School admissions code – briefing note

Admission authorities include local authorities for community and voluntary controlled schools, and governing bodies or academy trusts for foundation, voluntary aided schools and academies.

The Code is intended to ensure that school admissions are fair, transparent, objective and consistent, while enabling parents to express a preference for the school they wish their child to attend. It regulates all aspects of the admissions process, including determining admission arrangements, consultation, oversubscription criteria, admissions outside the normal age group, in-year admissions and infant class size legislation. Throughout the Code, particular priority is given to protecting the interests of looked after and previously looked after children.

The current version of the code came into effect on 1 September 2021. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026 and will introduce changes to the Code, including significant reforms to local authority powers of direction and the role of the Schools Adjudicator. An updated version of the admissions code is expected to be released later this year following a consultation process by the Department for Education.

This briefing note summarises the principal provisions of the current Code and addresses the key reforms expected under the revised Code, with a particular focus on the practical implications for academy trusts and other admission authorities.

Determining admissions

Admission authorities are responsible for determining their admission arrangements annually, including the school’s published admission number (PAN), even where no changes are proposed. Once determined, admission arrangements must be published, notified to the appropriate consultees and provided to the local authority in accordance with the statutory timetable. Any objections to determined admission arrangements must be referred to the Schools Adjudicator.

A significant forthcoming change is contained in section 64 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, which will enable the Schools Adjudicator to determine a school’s PAN following an objection or referral where it considers the published PAN does not comply with the relevant statutory requirements.

Consultations

Admission authorities must consult on proposed admission arrangements whenever changes are proposed and, in any event, at least once every seven years. Consultation must last for a minimum of six weeks between 1 October and 31 January.

Consultation must include parents, other admission authorities, the relevant local authority and any other persons or organisations with an interest in the proposals. Schools designated with a religious character must also consult the relevant religious authority. Early and meaningful consultation is important, as procedural failures may result in objections to the Schools Adjudicator.

Applying for places in the normal round

The School Admissions Code requires local authorities to coordinate the normal admissions round through a Common Application Form (CAF). Parents may express preferences for any state-funded school, regardless of the local authority area in which they live, although admission authorities cannot guarantee that a preferred school will be offered.  The home local authority is responsible for coordinating applications and making the single offer of a school place, working with other local authorities where applications are made across local authority boundaries.

Admission authorities may only request additional information where it is necessary to determine whether a child meets the published oversubscription criteria, such as faith-based criteria or where selection by aptitude applies. Supplementary Information Forms must not be used to ask for information that is unrelated to the published admission arrangements.

Out of age admissions (such as summer born children)

Parents may request that their child is admitted outside their normal age group where there are exceptional circumstances, such as significant medical needs, delayed development or where a child is summer born. Admission authorities must clearly explain the process for making such requests within their published admission arrangements.

Each request must be considered on its individual merits and in the best interests of the child. Admission authorities should have regard to a range of factors, including the parent’s views, the child’s academic, social and emotional development, relevant medical evidence, whether the child has previously been educated outside their normal age group and the views of the headteacher.

Where a request is agreed, the application must be considered alongside other applications in the relevant admissions round and must not be disadvantaged because it relates to admissions outside the child’s normal age group. Parents retain a statutory right of appeal where they are refused a place at their preferred school, although there is no separate right of appeal against the decision on the appropriate year group.

In-year admissions

Parents may apply for a place at any state-funded school at any time outside the normal admissions round. Local authorities may co-ordinate in-year admissions for own-admission authority schools where agreed, although academy trusts and other admission authorities may also manage their own applications.

Schools with vacancies must generally admit eligible applicants unless one of the limited statutory grounds for refusal applies. Admission authorities must not refuse an application because it was submitted late, because information has not been received from a previous school, or, in the case of faith schools, because the child is not of the faith, where places remain available.

Where applications exceed available places, admission authorities must apply their published oversubscription criteria. Parents whose application is refused must receive written reasons and information about their rights of appeal.

Infant class sizes

The DfE’s School Admissions Code sets out rules regarding the size of infant classes. The rules are that infant classes must not contain more than 30 pupils with a single school teacher and additional children may only be admitted under limited exceptional circumstances. The code lists “excepted children” which also details the exceptional circumstances as follows:

• Children admitted outside the normal admissions round with Education, Health and Care Plans specifying the school
• Looked after children and previously looked after children admitted outside the normal admissions round
• Children admitted after initial allocation of places, because of a procedural error made by the admission authority or local authority in the original application process
• Children admitted after an independent appeals panel upholds the appeal
• Children who move into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no available school within reasonable distance
• Children of UK service personnel admitted outside the normal admissions round
• Children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted otherwise than as an expected pupil
• Children with special educational needs who are normally taught in a special educational needs unit attached to the school, or registered at a special school, who attend some infant classes with the mainstream school

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The oversubscription criteria

Admission authorities must set out in their arrangements the criteria against which places will be allocated at the school where there are more applications than places and the order in which the criteria will be applied. This is known as the oversubscription criteria.

The code prohibits admission authorities from using oversubscription criteria that is unfair, subjective or discriminatory. Examples include, giving priority based on parental financial support, occupation, marital status, previous behaviour, interviews, voluntary contributions or the order in which schools are ranked on the application form. Instead, admission authorities should adopt objective criteria such as looked after status, sibling links, catchment areas, feeder schools, distance and, where appropriate, social or medical need.

Grammar schools

Grammar schools are permitted to select their entire intake on the basis of high academic ability. They do not have to fill all of their places if applicants have not reached the required standard.

Where arrangements for pupils are wholly based on selection by reference to ability and provide for only those pupils who score highest in any selection test to be admitted, no priority needs to be given to looked after children or previously looked after children.

Where admission arrangements are not based solely on highest scores in a selection test, the admission authority must give priority in its oversubscription criteria to all looked after children and previously looked after children who meet the pre-set standards of the ability test.

Faith schools

Schools designated with a religious character may use faith-based oversubscription criteria where they are oversubscribed. However, where places remain available they must admit applicants regardless of faith. Faith criteria must be clear, objective and capable of being evidenced. Admission authorities must also have regard to guidance issued by the relevant religious body and, in the case of Church of England schools, consult the relevant diocese before undertaking a public consultation on admission arrangements.

The role of the School’s Adjudicator

The Schools Adjudicator is responsible for determining objections to admission arrangements and deciding disputes arising under the School Admissions Code. The Adjudicator’s decisions are binding and admission authorities must amend their arrangements where directed. Local authorities are also required to refer arrangements they consider unlawful.

Local Authorities – power of direction

The current School Admissions Code gives local authorities limited powers to direct maintained schools to admit a child where the child has been refused admission to every suitable school within a reasonable distance of their home. Before issuing a direction, the local authority must consult the governing body, the child’s parents and, where appropriate, the child. Maintained schools may challenge a proposed direction by referring the matter to the Schools Adjudicator.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act will significantly expand these powers. Section 62 of the Act will extend the local authority’s power of direction to academies. Section 63 of the Act will also introduce a further power of direction in specified circumstances, although the detail of how this will operate in practice will not be known until the revised School Admissions Code is published.

These reforms represent one of the most significant changes to the admissions framework, strengthening the role of local authorities in securing school places for children who might otherwise remain without suitable education.

Conclusion

The School Admissions Code is intended to ensure that admission arrangements are fair, clear, objective and transparent. Admission authorities must ensure that their published arrangements comply with the Code and are applied consistently, particularly in relation to oversubscription criteria, in-year admissions and requests for admission outside a child’s normal age group.

Although the current School Admissions Code remains in force, significant changes are expected following the implementation of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 and the publication of a revised code. The most notable reforms are the extension of local authority powers of direction to academies and the enhanced role of the Schools Adjudicator, including new powers relating to published admission numbers.

Academy trusts, governing bodies and other admission authorities should therefore review their admission arrangements once the new Code is published to ensure continued compliance with the statutory requirements. Whilst the detailed implementation of the new provisions will depend on the final version of the revised Code, admission authorities should begin considering the operational impact of these reforms, particularly where they affect admission policies and decision-making processes.