funding for all early years entitlements will be split between any unresolved duplicate UPNs.

Early years entitlement for disadvantaged 2 year olds

Data is used on pupils aged 2 at 31 December 2021 (born between 01/01/19 and 31/12/19) in all year groups. The part time equivalent number of pupils aged under 5 is based on the funded hours recorded on the autumn school census. It is not based on the full time/part time indicator.

Early years universal entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds

To calculate funding, we use your data on:

pupils aged 3 at 31 December 2021 (born between 01/01/18 and 31/12/18) in all year groups
pupils aged 3 at 31 August 2021, but 4 by 31 December 2020 (rising 4s) (born between 01/09/17 and 31/12/17) in all year groups
pupils aged 4 and above as at 31 August 2021 (born between 01/01/2017 and 31/08/17) in national curriculum year group E1, E2, N1 and N2 at the time of the census

The part time equivalent number of pupils aged under 5 is based on the funded hours recorded on the spring school census. It is not based on the full time/part time indicator.

Funding for pupils aged 5 and above in E1, E2, N1 or N2 is based on a headcount of all sole and dual main registrations.

Early years additional entitlement for 3 and 4 year old children of eligible working parents

To calculate funding, we use your data on:

pupils aged 3 at 31 December 2021 (born between 01/01/18 and 31/12/18) in all year groups
pupils aged 3 at 31 August 2021, but 4 by 31 December 2020 (rising 4s) (born between 01/09/17 and 31/12/17) in all year groups
pupils aged 4 and above as at 31 August 2021 (born between 01/01/2017 and 31/08/17) in national curriculum year group E1, E2, N1 and N2 at the time of the census

The part time equivalent number of pupils aged under 5 is based on:

the return of a 30 hours eligibility code
the extended hours recorded in the census

It is not based on the full time/part time indicator.

Funding for pupils aged 5 and above in E1, E2, N1 or N2 is based on a headcount of all sole and dual main registrations.

Reports available

There are 2 versions of this report available for local authorities to run.

Funding report run against approved data

This version of the funding report will include data from schools whose return status is ‘approved’ or above. It will reflect the data which we use in your dedicated schools grant allocation. We will only fund based on data which has been approved by local authorities.

Funding report run against data all loaded data

This version of the funding report will be identical in format to the funding report run against ‘approved’ data but will include all loaded data from schools in your local authority.

As the data may change at the loaded and submitted stage, please do not send queries about discrepancies in the data in your funding report until the returns are at the ‘approved’ stage.

You should check and verify these funding reports with local authority finance officers before the autumn census database closes on 16 March 2022. It will not be possible to make amendments to your return after this date.

Queries with the funding report

If you have any queries about the use of school census data for school funding, complete a service request form.

The COLLECT funding reports will contain a summary of the numbers of pupils in receipt of the early years pupil premium as reported on the 2022 spring census.

The funding reports should update daily and take into account the duplicates report. It reflects the position from COLLECT as at close the previous working day.

Pupils eligible for the 2022 to 2023 early years pupil premium

To calculate funding, we look at the pupils you have recorded as eligible for the early years pupil premium, who are:

aged 3 (born between 1 September 2017 and 31 December 2018) in all national curriculum year groups
aged 4 (born between 1 September 2017 and 31 August 2017) in national curriculum year group E1, E2, N1 or N2

Pupil numbers are calculated based on the funded hours recorded on the spring school census. It is not based on the full time / part time indicator. We also take into account the duplicate report (funding for unresolved duplicate UPNs will be halved).

Reports available

There will be 2 reports available for each local authority:

Local authority level funding report for early years pupil premium
Local authority school level funding report for early years pupil premium (containing a list of all schools and PRUs in the local authority)

There are 2 versions of these reports available for local authorities to run.

Funding report run against approved data

This version of the funding report will include data from schools whose return status is ‘approved’ or above. It will reflect the data which we use in your early years pupil premium allocation. We will only fund based on data which has been approved by local authorities.

Funding report run against data all loaded data

This version of the funding report will be identical in format to the funding report run against ‘approved’ data but will include all loaded data from schools in your local authority.

Schools

There will also be one report available for each individual school and PRU, which will be available as soon as the data has been loaded onto COLLECT.

As the data may change at the loaded and submitted stage, do not send queries about discrepancies in the data in your funding report until the returns are at the ‘approved’ stage.

You should check and verify these funding reports with local authority finance officers before the spring census database closes on 16 March 2022. It will not be possible to make amendments to your return after this date.

Queries with the funding report

If you have any queries about the use of school census data for school funding, complete a service request form.

The COLLECT funding reports will contain a summary of the numbers of pupils reported on the 2021 autumn school census in maintained schools as well as mainstream and special academies and free schools with either:

a period of FSM eligibility since the previous census
recorded as a service child on census day
recorded with an adopted from care value of either:
code A: ceased to be looked after through adoption
code G: ceased to be looked after through a special guardianship order (SGO)
code R: ceased to be looked after through a residence order (RO)
code C: ceased to be looked after through a child arrangement order (CAO)

The funding reports should update daily and take into account the duplicates report. It reflects the position from COLLECT as at close the previous working day.

Eligible pupils

To calculate the numbers of pupils eligible for pupil premium, we look at pupils you have recorded on the school census as:

service children
eligible for free school meals
adopted from care or leaving care under a special guardianship order, a residence order or a child arrangement order

Funding pupil numbers will be calculated on the same basis as those for the dedicated schools grant. The duplicate report will also be taken into account (funding for unresolved duplicate UPNs will be halved).

Pupils whose registration status is ‘C’, ‘M’, ‘F’ and ‘O’ from the school census are included (‘F’ and ‘O’ enrolment status are only relevant to PRUs). All pupils will be counted as 1 full time equivalent irrespective of the full time/part time status or funded hours recorded on the census.

The funding will be split between any unresolved duplicate UPNs.

Deprivation pupil premium

The 2022 to 2023 deprivation pupil premium will be allocated to pupils on roll in January 2021 that have been eligible for free school meals on any pupil level census since summer 2016 (known as FSM ever 6). The national pupil database will be used to map the history of free school meal eligibility for each pupil on roll in the January collections. This will determine the actual numbers of ‘Ever FSM’ pupils eligible for the pupil premium.

It is not possible to provide a COLLECT report during the live census collection period containing details of these pupil numbers for a particular school or local authority. The COLLECT free school meals report will only include those pupils reported with a period of free school meal eligibility on the 2022 spring school census.

Service child pupil premium

For 2022 to 2023, the service child pupil premium will be based on pupils recorded on roll in the January 2022 school census who are either:

recorded as a service child at any point since spring 2016
in receipt of a War Pension Scheme or Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation Scheme pension from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as a result of injury, illness or death caused by service

The extension of the service child pupil premium outlined will not affect the data required from schools via the 2022 census collections as data providers, we only expect you to return those pupils currently classed as service children as at census day (20 January 2021). We will then use the information in the national pupil database and Ministry of Defence child pension data to determine the actual numbers of pupils eligible for the service child premium.

It is not possible to provide a COLLECT report during the live census collection period containing details of the service child ever pupil numbers for a particular school or local authority. The COLLECT service child report will only include pupils currently reported as a service child on the 2021 autumn school census. It will not include:

pupils not currently service children, based on the autumn 2021 census, who have previously been in receipt of the service child premium
pupils in receipt of a pension from the Ministry of Defence

Adopted from care pupil premium

The adopted from care pupil premium will be paid to those pupils on roll on the autumn school census who:

were looked after immediately before adoption
left care on a special guardianship order (SGO)
left care on a residence order (RO)
left care on a child arrangement order (CAO)

Reports available

There will be 4 reports available for each local authority.

Local authority level funding report for deprivation pupil premium
Local authority level funding report for service child pupil premium
Local authority level funding report for adopted from care pupil premium
Local authority school level funding report for pupil premium (containing a list of all schools and PRUs in the local authority)

There are 2 versions of each report available for local authorities to run.

Funding report run against approved data

This version of the funding report will include data from schools whose return status is ‘approved’ or above. It will reflect the data which we use in your pupil premium allocation. We will only fund based on data which has been approved by local authorities.

Funding report run against data all loaded data

This version of the funding report will be identical in format to the funding report run against ‘approved’ data but will include all loaded data from schools in your local authority.

Schools

There will also be one report available for each individual school which will be available as soon as the data has been loaded onto COLLECT.

As the data may change at the loaded and submitted stage, please do not send queries about discrepancies in the data in your funding report until the returns are at the ‘approved’ stage.

How to use the funding report

You should check and verify these funding reports with local authority finance officers before the autumn census database closes. It’s not possible to make amendments to your return after this date.

Queries with the funding report

If you have any queries about the use of school census data for school funding, complete a service request form.

The COLLECT funding reports will contain a summary of the numbers of pupils reported on the spring 2022 school census in pupil referral units (PRUs), alternative provision academies and *free schools** with either:

a period of FSM eligibility since the previous census
recorded as a service child on census day
recorded with an adopted from care value of either:
code A: ceased to be looked after through adoption
code G: ceased to be looked after through a special guardianship order (SGO)
code R: ceased to be looked after through a residence order (RO)
code C: ceased to be looked after through a child arrangement order (CAO)

The funding reports should update daily and take into account the duplicates report. It reflects the position from COLLECT as at close the previous working day.

Eligible pupils

To calculate the numbers of pupils eligible for pupil premium, we look at pupils you have recorded on the school census as:

service children
eligible for free school meals
adopted from care or leaving care under a special guardianship order, a residence order or a child arrangement order

Funding pupil numbers will be calculated on the same basis as those for the dedicated schools grant. The duplicate report will also be taken into account (funding for unresolved duplicate UPNs will be halved).

Pupils whose registration status is ‘C’, ‘M’, ‘F’ and ‘O’ from the school census are included (‘F’ and ‘O’ enrolment status are only relevant to PRUs). All pupils will be counted as 1 full time equivalent irrespective of the full time/part time status or funded hours recorded on the census.

The funding will be split between any unresolved duplicate UPNs.

Deprivation pupil premium

The 2022 to 2023 deprivation pupil premium will be allocated to pupils on roll in January 2022 that have been eligible for free school meals on any pupil level census since summer 2016 (known as FSM ever 6). The national pupil database will be used to map the history of free school meal eligibility for each pupil on roll in the January collections. This will determine the actual numbers of ‘Ever FSM’ pupils eligible for the pupil premium.

It is not possible to provide a COLLECT report during the live census collection period containing details of these pupil numbers for a particular school or local authority. The COLLECT free school meals report will only include those pupils reported with a period of free school meal eligibility on the 2022 spring school census.

Service child pupil premium

For 2022 to 2023, the service child pupil premium will be based on pupils recorded on roll in the spring 2022 school census who are either:

recorded as a service child on any pupil level census since January 2016
in receipt of a War Pension Scheme or Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation Scheme pension from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as a result of injury, illness or death caused by service

We only expect you to return those pupils currently classed as service children as at census day (20 January 2022). We will then use the information in the national pupil database and Ministry of Defence child pension data to determine the actual numbers of pupils eligible for the service child premium.

It is not possible to provide a COLLECT report during the live census collection period containing details of the service child ever pupil numbers for a particular school or local authority. The COLLECT service child report will only include pupils currently reported as a service child on the 2022 spring school census. It will not include:

pupils not currently service children, based on the spring 2022 census, who have previously been in receipt of the service child premium
pupils in receipt of a pension from the Ministry of Defence

Adopted from care pupil premium

The adopted from care pupil premium will be paid to those pupils on roll on the spring school census who:

were looked after immediately before adoption
left care on a special guardianship order (SGO)
left care on a residence order (RO)
left care on a child arrangement order (CAO)

Reports available

There will be 4 reports available for each local authority.

Local authority level funding report for deprivation pupil premium
Local authority level funding report for service child pupil premium
Local authority level funding report for adopted from care pupil premium
Local authority school level funding report for pupil premium (containing a list of all schools and PRUs in the local authority)

There are 2 versions of each report available for local authorities to run.

Funding report run against approved data

This version of the funding report will include data from schools whose return status is ‘approved’ or above. It will reflect the data which we use in your pupil premium allocation. We will only fund based on data which has been approved by local authorities.

Funding report run against data all loaded data

This version of the funding report will be identical in format to the funding report run against ‘approved’ data but will include all loaded data from schools in your local authority.

Schools

There will also be one report available for each individual school and PRU which will be available as soon as the data has been loaded onto COLLECT.

As the data may change at the loaded and submitted stage, please do not send queries about discrepancies in the data in your funding report until the returns are at the ‘approved’ stage.

How to use the funding report

You should check and verify these funding reports with local authority finance officers before the spring census database closes. It’s not possible to make amendments to your return after this date.

Queries with the funding report

If you have any queries about the use of school census data for school funding, complete a service request form.

Term-on-term checks are built into COLLECT and applied to several fields of data to check for substantial increases or decreases between the current collection and the previous collection.

Fields checked:

Headcount of pupils (all terms)
% FSM for infant pupils (all terms)
% FSM (all terms)
% Pupils with SEN with an EHC plans (all terms)
% Pupils with SEN without an EHC plans (all terms)
% First language other than English (all terms)
% Service children (all terms)
% Ethnicity not obtained (spring only)
% Boarders (all terms)
% overall absence (all terms)
% overall absence summer half term (autumn only)
% school lunch taken (all terms)
number of suspensions for the same reporting period
number of permanent exclusions for the same reporting period

Where COLLECT has raised a query, we need an explanation for the increase or decrease in the notes field. Adding explanation notes for queries explains how to add an explanation and lists acceptable notepad entries for queries.