Primary and secondary school applications and offers
Academic year 2025/26

Description

This document describes the data included in the ‘Secondary and primary school applications and offers: 2024’ Official Statistics release’s underlying data files. This data is released under the terms of the  Open Government License (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/) and is intended to meet at least 3 stars for  Open Data (https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/improving-the-transparency-and-accountability-of-government-and-its-services/supporting-pages/releasing-data-in-open-formats).

The  methodology document (https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/secondary-and-primary-school-applications-and-offers-methodology) for this subject should be referenced alongside this release. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality and how the data is produced.

A guide for the 2025 data collection can be found at  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-preference-data-collections-guide (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-preference-data-collections-guide).

Coverage

This release provides information on the number of applications made, the preferences listed and the number and preference level of offers for entries into:

- the main entry point for state-funded secondary school (usually year 7)
- state-funded primary school (reception year)

It includes national, regional and local authority level information on:

- the number of places available
- the number of applications received
- the number and percentage of first, second, non-preferred etc preference offers made
- the number and proportion of offers within and outside the home local authority

The information is based on the separate secondary and primary application and offer (preference) data collections returned by the local authorities.

File formats and conventions

Rounding

Primary and secondary suppression was applied in the 2014 dataset. No suppression has been applied from 2015 onwards

Conventions

The following convention is used throughout the underlying data.

‘c’         Suppressed (2014 only)

‘z’         Not applicable.

Data files

Secondary and primary schools applications and offers 2025

Filename: AppsandOffers_2025_LA02062025.csv
Geographic levels: Local authority; National; Regional
Time period: 2014/15 to 2025/26
Content summary: Number of places and applications: number and proportion of offers by preference rank; number and proportion of offers inside and outside home local authority.

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name                               |  Variable description
------------------------------------------  |  ---------------------------------------------------------
admission_numbers                           |  Number of admission places available
applications_received                       |  Number of applications received
first_preference_offers                     |  Number of first preference offers
first_preference_offers_percent             |  First preference rate
nc_year_admission                           |  Year of admission
no_of_preferences_99                        |  Number of preferences that make up 99% of all preferences
no_offer                                    |  Number made no offer
no_offer_percent                            |  No offer rate
non_preferred_offer                         |  Number of non preferred offers
non_preferred_offer_percent                 |  Non preferred offer rate
offers_to_nonapplicants                     |  Total number of offers to non applicants
one_of_the_three_preference_offers          |  Number of top three preference offers
one_of_the_three_preference_offers_percent  |  Top three preference rate
online_applications                         |  Number of applications submitted online
online_apps_percent                         |  Percentage of applications submitted online
preferred_school_offer                      |  Number of preferred offers
preferred_school_offer_percent              |  Preferred offer rate
school_phase                                |  School phase - collection phase
schools_in_another_la_offer                 |  Number of offers in another LA
schools_in_another_la_offer_percent         |  Other LA offer rate
schools_in_la_offer                         |  Number of offers in home LA
schools_in_la_offer_percent                 |  Home LA offer rate
second_preference_offers                    |  Number of second preference offers
second_preference_offers_percent            |  Second preference rate
third_preference_offers                     |  Number of third preference offers
third_preference_offers_percent             |  Third preference rate


Grouped selective secondary application and offer data

Filename: appsandoffers_2025_selectivegrouped07052025.csv
Geographic levels: National
Time period: 2020/21 to 2025/26
Content summary: Grouped number and proportion of secondary offers by preference rank split by a) the LAs who have one or more selective schools and b) LAs who have no selective schools

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name                               |  Variable description
------------------------------------------  |  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
admission_numbers                           |  Number of admission places available
admissions_group                            |  Grouped figures by whether LA offers selective schools - selective groupings
applications_received                       |  Number of applications received
first_preference_offers                     |  Number of first preference offers
first_preference_offers_percent             |  First preference rate
no_offer                                    |  Number made no offer
no_offer_percent                            |  No offer rate
non_preferred_offer                         |  Number of non preferred offers
non_preferred_offer_percent                 |  Non preferred offer rate
one_of_the_three_preference_offers          |  Number of top three preference offers
one_of_the_three_preference_offers_percent  |  Top three preference rate
preferred_school_offer                      |  Number of  preferred offers
preferred_school_offer_percent              |  Preferred offer rate
second_preference_offers                    |  Number of second preference offers
second_preference_offers_percent            |  Second preference rate
third_preference_offers                     |  Number of third preference offers
third_preference_offers_percent             |  Third preference rate
