Children in need census: guide to submitting data
How local authorities should collect data from social care services to complete the annual children in need census.
- From:
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- Published
- 25 March 2014
- Last updated
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22
1OctoberNovember20252024— See all updates
Applies to England
The children in need census is an annual statutory census for all local authorities. You must complete statutory censuses by law unless there’s a good reason not to.
The census covers the financial year (1 April to 31 March).
It collects data on children referred to local authority social care services because their health or development is at risk. This includes:
- children in local-authority care (in placements in a residential home, in a foster family, or with relatives)
- children who are getting support from their local authority’s social care services
- children who are the subject of a child protection plan
- unborn children who will potentially need support from social care services
Important dates
20252024 to 20262025 census dates:
- census opens: Wednesday
Tuesday1 April 20262025 - deadline for loading data: Tuesday
Monday30 June 20262025 - deadline for submitting data: Friday
Thursday31 July 20262025
Submit your data
You’ll need to:
- register and log in with DfE Sign-in
- use COLLECT to submit your data
Contact your school or local authority approver, if:
- you want to request a DfE Sign-in username or password so you can access COLLECT
- ‘children in need census’ is not on the list of collections you can see in COLLECT
Get help using DfE Sign-in
If you do not know who your approver is, use the DfE Sign-in request form.
If you’ve forgotten your password, use DfE Sign-in to reset it. You will need to click ‘Start now’ and then the ‘I’ve forgotten my password’ link.
We’ll only be able to change the status of your data submission to ‘authorised’ once you’ve cleared all errors in the data in COLLECT.
Census documents
These documents will help you complete the census.
2024 to 2025 census guides
censusguidetechnicalspecificationandvalidationrulesCOLLECTguidesCOLLECTreportsspecifications
2025 to 2026 census guides
- census guide
- technical specification and validation rules
- COLLECT guides
- COLLECT reports specifications
Factors identified at the end of assessment
This
additional guide on the factors identified at the end of assessment (PDF, 231 KB, 16 pages) explains how to complete the factors identified at the end of the assessment data item.
Get help submitting data
For complex questions, use the service request form. We aim to answer your question within 5 working days.
Feedback
Use the service request form if you have any comments about our data collection service, including COLLECT and the helpdesk service.
Updates to this page
Last updated 22
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We have added the dates for the the 2025 to 2026 census.
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Update history
2025-11-18 17:57
Added links to the 2026 to 2027 census guide and technical specification and added the 2026 to 2027 census dates.
2025-10-22 08:03
We have added the dates for the the 2025 to 2026 census.
2024-11-01 12:41
Added a link to the technical specification and validation rules for the 2025 to 2026 children in need census.
2024-10-22 13:07
Added links to 2025 to 2026 census guides and removed links to 2023 to 2024 census guides.
2023-10-20 15:59
Added a link to the technical specification and validation rules for the 2024 to 2025 children in need census.
2023-10-11 11:43
2023 to 2024 census dates and 2024 to 2025 census guides have been added.
2022-11-08 16:22
Added link to newly-published technical specification documents for 2023 to 2024 census.
2022-10-25 17:11
Added 2023 to 2024 census guides.