Moving mid-year: getting a school place

Who to apply to

An application is "in-year" if it is made once the school year has started, or for any year group other than the one a school normally starts at (such as Reception or Year 7) (School Admission Appeals Code 2022, footnote 10).

Who you apply to depends on the council you are moving to. Every council must publish, by 31 August each year, how in-year applications work in its area: which schools it handles applications for, and which schools take them directly (School Admissions Code 2021, 2.23). Councils do not have to handle them for academies and other schools that are their own admission authority, so in some areas you apply to the council for every school and in others to some schools directly. Each school must also say on its website how to apply (School Admissions Code 2021, 2.26).

The council must tell you, if you ask, which of its schools have places (School Admissions Code 2021, 2.27). Start there.

The table below says which route each council uses, from its own in-year page, where we hold it (129 of 153 councils). Read the council's page before you apply: arrangements change each school year.

What happens next

• A school with a place must offer it to every child who applies, without using its admission criteria, unless admitting the child would harm the education of others there. Grammar schools are the exception (School Admissions Code 2021, 2.28).
• You must be allowed to apply. You must not be told you can only join a waiting list instead (School Admissions Code 2021, 2.30).
• You are told the outcome in writing within 15 school days, and the authority should aim for 10. A refusal gives the reason and your right to appeal (School Admissions Code 2021, 2.30).
• Once you accept a place, your child should start as soon as possible, especially if they are out of school (School Admissions Code 2021, 2.31). Many start at the beginning of the next term (gov.uk: School admissions).
• An in-year appeal is heard within 30 school days of being lodged (School Admission Appeals Code 2022, 2.3).
• A school can't refuse a child only because they applied later than others, follow a different curriculum, or because their old school has not sent their records (School Admissions Code 2021, 2.28).

Proof of address

Councils can ask for proof of your new address, such as a mortgage or rental agreement or the deeds, and for proof that you will live in the area before the start of the next term (gov.uk: School admissions). Each council sets out what it accepts; ask before you apply.

A place offered on a fraudulent or deliberately misleading application can be withdrawn (School Admissions Code 2021, 2.13).

Service families and Crown servants returning to England: a place must be allocated in advance if one is available, when you send an official letter giving the move date. The address you will live at, or a unit or quartering address, can be used (School Admissions Code 2021, 2.21).

Fair Access

Every council has a Fair Access Protocol. It makes sure that children who are vulnerable, or who have not been able to get a place through the usual in-year process, are given a place quickly (School Admission Appeals Code 2022, 3.22).

The groups it covers include children who are homeless; children of, or who are, Gypsies, Roma or Travellers; refugees and asylum seekers; children who are carers; children with special educational needs but no EHC plan; children in formal kinship care; and children who have been out of education for four weeks or more where no school within a reasonable distance has a place (Fair Access Protocols: guidance (DfE, August 2021), Children eligible).

• You still apply in the usual way. A school must not refuse your application because it thinks your child could be placed under Fair Access (Fair Access Protocols: guidance (DfE, August 2021), Referral to the Fair Access Protocol).
• The council decides whether your child qualifies. Once it decides to place a child under the protocol, a school place must be allocated within 20 school days (Fair Access Protocols: guidance (DfE, August 2021), Referral to the Fair Access Protocol).
• A Fair Access place does not take away your right to apply to other schools and appeal (School Admission Appeals Code 2022, 3.23).

Timelines

Moving while an application for Reception or Year 7 is going through? Tell your home council straight away. Each council's scheme says how it treats a change of address; see After offer day for late applications.

Your council

The council's own admissions pages we hold (135 of 153 councils), with its dates and offer figures.

Sources

The rules on this page are from these, checked on gov.uk on 19 October 2026. Where a paragraph number is given, it is the paragraph of that code.

• School Admissions Code 2021: in force since 1 September 2021; the current version.
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022: for appeals lodged from 1 October 2022; the current version.
• gov.uk: School admissions: the government's guide for parents, updated 8 January 2025.
• Fair Access Protocols: guidance (DfE, August 2021): published with the School Admissions Code; the current version.