Guidance

Special educational needs person level survey: guide

Guide for local authorities completing returns for the person level 2026 and 2027 special educational needs survey, commonly known as person level SEN2.

From:
Department for Education
Published:Published
26 September 2025
Last updated:updated
179 AugustDecember 20262025 — See all updates

Applies to England

Documents

Special educational needs survey 2026: guide

PDF, 535 KB, 45 pages

Special educational needs survey 2027: guide

PDF, 518469 KB, 4342 pages

Details

ThisThese guideguides containscontain information to help local authorities submit data for the SEN2 person level 2026 and 2027 surveysurveys.

They include notes on individual data items in the SEN2 survey.

Use ‘Special educational needs survey 2026: guide’ to prepare for and complete the January 2026 census.

The 2026 survey deadlines are:

  • survey day: Thursday 15 January 2026
  • deadline for submitting data: Thursday 12 March 2026

Use ‘Special educational needs survey 2027: guide’ to prepare for and complete the January 2027 census.

The 2027 survey deadlines are:

  • survey day: Thursday 21 January 2027
  • deadline for submitting data: Thursday 18 March 2027

Updates to this page

Published 26 September 2025
Last updated 179 AugustDecember 20262025 href="#full-history">—+ Showshow all updates

  1. Updated description of mediations and tribunals in ‘Special educational needs survey 2027: guide’, and removed ‘Special educational needs survey 2026: guide’.

  2. Added 'Special educational needs survey 2027: guide.'

  3. First published.

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