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Guidance

Early years census: technical specification

Technical specification and validation rules for local authorities and software suppliers preparing for the early years census.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Education
Published:
21 June 2022
Last updated:
10 September 2026
Show all updates

  1. Added 'Early years census 2027 to 2028 financial year: business and technical specification', 'Early years census 2027 to 2028: validation rules' and 'Early years census 2027 to 2028: annexes'.

  2. Updated 'Early years census 2026 to 2027: validation rules'. Changes are listed in the version history.

  3. Removed 'Early years census spring 2026: business and technical specification' and 'Early years census spring 2026: validation rules' as these documents are now out of date.

  4. Updated the 'Early years census 2026 to 2027 financial year: business and technical specification' to reflect that the disadvantaged entitlement for 2‑year‑olds is now called the early learning entitlement for 2‑year‑olds.

  5. Added new versions of 'Early years census spring 2026: validation rules', 'Early years census 2026 to 2027: annexes' and 'Early years census 2026 to 2027: validation rules'.

  6. Updated 'Early years census spring 2026: validation rules' and 'Early years census 2026 to 2027: validation rules'. Changes are listed in the version history.

  7. Updated 'Early years census 2026 to 2027: validation rules'. Changes are listed in the version history.

  8. Updated 'Early years census 2026 to 2027: validation rules'. Changes are listed in the version history.

  9. Updated the 2 business and technical specification documents. Changes are listed in the version history.

  10. Added 'Early years census 2026 to 2027 financial year: business and technical specification', 'Early years census 2026 to 2027: validation rules' and 'Early years census 2026 to 2027: annexes'.

  11. Updated 'Early years census 2026: validation rules'. In the 'Collect Only Validation' worksheet, columns X (Studio Updated) and Y (SQL updated) have been deleted.

  12. Published documents for the 2026 early years census, replacing the 2025 versions. Changes are listed in the version history.

  13. Updated 'Early years census 2025: business and technical specification'. The changes made are noted in the version history.

  14. Updated 'Early years census 2025: business and technical specification'. The changes made are noted in the version history.

  15. Updated 'Early years census 2025: business and technical specification' and 'Early years census 2025: validation rules'. The changes made are noted in the version history.

  16. Removed 'Early years census 2024: business and technical specification'. Updated the 'Early years census 2025: validation rules'. The changes made are noted in the version history.

  17. Updated the 'Early years census 2025: validation rules'. The changes to the document are described in the version history.

  18. Added 'Early years census 2025: validation rules'.

  19. Updated the 'Early years census 2025: business and technical specification' document to amend the heading numbering.

  20. Added the document 'Early years census 2025: business and technical specification'.

  21. Updated the 'Early years census 2024: business and technical specification'. Changes are listed in the version history.

  22. Published documents for the 2024 early years census, replacing the 2023 versions. Changes are listed in the version history.

  23. 'Early years census 2023: validation rules' has been updated. The changes to the document are described in the version history.

  24. The 'Early years census 2023: validation rules' has been updated. The changes to the document are described in the version history.

  25. The 'Early years census 2023: validation rules' has been uploaded to the page. The changes in what is required are described in the version history.

  26. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Early years census 2026 to 2027 financial year: business and technical specification

PDF, 1.48 MB, 43 pages

Early years census 2026 to 2027: annexes

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 26.6 KB

Early years census 2026 to 2027: validation rules

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 155 KB

Early years census 2027 to 2028 financial year: business and technical specification

PDF, 425 KB, 43 pages

Early years census 2027 to 2028: annexes

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 26.9 KB

Early years census 2027 to 2028: validation rules

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 162 KB

Details

This is technical information about submitting data for the early years census.

It is for:

  • suppliers of software for local authority management information systems (MIS)
  • users of local authority MIS software

It explains:

  • changes to the previous year’s census collection
  • what data local authorities should supply at establishment level and child level
  • how to structure the data in XML or CSV format
  • how to check the data against the validation rules

Read more about submitting data for the early years census.

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