# School places in England, 2024/25

How many places England's schools have across every year group, and how many of them stood empty.

These are whole-school figures. They count every year group of every school, not places in the year children start, and the two differ by roughly the number of year groups a school has.

These are places counted on one day, across every year group of every school. They do not say whether any particular child would be offered a place, and they do not say how many places there will be next year.

## Primary

- England had 4,951,383 primary school places across every year group, and 4,283,709 children in them.
- 685,013 places were unfilled, which is 13.8% of the places primary schools have.
- At the same time 17,754 children were at a primary school holding more children than it has places for. Empty places are not always where the children are.
- In 2009 the share unfilled was 10.8%, against 13.8% in 2024/25.

Councils with the most empty places, as a share of the places they have:

- Westminster: 32.4% (3,313 of 10,229)
- Lambeth: 32.3% (8,007 of 24,824)
- Wandsworth: 29.4% (6,742 of 22,962)
- Hammersmith and Fulham: 27.7% (3,164 of 11,415)
- Northumberland: 26.3% (6,724 of 25,563)
- Southwark: 25.8% (6,585 of 25,502)
- Hackney: 23.8% (4,853 of 20,361)
- Rutland: 23.6% (792 of 3,355)
- Lewisham: 23.5% (6,328 of 26,889)
- Kensington and Chelsea: 22.7% (1,772 of 7,805)
- Westmorland and Furness: 22.1% (3,991 of 18,098)
- Cambridgeshire: 22.0% (14,069 of 63,912)

Councils with the fewest:

- Bolton: 3.6% (1,045 of 28,800)
- Coventry: 4.9% (1,612 of 32,752)
- Wolverhampton: 4.9% (1,257 of 25,600)
- Walsall: 6.1% (1,705 of 28,009)
- Sutton: 6.1% (1,112 of 18,224)
- Sandwell: 6.1% (2,152 of 35,251)
- Wigan: 6.4% (1,757 of 27,306)
- Liverpool: 6.7% (2,754 of 40,982)
- Leicester: 6.8% (2,315 of 33,984)
- Rochdale: 7.1% (1,621 of 22,881)
- Thurrock: 7.1% (1,328 of 18,744)
- Warrington: 7.3% (1,355 of 18,587)

Councils with fewer than 2,000 places are left out of both lists, because one small school moving swings their percentage further than any real change can.

## Secondary

- England had 4,115,847 secondary school places across every year group, and 3,632,400 children in them.
- 512,454 places were unfilled, which is 12.5% of the places secondary schools have.
- At the same time 29,007 children were at a secondary school holding more children than it has places for. Empty places are not always where the children are.
- In 2009 the share unfilled was 10.0%, against 12.5% in 2024/25.

Councils with the most empty places, as a share of the places they have:

- Islington: 25.6% (2,830 of 11,048)
- East Riding of Yorkshire: 23.5% (5,930 of 25,239)
- Halton: 23.1% (2,371 of 10,272)
- Devon: 22.6% (11,695 of 51,661)
- Croydon: 22.3% (6,658 of 29,839)
- Camden: 21.9% (2,784 of 12,733)
- Westmorland and Furness: 20.5% (3,577 of 17,453)
- Reading: 20.4% (2,494 of 12,238)
- Thurrock: 20.0% (3,065 of 15,308)
- Northumberland: 19.9% (5,342 of 26,885)
- Cornwall: 19.7% (7,508 of 38,023)
- Barking and Dagenham: 19.3% (5,083 of 26,341)

Councils with the fewest:

- Kingston upon Thames: 3.3% (434 of 13,025)
- Rutland: 3.8% (114 of 3,015)
- Sutton: 4.0% (881 of 21,985)
- Kensington and Chelsea: 4.5% (286 of 6,296)
- Richmond upon Thames: 4.6% (586 of 12,730)
- Coventry: 4.8% (1,298 of 27,027)
- Harrow: 5.1% (893 of 17,420)
- Buckinghamshire: 5.3% (2,336 of 44,415)
- Kirklees: 5.9% (1,743 of 29,766)
- Gateshead: 5.9% (758 of 12,806)
- Telford and Wrekin: 6.2% (921 of 14,842)
- Leicester: 6.5% (1,659 of 25,552)

Councils with fewer than 2,000 places are left out of both lists, because one small school moving swings their percentage further than any real change can.

## Source

Department for Education, school capacity collection, school level, England. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Source: https://www.schoolrecord.co.uk/places/2024