Guidance

How to complete the high needs place change workbook for 2025 to 2026

Published 7 October 2024

Applies to England

1. About this guidance

This guide explains how the workbook should be completed for local authorities requesting changes to their 2025 to 2026 high needs place numbers. It provides technical guidance for those who are completing and submitting the return.

Refer to the guidance ‘High needs place change process: academic year 2025 to 2026’ for further information about the high needs place change notification process and how the outcomes will be managed.

2. Changes to the workbook for 2025 to 2026

The workbook supporting the place change process is similar to last year. However, please note the following changes:

• regional information has been removed from the ‘Cover’ sheet
• a ‘nil return’ tick box has been added to the ‘Cover’ worksheet
• a mandatory dropdown ‘Reason for change’ has been added to the ‘Place change notification (PCN)’ worksheet
• ‘Validation’ checks for changes to the ‘Cover’ and ‘PCN’ worksheets have been created

3. Expiry or review date

We will review this guidance in autumn 2025.

4. Completing the workbook

This guide shows local authorities how to navigate and complete the high needs place change workbook.

Local authorities can download the workbook from their Galaxkey account. We have contacted local authority designated users with information on how to register with Galaxkey and access the workbook. If you are not sure who the designated user is for your local authority, please contact us at: highneeds.esfa@education.gov.uk.

Local authorities must submit the workbook via their Galaxkey account by 8 November 2024. We may not consider submissions received after this date.

The workbook is only available as an MS Excel spreadsheet currently. We are looking at changing this in future to enable the use of other accessible communication formats.

A 2025 to 2026 place change notification by a local authority must meet the requirements set out in this guide. Contact us at highneeds.esfa@education.gov.uk if you have any questions about completing the workbook. Please do not email copies of your completed workbook unless we ask you to do so.

There will be a 2-week window for local authorities, schools, and colleges to review the information and raise any enquiries with us following publication of the place change outcomes in January 2025. This includes where a place number previously marked as ‘not agreed’ in the original return has subsequently been agreed. Applications for changes raised during the 2-week enquiry window for any schools that are not included in the workbook and queries received outside of the enquiry window may not be considered. See ‘[High needs place change process: academic year 2025 to 2026]’(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-funding-arrangements-2025-to-2026) for further information.

5. ‘Cover’ worksheet

Enter the contact details of the person who is responsible for completing the workbook in the ‘Primary local authority contact details’ section. We will use this information if there is a query regarding your submission.

For us to accept the workbook, you must enter primary contact details in rows 13 to 15; however, you may wish to include additional contact details in the second and third columns.

The primary contact should complete the declaration for every submission, including nil returns. If the primary contact does not complete the declaration correctly the submission will be rejected, and a resubmission requested.

To successfully fulfil the declaration, complete the following steps:

1. For nil returns only: check the tick box (row 31).

2. Check the tick box (row 35) to confirm your agreement to the statement included in the declaration.

3. Insert an electronic signature or typed name into the section headed ‘Signature or typed name’ (cell D43).

4. Enter the date of completion into the ‘Date completed’ cell (D45).

5. Where ‘nil return’ is selected, submit the workbook via your Galaxkey account by 8 November 2024.

Director of Children’s Services (DCS) sign-off is required where the ’Hospital Education Template’ worksheet is completed. Note that:

• this must be an electronic signature (cell M43), where this electronic signature cannot be entered directly into the ‘Cover’ worksheet, a signed copy of the agreed declaration can be inserted into the designated cell K48 on the ‘Cover’ worksheet.
• enter the date of completion into the ‘Date completed’ cell (M45)

The validation on this page will show as a ‘Fail’ if the primary contact details have not been entered. It will also fail if the declaration is not completed correctly - you must make sure the statement is ticked and both a signature and date are entered.

Additional information is included in the ‘Cover’ worksheet, giving a brief description of the areas covered by the workbook and hyperlinks to help navigate to the different worksheets (rows 25 to 29).
These are:

• ‘Cover’
• ‘2024 to 2025 HN Data’
• ‘Place Change Notification (PCN)’
• ‘Hospital Education Template’
• ‘Validation’

6. ‘2024 to 2025 HN Data’ worksheet

This worksheet contains pre-populated details of the 2024 to 2025 high needs data (correct as of 1 October 2024) for those provider types that are in scope for changes from current high needs places. Refer to the ‘High needs place change process: academic year 2025 to 2026’ for the types of provider that are in scope.

Filters are applied to allow you to search the data, but the worksheet is protected, and you will be unable to change this data. Details of any school or college you identify as requiring a change in this worksheet, will be replicated in the ‘Place Change Notification (PCN)’ worksheet.

7. ‘Place Change Notification (PCN)’ worksheet

You should use this worksheet to notify us of changes from the 2024 to 2025 high needs places and place values for academies with hospital education funding.

Validation rules are built into the worksheet to ensure data that is entered into the cells is formatted correctly. In addition, the ‘Validation’ worksheet will highlight instances where information is entered incorrectly (for example, if data is entered into greyed cells or a UKPRN appears more than once).

At the top of the worksheet is the current validation status (see the section headed ‘Validation worksheet’ for more details). This will show as ‘Pass’ if the worksheet is completed correctly.

The worksheet is split into two sections depending on the reason for change:

1. In the first section (starting at row 12), local authorities must enter those schools and colleges with the reason for change identified as ‘New provider’ or ‘Existing provider’ and select the relevant option from the drop-down list.

2. Any ‘Change from currently high needs places’ should be entered in the second section (starting at row 29) - entries here must relate to schools and colleges in the ‘2024 to 2025 HN data’ worksheet.

There are two links at the top of the PCN worksheet (cells A3 and A6) that will help you to navigate between the different sections of the worksheet.

The workbook is designed so that when the ‘Change category’ and ‘Provider type’ is entered, cells requiring completion will open and change from grey to white backgrounds. For each entry, start at column A and work along the row.

7.1 PCN worksheet general principles

To successfully complete the PCN worksheet, for each entry you should:

1. Start at column A of the ‘Place Change Notification’ (PCN) workbook and work along the row.

2. Record the change as either ‘agreed’ or ‘not agreed’ with the school or college.

3. Confirm which schools require a change to place numbers (for changes to currently funded high needs places ONLY)

4. Not enter data into greyed out cells.

5. Only make one entry per academy, college, or other provider

6. Enter the total place numbers you require after any adjustment has been applied (where a change in the place number is required)

7. If no change is needed, leave the cell blank (if ‘0’ is entered into the 2025 to 2026 revised place number columns, the final place numbers will be set at zero)

8. Ensure all validation markers show as ‘pass’ before submitting the completed workbook to us.

9. Enter schools and colleges into the correct section of the PCN worksheet:

• the first section is for new or existing ESFA funded schools and colleges with changes other than to current high needs places
• the second section ‘change from current high needs places’ is for schools and colleges funded for high needs places via ESFA in 2024 to 2025

7.2 Infrastructure changes (for example, mergers and amalgamations – including mergers across local authorities)

These types of changes may affect more than one school or college. Each school or college may fall into a different category (new, existing, or change) of the workbook depending on the status of that organisation. You should consider the steps below when notifying us of infrastructure changes:

1. Each school or college that will receive ESFA funding, and is affected by the change, will need to be listed separately in the workbook and added to the section appropriate for that school, whether it be a change from current place numbers, a new provider or a change to an existing ESFA-funded provider that has not received high needs funding from us in the past.

2. Do not add any affected maintained schools that are not converting to an academy as a separate school (see the comment on ‘notes’ for additional actions)

3. Each school or college should show the impact on its own place numbers within columns M to AX of the PCN worksheet.

4. The notes section for each affected school or college should name all providers (including maintained schools) impacted by this change and identify any closing and lead school’s along with any other information that will help us to process the merger/amalgamation data.

7.3 Populating the ‘PCN’ worksheet

The process for completing the 2 sections of the worksheet is set out below:

7.31 Section 1: ‘New providers / Existing providers’

The first section of the worksheet (rows 12 to 26) focuses on new and existing reasons for change in the academic year 2025 to 2026. Refer to the ‘[High needs place change process: academic year 2025 to 2026]’(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-funding-arrangements-2025-to-2026) for the types of provider that are in scope.

Use the ‘New/Existing’ link at the top of the worksheet (row 3) to navigate to this section of the workbook.

Select the appropriate ‘Change category’ drop-down option in column A of the worksheet.

New providers

You should use ‘New providers’ when notifying us of the high needs place activity for new schools and colleges. We consider a school/college as new if we did not fund any activity as of 1 October 2024, but is within scope to receive funding, and requires high needs place funding in 2025 to 2026 academic year.

This includes:

• SPIs that require funding for high needs places in 2025 to 2026 that were not ESFA-funded in the 2024 to 2025 academic year (subject to due diligence process)
• schools or PRUs that were local authority maintained on 1 October 2024 but will convert to an academy on or by 1 January 2025 and require high needs place funding in 2025 to 2026.
• special free schools located in the local authority’s area that were not open by 1 October 2024 (and are not therefore included in the pre-populated data) but that are due to open on or by 1 January 2025

Supply as much information as possible about the new school to enable us to process the change.

Existing providers

You should select ‘Existing provider’ to inform us of changes to ESFA-funded schools and colleges on 1 October 2024 and are in scope of this data collection exercise, but who did not receive funding from us for high needs places in 2024 to 2025. Any school or college listed in the ‘2024 to 2025 HN Data’ worksheet is not eligible for this option.

Where such changes are applied to existing provider’s, the schools existing funding agreement with us may need deed a of variation supporting this change, this must be submitted to us by 6 December 2024.

You should also complete the following fields for the proposed change to be processed correctly:

(i). ‘Do you wish to make a change to currently funded high needs places?’ (column B)

Not required for ‘new’ or ‘existing’ entries

(ii). ‘Has the school or college agreed to this change?’ (column C):

Select from the options ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

Please advise us of the ‘agreed’ status with the school or college, at the point of completing the form. It may be that discussions with the school or college are ongoing, and you should document this in the notes section. If you select the ‘No’ option you will still be able to add this request to your workbook and there will be an opportunity to advise us of progress during the enquiry window phase of the data collection.  Applications for changes raised during the 2-week enquiry window for any schools not listed in the workbook as needing a change, may not be considered. See ‘High needs place change process: academic year 2025 to 2026’ for further information.

(iii). ‘Deed of Variation (DoV) has been submitted to ESFA by 6 December 2024’ (column D):

Requests to change the age range at a school that is currently receiving high needs funding from us or add a new high needs unit to an existing school, may need a corresponding variation to the schools funding agreement with us. Please consult with the school and advise us of the status of the deed of variation at the point of completing the workbook. The workbook will present you with the following options:

• ‘The funding agreement already covers the required position’.
• ‘A DoV is being developed to permit the required position’. -‘A DoV is required’

If you select ‘A DoV is being developed to permit the required position’ or ‘A DoV is required’ you will still be able to add the change to your workbook and there will be an opportunity to advise us of progress during the enquiry window phase of the data collection. However, you should ensure that the school is progressing this action. See ‘High needs place change process: academic year 2025 to 2026’ for further information.

Where we agree to the requested change, and for us to reflect these changes in the school or colleges 2025 to 2026 General Annual Grant (GAG) statement issued in March 2025, the school must submit a signed and sealed deed of variation to us by 6 December 2024. See ‘High needs place change process: academic year 2025 to 2026’ for further information.

If the funding agreement does not reflect the requested activity, or the school / college does not submit a deed if variation, we cannot support the change.

This option is not required for ‘new providers’.

(iv). ‘Proposed date of change’ (column E):

Enter the date the change is expected to come into effect, this cell will only accept the date the workbook is completed (or a later date) and use the format dd/mm/yyyy

(v). ‘UKPRN’ (column F):

This must be an eight-digit number (with no letters) - you can get this from ‘Get information about schools’ (GIAS)

(vi). ‘LAEstab’ (column G):

This must be a seven-digit number (with no letters or symbols e.g. ‘/’) - if unknown, leave blank

(vii). ‘URN’ (column H):

This must be a six-digit number (with no letters) - you can get this from ‘Get information about schools’ (GIAS)

(viii). ‘School or college name’ (column I)

You can get this from ‘Get information about schools’ (GIAS)

(ix). ‘Provider type’ (column J):

Select your option from the drop-down list linked to the cell (refer to the ‘High needs place change process: academic year 2025 to 2026’ for the provider types that are in scope) - by selecting the provider type the cells that require updates will become available (changing from grey to white).

Hospital education calculations in columns AS to AX will be displayed if the provider type is populated.

(x). ‘Reason for change’ (column K):

Select an option from the dropdown that best fits the change you are applying to that school.  If the option ‘Other’ is selected, add details of the change to the ‘Notes’ field (Column L).

(xi). ‘Notes’ (column L):

Ensure that you supply sufficient detail to enable us to process the change (for example, details of all schools and colleges involved in a merger and for new schools and colleges, contact details of the new provider must be provided such as their address, email and telephone contact information or full contact details of any new SPIs)

(xii). Changes to new/existing places (columns M to AX):

Where needed, add 2025 to 2026 revised place numbers to the open columns in the table (columns M to AX). Only whole numbers will be accepted. 2024 to 2025 numbers will not be pre-populated but local authorities may manually enter the 2024 to 2025 place numbers on which a school or colleges 2024 to 2025 place funding is based, for information.

7.32 Section 2: Change from current high needs places

The second section (rows 29 to 119) allows you to request changes to high needs places for academic year 2025 to 2026 for any schools or colleges where we fund high needs places in the 2024 to 2025 academic year.

Use the ‘Change’ link at the top of the worksheet (row 6) to navigate to this section of the workbook.

The types of changes could include:

• a change in place numbers
• a change in the age range (for example, where a school was funded for pre-16 high needs places in the 2024 to 2025 academic year, but this now needs to be extended to include post-16 high needs provision, such as the inclusion of a new sixth form, for the 2025 to 2026 academic year)

The request to change the age range may need a corresponding variation to the schools funding agreement with us. A signed and sealed deed of variation supporting this amendment must be submitted to us by 6 December 2024.

This section of the worksheet is populated with all eligible schools including their 2024 to 2025 funded high needs places. Pre-populated cells are protected stopping you from entering data (for example, there is no drop-down option in ‘Change category’ (column A) and the reason for change is fixed).

The following cells must be completed for the proposed change to be processed correctly:

(i). ‘Do you wish to make a change to currently funded high needs places?’ (column B)

Cells in this column are pre-populated with the option ‘No’. This confirms that the school does not require a change to its current funded place numbers. The places set out in the ‘2024 to 2025 HN Data’ worksheet will be rolled forward to 2025 to 2026 for any schools listed as ‘No’ or where this cell is blank.

If ‘No’ is selected, you will not be able to request an increase for these providers during the 2-week enquiry window. See ‘High needs place change process: academic year 2025 to 2026’ for further information.

Change the ‘No’ to ‘Yes’ for all schools or colleges that require a change to their currently funded place numbers.

When you enter ‘Yes’, previously greyed out cells will change to white and open to allow you to enter data where applicable. If cells remain grey, then these columns will not relate to the provider type associated with the school and they should not be completed.

(ii). ‘Has the change been agreed?’ (column C):

Select from the options ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

Please advise us of the ‘agreed’ status with the school or college, at the point of completing the form. It may be that discussions with the school or college are ongoing, and you should document this in the notes section. If you select the option ‘No’ you will still be able to add this request to your workbook and there will be an opportunity to advise us of progress during the enquiry window phase of the data collection. Applications for changes raised during the 2-week enquiry window for any schools not listed in the workbook as needing a change, may not be considered.  See High needs place change process: academic year 2025 to 2026 for further information.

(iii). ‘Deed of Variation (DoV) has been submitted to ESFA by 6 December 2024’ (column D):

Requests to change the age range at a school that is currently receiving high needs place funding from us or add a new SEN unit or resource provision to an existing mainstream academy, may need a corresponding variation to the schools funding agreement with us. Please consult with the school and advise us of the status of the deed of variation at the point of completing your workbook. The workbook will present you with the following list of options:

• ‘The funding agreement already covers the required position’.
• ‘A DoV is being developed to permit the required position’.
• ‘A DoV is required’

If you select ‘A DoV is being developed to permit the required position’ or ‘A DoV is required’ you will still be able to add the request to your workbook and there will be an opportunity to advise us of progress during the enquiry window phase of the data collection. However, you should ensure that the school is progressing this action. See ‘High needs place change process: academic year 2025 to 2026’ for further information.

Where we agree to the requested change, and for us to reflect these changes in the school or colleges 2025 to 2026 general annual grant (GAG) statement issued in March 2025, the school must submit a signed and sealed deed of variation to us by 6 December 2024. See ‘High needs place change process: academic year 2025 to 2026’ for further information.

If the funding agreement does not reflect the requested activity, or the school / college does not submit a deed of variation, we cannot support the change requested.

(iv). ‘Proposed date of change’ (column E):

Enter the date the change is expected to come into effect, this cell will only accept the date the workbook is completed (or a later date) and use the format dd/mm/yyyy.

(v). ‘Reason for change’ (column K):

Select an option from the dropdown that best fits the change you are applying to that school.  If the option ‘Other’ is selected, add details of the change to the ‘Notes’ field (Column L).

(vi). Changes to current places (columns M to AX):

Enter the revised place numbers for 2025 to 2026 into the open cells (columns M to AX) that you want to change. Only whole place numbers will be accepted. Enter the total number of places you require, not the difference between the new and old place numbers. For example, if a school has 13 pre-16 high needs places and a total of 20 places is required, enter 20.

The difference between the new and old place numbers will appear in the following cell ‘Difference in 2025 to 2026 against 2024 to 2025’.

Where no change is required, leave the cell blank and the 2024 to 2025 place numbers will automatically roll-forward. If ‘0’ is entered into the ‘2024 to 2025 revised place number’ columns, the final place numbers will be set at zero.

Columns AP to AR calculate the total high needs places (excluding hospital education) for each school or college.

Columns AS to AX allow changes relating to hospital education place numbers and/or the per-place amount for academies only. The difference in place numbers and per-place funding when compared to 2024 to 2025 is calculated in columns AU and AX, respectively. The total hospital education funding is calculated in column AY for each applicable school or college.

8. ‘Hospital Education Template’ worksheet

This worksheet can be used to submit requests to change hospital education funding for 2025 to 2026 at a local authority level through the dedicated schools grant (DSG) high needs funding block.

The Director of Children’s Services (DCS) sign-off is required where the ’Hospital Education Template’ worksheet is completed.

Use the ‘Hospital education funding: guidance’ to help you apply for changes to this funding.

If, because of this change, there is also an impact on the number of funded hospital education places at an academy, you should notify us of changes to the provider level allocations via one of the sections on the ‘Place Change Notification (PCN)’ worksheet.

To submit this request, you must confirm this intention by checking the tick box ‘Confirm funding’ in cell A4. This will release the form so all sections of the template can be completed. The ‘Confirm funding’ tick box should not be unticked if the template is populated.

An error notification will be displayed if data is entered into the hospital education template and the ‘Confirm funding’ tick box is unticked. This must be rectified before submitting the worksheet.

For all changes, provide:

• ‘Health care provider details’ (cell A6): including NHS provider, the change in medical provision, date of change, confirmation that NHS evidence is attached, with additional comments, if required, added to cell A9
• ‘Education provider details’ (cell A21): including name of education provider, education provider type, LAEstab (if relevant), details of the current hospital education funding and the required change in funding - please also set out (in the additional information box at cell A34) the impact of the change in medical provision on the education provision required
• ‘Resources’ (cell A41): including a breakdown of additional resource required and associated costs - total funding will be calculated in cell D55
• ‘NHS evidence’ (A57): the evidence we require is set out in the ‘Hospital education funding: guidance’  (instructions on how to insert a document is set out in cell A68)

9. ‘Validation’ worksheet

The ‘Validation’ worksheet has been added as a check for local authorities to ensure the workbook is completed correctly. Before you submit the completed workbook to us, you should check that all values in the validation table show as ‘Pass’. We will request corrective action and a resubmission where a validation result shows as ‘Fail’.

Key points to note about the ‘Validation’ worksheet are:

1. Cell D2 gives the overall validation status of the workbook – this should show as ‘Pass’ before submitting the completed workbook to us.
2. Cell D4 and D6 show the final validation status concerning the ‘Cover’ worksheet with focus on the primary contact details and the primary contact signed declaration.
3. Cell D9 indicates if the DCS signature has been completed by showing ‘Yes’ (the DCS signature is only required if the ‘Hospital Education Template’ worksheet is completed).
4. Cell D11 shows the status of the PCN worksheet, where this shows as a ‘Fail’ refer to row 20 - starting at column D - this gives the summary status for each column where data can be entered (where a ‘Fail’ appears search that column in the table below to identify the cell containing the error, this will be highlighted in red – the table below reflects the format of the PCN worksheet and you can use this to locate the cell that has been populated incorrectly on the PCN worksheet).
5. Cell D13 displays ‘Yes’ when the ‘nil return’ box on the ‘Cover’ worksheet has been completed.
6. Cell D15 displays ‘Yes’ when the ‘Confirm funding’ box on the ‘Hospital Education Template’ worksheet has been completed.

As with the PCN worksheet, links at cells C20 and C22 have been added to the ‘Validation’ worksheet to direct you to the 2 sections of the workbook relating to ‘New/Existing’ entries and ‘Change’ from current high needs places.

10.  ‘PCN Lookups’ Worksheet

The information contained in this worksheet is protected lookup data that supports dropdown functionality. Do not add to or change the information contained in this worksheet.