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Schools: Census

Asked by Vikki SladeLiberal DemocratDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 22 April 2026UIN 126976

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will add data about young people's caring responsibilities to information collected as part of the school census.

Answered by Josh MacAlister

The School Census requires schools to indicate if a child has been identified as a young carer, and if so, by whom. Young carers can be identified by parents, the pupil themselves or by the school.

The return of this data is a requirement for all schools, except nurseries, and data must be returned in the Spring Census each year. Schools do not need to seek the permission of the pupil or parent to return this data to the department.

Data on young carers has been collected since the 2022/23 academic year and is published each summer.

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