Net capacity assessment programme

Overview

From 2023 to 2025, the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) NCA programme will ensure accurate and up-to-date information on pupil capacity is available for every government-funded secondary school and special school in England.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will visit approximately 4,500 schools in England to collect data on pupil capacity.

The VOA will:

• measure rooms
• record room types
• use the NCA tool and methodology to calculate the number of children a school can accommodate, based on the size and use of spaces available

NCA reports will be shared with:

• schools
• local authorities
• dioceses
• multi-academy trusts

NCA programme guide

Further information can be found in the NCA programme guide (PDF, 177 KB, 13 pages).

Benefits

The benefits of the NCA programme include:

• identifying spare capacity where demand for places is high
• providing a complete record of pupil capacity in special schools for the first time
• more effective use of space and curriculum planning
• independent verification of capacity for admissions and appeals
• providing more accurate information for responding to emergencies, such as school places for refugee children

Scheduled school site visits

Find out the dates of school site visits using the tranche list (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 486487 KB).

Assessment tool and area guidelines

DfE has also published:

• a tool to carry out net capacity assessment
• guidelines on the area of school buildings and grounds, and the number of pupil places available