Moving house and changing schools: in-year admissions in England

If you move house during the school year, you make an in-year application for a new school. You apply either to your new council or directly to the school, depending on how your new area works. A state school with a free place in the right year group must usually offer it. If more families want the place than there are places, applicants are ranked by the school's published criteria. You should hear the outcome in writing within 15 school days, and if the answer is no, you can appeal. If no school near your new home has room, the council's Fair Access Protocol can find a place for some children.

This guide is for families moving within England or into England from abroad, Wales or Scotland. It follows the School Admissions Code 2021, the code in force on 24 September 2026. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, which became law on 29 April 2026, will change some admissions powers, such as extending councils' power to direct a school to admit a child to academies. Those changes are not yet in force, and a revised code may follow.

Normal round or in-year: which applies to you?

The normal admissions round covers the usual starting points, such as Reception and Year 7, with national deadlines and offer days; our school admissions guide explains it. An in-year application covers everything else.

How in-year applications work

The Code says a parent can apply for a place at any school, at any time. What varies is where the application goes. Councils do not have to handle in-year applications for schools that set their own admission arrangements, such as academies and voluntary-aided schools, though many do by agreement. Two examples show the difference:

• In Birmingham, you complete an in-year application form and take it directly to your preferred school with proof of your home address. You cannot apply for the next school year early: for a place from September 2027, you apply from 1 September 2027.
• In Surrey, the council handles in-year applications for some schools on one online form where you can name up to three schools in order, while other schools take applications directly on their own form. In-year applications for September 2027 are accepted from 1 July 2027, except from forces and Crown servant families with official evidence of a posting or a return from overseas.

You do not have to guess. Every council must publish by 31 August each year how in-year applications work in its area and which schools handle their own. More usefully, your new council must tell you, if you ask, which schools in its area still have places. Ask before you start filling in forms.

You can apply before you move. Birmingham, for example, lets you apply to any of its schools wherever you live now, but uses your current address for any waiting list until you can prove the new one. If a place comes up before you arrive, agree a start date with the school or you risk losing it.

Send any supplementary form a school asks for, for example for a faith criterion. You cannot be told to join a waiting list instead of applying: you have the right to a formal decision and, if refused, to appeal.

How places are decided, and how long it takes

The Code's rule is simple. All state schools, including academies and faith schools, that have a place in your child's year group must offer it, without conditions, unless admitting another child would prejudice the efficient provision of education or use of resources. A school cannot refuse your child just because:

• you applied later than other families
• your child is not of the school's faith
• your child followed a different curriculum at their last school
• the school has not received your child's records yet

Grammar schools are the exception: they can still require your child to pass their entry test, and must tell you within 15 school days either the test date or the reason for refusal. See our guide to the 11-plus.

When a school has fewer places than applicants, it ranks them by its published oversubscription criteria. Some schools keep an in-year waiting list, ranked the same way, not by how long you have waited; our waiting lists guide explains how they move.

On timing, the Code says whoever handles your application should aim to tell you in writing within 10 school days, and must do so within 15 school days. A refusal must give the reason and explain how to appeal. School days exclude weekends and holidays, so a form sent just before half term can take longer in calendar terms.

Once you accept an offer, the Code says your child should start as soon as possible, especially if they are out of school. GOV.UK says children usually start at the beginning of the following term, so ask the school for a start date when you accept.

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2

Infant classes are limited by law to 30 pupils per teacher, so a school whose infant class is full can refuse your child. There are limited exceptions. One is a child who moves into the area outside the normal round when there is no other available school within a reasonable distance. Others include children with an EHC plan naming the school, looked after and previously looked after children, and children of UK service personnel. Our appeals guide explains why infant class size appeals succeed only on narrow grounds.

Proof of address

Expect to be asked for proof of address after a recent move. The address that counts is your child's only or main home; where parents share care, councils usually use the address where the child lives for most of the school week. What councils accept varies. Birmingham, for example, lists a recent council tax bill, a utility bill from the last six months, a solicitor's letter confirming exchange of contracts with a completion date, or a signed and dated tenancy agreement from the council or a Birmingham housing association, and says bank statements, mobile phone bills and TV licences are usually not enough on their own. Leeds also wants proof you have left your old home, such as a final utility bill or completion of sale.

Councils such as Birmingham and Surrey will not accept a relative's or friend's address, or a temporary address used to improve your priority, unless it really is your child's main home. Under the Code, an offer obtained through a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application can be withdrawn, and so can a place after your child has started if it was obtained fraudulently. Birmingham says it may ask for further proof at any point and may make an unannounced home visit.

If you move during a Reception or Year 7 application

If your child starts Reception or Year 7 in September 2027, apply by the closing date from where you live now, to the council you live in now, even if a move is due. Surrey is explicit that you should not delay, and that a new address is only used once you have moved and sent evidence.

Each council sets its own cut-off for using a new address in the first round of offers. Here is how three councils handle September 2027 entry, as published on 24 September 2026 (Birmingham's page states its rule but still quotes the September 2026 closing dates):

After the cut-off, your old address is usually used for the first offers on 1 March 2027 (secondary) or 16 April 2027 (primary), and your new address for waiting lists after that. If you move to another council area, your old council can pass your application on, but the new council's cut-off may be earlier, so check both. Tell the council about a move straight away, and if a planned move falls through: Surrey and Leeds both say they may withdraw an offer if you do not. Our secondary and primary timelines cover the rest of the round.

No place offered? Your options

Work through these steps in order.

1. Ask the council which schools have room. It must tell you on request, and schools that run their own admissions must report every application and outcome to it.
2. Apply formally to the schools you want. Only a formal refusal gives you a right of appeal. You have at least 20 school days to lodge an appeal, and an in-year appeal must be heard within 30 school days of being lodged, under the School Admission Appeals Code. Our appeals guide explains how panels decide.
3. Accept a place elsewhere and join waiting lists. Accepting a place does not stop you appealing or staying on a waiting list for a school you prefer.
4. Ask about the Fair Access Protocol if your child is still without a place.

Every council must have a Fair Access Protocol to place unplaced and vulnerable children quickly. It covers set groups who have struggled to get a place through the usual process, including children in need or on a child protection plan, children living in a refuge, homeless children, young carers, children with SEND but no EHC plan, children of refugees and asylum seekers, and children who have been out of education for four weeks or more where there is no place at any school within a reasonable distance of home. Once the council agrees to consider a child under the protocol, a place must be allocated within 20 school days. The protocol does not have to follow your preferences, but your views should be taken into account, and you keep your right to apply for and appeal for other schools.

Children of compulsory school age must receive a suitable full-time education, so if your child is out of school, tell the council.

If your child has an EHC plan

A child with an education, health and care plan is usually placed through the council's SEND team, not the usual in-year form, and the school named in the plan must admit them. Surrey, for example, tells parents to contact their child's case officer instead. Start that conversation before you move.

If you move to a different council in England, the SEND Code of Practice sets out what happens:

• Your old council must transfer the plan to your new council on the day of the move, or within 15 working days of finding out if it was not given 15 working days' notice.
• The plan still names the old school. If attending it is no longer practical, for example because it is too far away, the new council must place your child temporarily at a suitable school until the plan is amended.
• Within six weeks of the transfer, the new council must tell you when it will review the plan and whether it will carry out a new assessment.
• The review must happen within 12 months of the plan being made or last reviewed, or within 3 months of the transfer, whichever is later.

EHC plans belong to England's SEND system. Wales uses individual development plans and Scotland has its own arrangements, so if you are moving across a border, ask the new council's SEND team before you move how your child's support will be assessed.

Staying at your current school

You do not have to change schools when you move. If the journey is manageable, your child can stay: the Code says a school must not withdraw a place once a child has started, unless it was obtained fraudulently. Surrey advises thinking hard before a move in Years 9, 10 or 11, because another school may not offer the same subjects or exam boards, or may have full classes in them. The trade-off is usually transport.

School transport after a move

Your new council assesses whether your child gets free travel, and the key test is the nearest suitable school. Under GOV.UK rules, a child of compulsory school age qualifies for free transport if they go to their nearest suitable school and:

• it is more than 2 miles away and the child is under 8
• it is more than 3 miles away and the child is 8 or over
• there is no safe walking route
• they cannot walk there because of SEND, a disability or a mobility problem

Families on Universal Credit with household income of £7,400 a year or less (after tax, not counting benefits) have extended rights, including to one of the three nearest suitable secondary schools between 2 and 6 miles away.

Three points matter when you move. The first two come from the DfE's travel to school guidance, updated in May 2026:

• Eligibility is assessed when a family moves into an area in-year, not just after the normal round.
• If your nearest school is full, the nearest school with a place counts as your nearest suitable school, even if it is in a neighbouring council area.
• If you keep your child at their old school after moving further away, it follows that it may no longer be their nearest suitable school, so free transport is unlikely. The guidance says councils can arrange travel for children who are not eligible, sometimes for a charge, and should consider individual cases, but they do not have to.

For a child with an EHC plan, the school named in the plan is normally treated as their nearest suitable school.

Moving from abroad, Wales or Scotland

From abroad

Apply to the council for the area where you will live, before you arrive if you like. The DfE's guidance on applications from overseas says councils should not refuse an application because you do not live in the area yet, and schools cannot insist on a permanent address or immigration documents before considering it. Checking that your child has the right to attend a state school under your UK entry conditions is your responsibility, not the school's.

Schools that rank by distance or catchment need an address, so you may be asked for evidence of where you will live, such as a mortgage or rental agreement, deeds, an employer's letter with a transfer date, or registration with a local GP. Without it, your current address abroad can be used, which usually means lower priority at a popular school. For families with no permanent address, such as asylum seekers and some refugees, the temporary address should be used.

Forces and Crown servant families

If you have a confirmed posting in the armed forces, or you are a Crown servant returning from overseas, admission authorities must allocate a place before you arrive, as long as one is free and you send an official letter giving your relocation date. They must not refuse because you do not have an address yet, and must use a unit or quartering address if you ask them to.

From Wales or Scotland

The same rules apply to applications from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: you apply to the English council or school for your new area, and your application should not be refused because you do not live there yet. The bigger difference is the year group. In England, children are placed in year groups by age, with each year group covering birthdays from 1 September to 31 August; our guide to school year groups has the full table. In Scotland, children born between 1 March and 31 August usually start school in the August of the year they turn 5, about a year later than in England, so a child born in those months may find their English year group is a year ahead of the class they left. You can ask for your child to be admitted outside their normal age group, and the admission authority must decide based on your child's circumstances and explain its decision.

How to research schools in an area you do not know

FindMySchool covers state and independent schools in England and can help you build a shortlist.

• Start with the map. Enter the postcode you are moving to on the school map or in search to see nearby schools and their inspection outcomes. Select a school on the map to see a circle showing its last distance offered, where we have the data.
• Browse by area. Primary schools by area and secondary schools by area lead to ranked lists for cities, towns, districts and London boroughs, and special schools near me helps if your child has SEND.
• Read the profiles. Each profile brings together the school's latest inspection (Ofsted, or ISI for many independent schools), exam results where published and, for many schools, recent last distance offered figures. Our guides to Ofsted report cards and school performance tables explain them. The compare tool puts a shortlist side by side.
• Try School Match for a shortlist based on your family's priorities, using the postcode or town you are moving to. You need a free account to see your results, and your top match on your first search is free.

One caution: last distance offered describes past normal-round entry, usually to Reception or Year 7, so for an in-year place it shows how popular a school is, not whether it has a place today. Only the council or the school can tell you that. Our catchment guide explains why no distance figure is a guarantee.

A checklist for your move

1. Read your new council's in-year page and ask which schools have places in your child's year group.
2. Gather the proof of address it accepts, then apply formally, with any supplementary forms.
3. For Reception or Year 7, apply by the closing date from your current address and check each council's change of address cut-off.
4. If refused, weigh up an appeal and waiting lists, and ask about the Fair Access Protocol if your child has no place.
5. Check free transport before accepting a place further away, and if your child has an EHC plan, speak to both councils' SEND teams before the move.

Frequently asked questions

How long does an in-year school application take?

Under the School Admissions Code, the council or school handling your application should aim to tell you the outcome in writing within 10 school days, and must do so within 15 school days. If the answer is no, the letter must give the reason and explain how to appeal. School holidays do not count as school days, so an application made just before a holiday can take longer in calendar terms.

Can a school refuse my child if it has places?

Do I have to change schools when I move house?

Can I apply for a school place before we move?

Will my child get free school transport after we move?

What happens if no school near our new home has a place?

Can I use a relative's address for a school application?