The general hospital school census is a statutory census that takes place every January. You must complete statutory censuses by law unless there’s a good reason not to.

The census collects the following information from general hospital schools:

• their contact details
• how many pupils there are on the attendance register
• the number of teaching staff and non teaching staff
• how many pupils have special educational needs (SEN)
• how many pupils are eligible for free school meals (FSM)

Important dates

20252026 census dates:

• census day: Thursday 1615 January 20252026
• deadline for submitting your data: Friday 1413 February 20252026

Submit your data

You’ll need to:

• register and log in with DfE Sign-in
• use COLLECT to submit your school census data

Get help using DfE Sign-in

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.

Completing the 2025 census

Read the general hospital school census guide on submitting the January 2025 census.

Help

If you would like help completing the general hospital census, or you have any questions about the census, use the data collections service request form.

Feedback

If you have any comments about the Data Collection Helpdesk service, the COLLECT system or any other aspects of our data collection service, use the data collections service request form.