Guidance

Estimated pupil numbers: guidance for completing the digital form

Published 7 October 2024

Applies to England

1. Introduction

The autumn census return forms the basis for calculating pupil-led funding for the following academic year for most academies. In some cases, we use estimated pupil numbers if the academy’s funding agreement includes a clause to this effect.

Please refer to the Academies revenue funding allocations for more information on how your allocation is calculated.

2. Eligibility

2.1 Conditions for accessing this form

The online form is now open for institutions to provide estimated pupil numbers for the 2025 to 2026 academic year, where their funding agreement allows for estimate funding.

Please submit your estimate by 5pm on 18 October 2024. Your final budgets may be delayed if we do not receive your pupil number estimates by this deadline.

Where estimates of pupil numbers are not provided, we will use the most recent census data to calculate your funding. If you are a growing school that is still adding year groups, this can result in a funding shortfall.

3. When to submit your estimates

You can complete your online form for the academic year 2025 to 2026 now.

The deadline for submitting your estimates is 5pm on 18 October 2024.

You can amend your submission up until the deadline. It will not be possible to grant any extensions.

4. Accessing the estimated pupil numbers form

Use this link to access the form.

4.1 Before you start

Before you start the submission process, please ensure that you:

• have a DfE Sign-in account
• are an eligible institution
• have consulted the guidance published by DfE and ESFA on estimated pupil numbers
• have details of your estimated pupil numbers, and the guaranteed pupil number received from your local authority, if applicable
• have evidence to support an increase in your estimated pupil numbers

4.2 DfE Sign-in

Sign in to  your DfE Sign-in account 

Follow the below steps to access your DfE Sign-in (DSi) account: 

1. Access the estimated pupil numbers digital form.  When prompted, enter your DfE Sign-in credentials (your username and password) for authentication.

2. Choose the organisation for whom you are completing the form for – this is only required if your DSi account is linked to several organisations.

3. The next page will display the details we hold about the institution you selected when you signed in. This will show the name, address and URN or UKPRN of the institution, as well as the name and email address of the person who signed into the account.

4. If these details are correct, select ‘Continue’ to go to the next page.

5. If you believe these details are incorrect, please contact the Customer Help Portal and we will investigate. You can still proceed with your submission.

Your account must be connected to the eligible institution you are completing the form for. You do not need to add any services in DfE Sign-in, it is used only for authentication.

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account  

You will need to create one by following steps 1 to 5 below:  

1. Select ‘create a DfE Sign-in account’ the DfE Sign-in page.

2. Enter your name and email address (use a valid business email address that contains your name).

3. We will send you an email to verify your email address; copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.

4. Create a memorable password that is at least 14 characters.  A good way to create a secure and memorable password is to use 3 random words. You can use numbers, symbols and spaces.

5. Sign in using your new credentials, and request access to the organisation for which you would like to submit the form.

Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account

To add a new organisation to your account, follow the steps below: 

1. Login to your DfE Sign-in account.

2. Select ‘Organisations’.

3. Select ‘Request access to an organisation’.

4. Enter the URN or UKPRN of the organisation you would like to add.

5. Select the organisation from search results.

6. Select ‘Confirm’.

Your request will be sent to the approver of that organisation.  

An approver is someone at your organisation responsible for controlling who has access to DfE Sign-in and the services within the system. It’s usually an administrator or a senior manager. 

For security reasons, you will need the authorisation of one of your organisation’s approvers before you can access the form. 

Once your request to access an organisation has been approved, you can follow the steps outlined under Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account to complete the form. 

4.3  If you need further assistance   

For problems using the DfE Sign-in service, use our DfE Sign-in help service to request assistance. When raising a support request, select ‘other.’  

For problems accessing the form, use our Customer Help Portal.

5.  Complete the form  

Once you have authenticated through DfE Sign-in and are in the form, you will find a ‘save and continue’ button on each page which will take you to the next page. The form will remember information you have saved if you sign out or if you leave it open for an extended period. You can resume your submission when you sign back in. 

Once you have submitted the form, you will be advised of next steps and will receive an email confirmation of your submission. This email will contain a link to download a PDF copy of your submission – this link will expire after 6 months so you should download a copy as soon as possible. 

You can edit and resubmit your form until the submission deadline. 

5.1 Your details

We will show you the information we hold about your organisation when you signed into your DfE Sign-in account. 

5.2 Your funded pupil numbers

This page shows your funded pupil numbers. For most schools, a reasonable starting point to determine your estimated pupil numbers for the 2025 to 2026 academic year is your current intake.

The table shows October census data for the 2023 to 2024 academic year and the 2024 to 2025 academic year funded numbers for your institution. Both should be used as a guide to estimate your pupil numbers for the 2025 to 2026 academic year.

5.3 Pupil’s age range

You must select the age ranges for your institution. You can select one or all of the related options on this page.

5.4 Primary, Secondary and 16 to 19 pupil numbers

Depending on the option(s) you chose on the previous page, you will be presented with 1, 2 or all 3 pages. Use these to give us a detailed breakdown of estimated pupil numbers for each year. 

If there are no pupils in a particular year group, you can enter 0 to continue with your form.

5.5 If your estimates for 2025 to 2026 are higher than your current intake

We have included your 2024 to 2025 academic year actual pupil numbers and your funded pupil numbers in this form. The form allows you to provide further information if you are adding a year group and the number of pupils in that year group differ from the number recorded on your previous census return. Please select all options that apply to you to tell us why your estimates for 2025 to 2026 are higher than your current intake.

5.6 Upload evidence if your estimates are higher than the current intake

If your current intake is not higher than previous academic year, enter zero. You can upload up to a maximum of 5 documents as evidence. Evidence could be a revised deed of variation, a letter agreeing a change by deed of variation, a local authority email, or a revised funding agreement.

Do not include any information containing personal data.

5.7 Guaranteed pupil number

Select the correct option for your institution and continue to the next page. Depending on which option you have selected, you will be able to enter the guaranteed pupil number for your institution.

5.8 Thank you page

Upon completion of your estimates, the form will prompt you that it is complete. However, your submission will only be considered complete when you submit your form at the summary page.

We will ask you to enter contact details of additional personnel at your setting. We only use this information if we need to validate something in your estimated pupil numbers return.

5.9 Declarations

You must complete all declarations before you can submit your form. You will not be able to submit your form without completing this section fully.

5.10 Check your answers and submit

The summary page allows you to check your answers before submitting the form. You can change your answers using the ‘Change’ link that appears next to each data entry. 

You can also save this summary by selecting ‘Save summary as PDF’ before you submit. Alternatively, you can download it by following the steps below.

1. On the summary page, select ‘File’ and then ‘Print’. A new window will open.

2. From the dropdown, select ‘Save as PDF’.

3. Select ‘Save’.

We cannot accept a pre-submission PDF summary copy of your answers as proof of submission. You must still submit the form. 

You must select ‘Submit’ at the bottom of this page and receive a unique reference number for your submission to be processed. 

5.11  Confirmation  

The final page confirms your submission and shows a unique reference number. Please make a note of this reference number.  

You will then be sent a confirmation email to the email address that you logged into DfE Sign-in with. This will contain a link to download a PDF of your submission, which is valid for 6 months from the date of your submission.  

5.12  Amending your submission 

You can make changes to the form and resubmit until  5pm on 18 October 2024. To do this, you’ll need to sign back in and resubmit your form. 

You can amend your data until the deadline. We cannot grant any extensions to the deadline. 

If you make a second submission, we’ll take the details of the most recently submitted form and disregard previous versions. 

You will receive a new unique submission reference for an amended submission. 

6. Enquiries  

If you’ve read this guidance and have questions, contact us via the Customer Help Portal.