Data set from Special educational needs in England

FSM, Ethnicity and Language, by type of SEN provision and type of need - 2016 to 2025

Not the latest data

Published 12 June 2025

Last updated 25 September 2025

Number of pupils in state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, non-maintained special schools and AP schools by SEN provision, type of need, free school meal eligibility, language and ethnicity.

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Data set details

• Theme: Pupils and schools
• Publication: Special educational needs in England
• Release: Academic year 2024/25
• Number of rows: 314,273
• Geographic levels: Local authority, National, Regional
• Indicators:
  • Any other ethnic group
  • Any other ethnic group (%)
  • Asian - Bangladeshi
  • Asian - Bangladeshi (%)
  • Asian - Chinese
  • Asian - Chinese (%)
  • Asian - Indian
  • Asian - Indian (%)
  • Asian - Pakistani
  • Asian - Pakistani (%)
  • Asian - any other Asian background
  • Asian - any other Asian background (%)
  • Black - Any other Black background
  • Black - Any other Black background (%)
  • Black - Black African
  • Black - Black African (%)
  • Black - Black Caribbean
  • Black - Black Caribbean (%)
  • Eligible for free school meals
  • Eligible for free school meals (%)
  • First language is known to be, or believed to be English
  • First language is known to be, or believed to be English (%)
  • First language is known to be, or believed to be, other than English
  • First language is known to be, or believed to be, other than English (%)
  • First language unclassified
  • First language unclassified (%)
  • Headcount
  • Mixed - Any other mixed background
  • Mixed - Any other mixed background (%)
  • Mixed - White and Asian
  • Mixed - White and Asian (%)
  • Mixed - White and Black African
  • Mixed - White and Black African (%)
  • Mixed - White and Black Caribbean
  • Mixed - White and Black Caribbean (%)
  • Not eligible for free school meals
  • Not eligible for free school meals (%)
  • Unclassified
  • Unclassified (%)
  • White - Gypsy/Roma
  • White - Gypsy/Roma (%)
  • White - Irish
  • White - Irish (%)
  • White - Traveller of Irish heritage
  • White - Traveller of Irish heritage (%)
  • White - White British
  • White - White British (%)
  • White - any other White background
  • White - any other White background (%)
• Filters:
  • Phase type of school
  • Primary type of need
  • SEN provision
• Time period: 2015/16 to 2024/25

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Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data

time_period	time_identifier	geographic_level	country_code	country_name	region_name	region_code	old_la_code	la_name	new_la_code	phase_type_grouping	sen_status	sen_primary_need	number_of_pupils	fsm_not_eligible	fsm_eligible	ethnicity_white_british	ethnicity_irish	ethnicity_traveller_of_irish_heritage	ethnicity_any_other_white_background	ethnicity_gypsy_roma	ethnicity_white_and_black_caribbean	ethnicity_white_and_black_african	ethnicity_white_and_asian	ethnicity_any_other_mixed_background	ethnicity_indian	ethnicity_pakistani	ethnicity_bangladeshi	ethnicity_any_other_asian_background	ethnicity_black_caribbean	ethnicity_black_african	ethnicity_any_other_black_background	ethnicity_chinese	ethnicity_any_other_ethnic_group	ethnicity_unclassified	language_english	language_other	language_unclassified	fsm_not_eligible_percent	fsm_eligible_percent	ethnicity_white_british_percent	ethnicity_irish_percent	ethnicity_traveller_of_irish_heritage_percent	ethnicity_any_other_white_background_percent	ethnicity_gypsy_roma_percent	ethnicity_white_and_black_caribbean_percent	ethnicity_white_and_black_african_percent	ethnicity_white_and_asian_percent	ethnicity_any_other_mixed_background_percent	ethnicity_indian_percent	ethnicity_pakistani_percent	ethnicity_bangladeshi_percent	ethnicity_any_other_asian_background_percent	ethnicity_black_caribbean_percent	ethnicity_black_african_percent	ethnicity_any_other_black_background_percent	ethnicity_chinese_percent	ethnicity_any_other_ethnic_group_percent	ethnicity_unclassified_percent	language_english_percent	language_other_percent	language_unclassified_percent
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Non-maintained special school	Education, Health and Care plans	Moderate Learning Difficulty	154	108	46	104	2	0	15	0	3	1	2	2	4	4	0	4	1	6	2	0	3	1	132	22	0	70.12987013	29.87012987	67.53246753	1.298701299	0	9.74025974	0	1.948051948	0.649350649	1.298701299	1.298701299	2.597402597	2.597402597	0	2.597402597	0.649350649	3.896103896	1.298701299	0	1.948051948	0.649350649	85.71428571	14.28571429	0
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Non-maintained special school	Education, Health and Care plans	Multi-sensory impairment	26	18	8	22	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	21	5	0	69.23076923	30.76923077	84.61538462	0	0	3.846153846	0	0	0	0	0	3.846153846	3.846153846	0	0	0	3.846153846	0	0	0	0	80.76923077	19.23076923	0
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Non-maintained special school	Education, Health and Care plans	Other difficulty or disability	71	41	30	59	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	67	4	0	57.74647887	42.25352113	83.09859155	0	0	1.408450704	0	1.408450704	0	2.816901408	4.225352113	1.408450704	0	0	0	0	4.225352113	0	0	1.408450704	0	94.36619718	5.633802817	0
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Non-maintained special school	Education, Health and Care plans	Physical Disability	334	265	69	268	0	0	15	0	5	1	7	8	4	7	0	2	2	3	1	1	3	7	321	12	1	79.34131737	20.65868263	80.23952096	0	0	4.491017964	0	1.497005988	0.299401198	2.095808383	2.395209581	1.19760479	2.095808383	0	0.598802395	0.598802395	0.898203593	0.299401198	0.299401198	0.898203593	2.095808383	96.10778443	3.592814371	0.299401198
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Non-maintained special school	Education, Health and Care plans	Profound & Multiple Learning Difficulty	193	148	45	131	1	0	5	1	3	1	4	22	4	6	1	1	1	3	2	1	2	4	177	16	0	76.68393782	23.31606218	67.87564767	0.518134715	0	2.590673575	0.518134715	1.554404145	0.518134715	2.07253886	11.39896373	2.07253886	3.10880829	0.518134715	0.518134715	0.518134715	1.554404145	1.03626943	0.518134715	1.03626943	2.07253886	91.70984456	8.29015544	0

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Variables in this data set

Table showing all 52 variables

Variable name	Variable description
ethnicity_any_other_asian_background	Asian - any other Asian background
ethnicity_any_other_asian_background_percent	Asian - any other Asian background (%)
ethnicity_any_other_black_background	Black - Any other Black background
ethnicity_any_other_black_background_percent	Black - Any other Black background (%)
ethnicity_any_other_ethnic_group	Any other ethnic group
ethnicity_any_other_ethnic_group_percent	Any other ethnic group (%)
ethnicity_any_other_mixed_background	Mixed - Any other mixed background
ethnicity_any_other_mixed_background_percent	Mixed - Any other mixed background (%)
ethnicity_any_other_white_background	White - any other White background
ethnicity_any_other_white_background_percent	White - any other White background (%)
ethnicity_bangladeshi	Asian - Bangladeshi
ethnicity_bangladeshi_percent	Asian - Bangladeshi (%)
ethnicity_black_african	Black - Black African
ethnicity_black_african_percent	Black - Black African (%)
ethnicity_black_caribbean	Black - Black Caribbean
ethnicity_black_caribbean_percent	Black - Black Caribbean (%)
ethnicity_chinese	Asian - Chinese
ethnicity_chinese_percent	Asian - Chinese (%)
ethnicity_gypsy_roma	White - Gypsy/Roma
ethnicity_gypsy_roma_percent	White - Gypsy/Roma (%)
ethnicity_indian	Asian - Indian
ethnicity_indian_percent	Asian - Indian (%)
ethnicity_irish	White - Irish
ethnicity_irish_percent	White - Irish (%)
ethnicity_pakistani	Asian - Pakistani
ethnicity_pakistani_percent	Asian - Pakistani (%)
ethnicity_traveller_of_irish_heritage	White - Traveller of Irish heritage
ethnicity_traveller_of_irish_heritage_percent	White - Traveller of Irish heritage (%)
ethnicity_unclassified	Unclassified
ethnicity_unclassified_percent	Unclassified (%)
ethnicity_white_and_asian	Mixed - White and Asian
ethnicity_white_and_asian_percent	Mixed - White and Asian (%)
ethnicity_white_and_black_african	Mixed - White and Black African
ethnicity_white_and_black_african_percent	Mixed - White and Black African (%)
ethnicity_white_and_black_caribbean	Mixed - White and Black Caribbean
ethnicity_white_and_black_caribbean_percent	Mixed - White and Black Caribbean (%)
ethnicity_white_british	White - White British
ethnicity_white_british_percent	White - White British (%)
fsm_eligible	Eligible for free school meals
fsm_eligible_percent	Eligible for free school meals (%)
fsm_not_eligible	Not eligible for free school meals
fsm_not_eligible_percent	Not eligible for free school meals (%)
language_english	First language is known to be, or believed to be English
language_english_percent	First language is known to be, or believed to be English (%)
language_other	First language is known to be, or believed to be, other than English
language_other_percent	First language is known to be, or believed to be, other than English (%)
language_unclassified	First language unclassified
language_unclassified_percent	First language unclassified (%)
number_of_pupils	Headcount
phase_type_grouping	Phase type of school - Phase (primary, secondary, special, PRU (AP school), independent)
sen_primary_need	Primary type of need - (ASD, HI, VI…)
sen_status	SEN provision - EHC plan/Statement of SEN or SEN support/School Action/School Action plus

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Footnotes

1. Includes state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, non-maintained special schools and state-funded alternative provision schools. Does not include independent schools.
2. EHC plans also includes statements of SEN. Statements were phased out from 2014 to 2018
3. Please note that Down Syndrome has been recorded as a primary need for the first time in the school census in 2024/25. This addition means that there are likely to be pupils recorded with a primary need of Downs syndrome this year that would have been recorded with a different primary need last year.

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Python

import pandas as pd

pd.read_csv("https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/data-set/fab0ef04-6a54-4c5b-9099-a669e111c116/csv")

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read.csv("https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/data-set/fab0ef04-6a54-4c5b-9099-a669e111c116/csv")

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about FSM, Ethnicity and Language, by type of SEN provision and type of need - 2016 to 2025 statistics and data:

Special educational needs statistics team

Email: sen.statistics@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Ricardo Hayward

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