Guidance

High needs place change digital form guidance

Published 5 November 2025

Applies to England

1. Introduction 

This guide is primarily for local authorities, schools and colleges. It sets out the process for local authorities to notify the Department for Education (DfE) of provider level changes to their 2026 to 2027 high needs place numbers. 

As the ‘High needs funding 2026 to 2027: operational guide’ is not yet available, you should read this guidance alongside the high needs funding 2025 to 2026: operational guide, which sets out further details about the allocation of place and top-up funding, and the how to complete the place change workbook for 2026 to 2027 guidance. Where we refer to schools and colleges, this relates only to those in scope of the place change process. 

The digital form is available to local authorities via the prepare and submit your high needs place change return service. To access this, you must have a DfE Sign-in account.  

If you are unable to access the form, contact us via the Customer Help Portal. 

2. Who is the digital form for?

The form is for local authorities to download and upload their completed workbook for the 2026 to 2027 academic year. 

3. When you can access the digital form 

You can now download and/or upload your completed workbook for the 2026 to 2027 academic year using this form. 

We expect local authorities to submit a completed workbook on or before 5pm Friday 5 December 2025.

You can amend your workbook and resubmit it up to the deadline. We are unable to guarantee any extensions.  If you make multiple submissions, we will take account of your latest submission and disregard any previous submissions.  You will be given a new unique reference for each submission. 

4. How to access the digital form 

Access the prepare and submit your high needs place change return service to complete your return. 

4.1 Before you start 

This service is for local authorities.  

Ensure that you have a DfE Sign-in account that is linked to your local authority correctly. 

To complete your return, you will need: 

• confirmed total place numbers for schools, colleges, or other providers in your area 

• to download the Excel workbook after signing in to this service 

• to have read the how to complete the high needs place change workbook for 2026 to 2027 guidance. 

For more information, you can also read the high needs place change process: 2026 to 2027 academic year guidance.

4.2 DfE Sign-in 

Sign in to  your  DfE Sign-in account 

Follow steps 1 to 7 below to access your DfE Sign-in account: 

1. Access the online high needs place change digital form and when prompted, enter your DfE Sign-in credentials (your account email address and password) for authentication.

2. If multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled on your account, you will need to enter a verification code to login. To send the verification email with the code you need to click on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity page’ you were directed to after entering your email and password.

3. After clicking on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ you will progress to the next page ‘Enter code’. Copy the code from the verification email and paste it into the box. Then select ‘Verify’.

4. Choose the organisation for whom you are completing the form for – this is only required if your account is linked to several organisations.

5. The next page will display the details we hold about the organisation you selected when you signed in. This will show the name, address and unique identifier of the organisation, as well as the name and email address of the person who signed into the form.

6. If these details are correct, select ‘Continue’ to go to the next page.

7. If you believe these details are incorrect, contact us via the Customer Help Portal and we will investigate. However, you can still proceed with your submission.

To complete the form, your DfE Sign-in account must be connected to the local authority you are completing the form for.

You do not need to add any services in DfE Sign-in, it is used only for authentication.

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account 

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account, you will need to create one by completing steps 1 to 7 below: 

1. Access DfE Sign-in page and select ‘Create a DfE Sign-in account’. 

2. Enter your name and email address. You must use a valid business email address that contains your name – we are unable to accept generic emails, such as ‘admin’ or ‘info’. You are also unable to use a personal email address. 

3. We will send you an email to verify your email address; copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.  

4. Create a memorable password that is a minimum of 8 characters and contains 3 out of: lowercase characters, uppercase characters, numbers, symbols. Enter your given name and surname. 

5. Sign in using your new credentials. Request your MFA verification email by clicking on ’Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity’ page. 

6. We will send you a MFA email to verify your identity. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page. 

7. Follow the next step instructions outlined in ‘Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account’ below. 

Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account 

To add a new organisation to your DfE Sign-in account, follow steps 1 to 6 below: 

1. Login to your DfE Sign-in account. 

2. Select ‘Organisations’ from the tab at the top of the page.  

3. Select ‘Request access to an organisation’ from the ‘Related actions’ on the righthand side of the page. 

4. Enter the name of the organisation you wish to add. 

5. Select the organisation. 

6. Select ‘Confirm’. 

You request will be sent to an approver within your organisations. If you do not already have an approver your request will be actioned by the DfE Sign-in support team.   

Once your request to access an organisation has been approved, you can follow the steps outlined under ’Already have a DfE account section to complete the form. 

You may have noticed the term ‘approver’ when setting up your account. An approver is someone at your organisation responsible for controlling who has access to DfE Sign-in and the services within the system. It is usually a senior person, such as a manager.

For security reasons, you will need authorisation from one of your organisation’s approvers before you can access the form. 

4.3  If you need further assistance 

If you need help with DfE Sign-in, use our DfE Sign-in help service where you will be able to request further assistance. When raising a support request, select ‘Other.’  

If you are having problems accessing the form, you can contact us via the Customer Help Portal. 

5. Completing the information in the form 

Access the prepare and submit your high needs place change return service and select ‘Start now’.

When authenticated through DfE Sign-in, you will find a ‘Save and continue’ button on each page which will take you to the next page of the form. If you sign out of a form, or leave your form opened for an extended period before submitting, you can resume your submission when you sign back in. 

Once you have submitted your form, you will be advised of next steps and will receive an email confirmation of your submission with a link to download a PDF copy of your submission. This link will expire after 6 months, so we recommend you download a copy as soon as possible.

You can edit and resubmit your form until the submission deadline.

Selecting ‘Save and continue’ on each page will take you through the form.

You must click ‘Submit’ on the final form page to send your completed data return to us.

5.1 Your details 

We will show details of the information we hold about the organisation you selected when you signed into your DfE Sign-in account. 

5.2 Download your high needs place change workbook 

You can select to download your high needs place change workbook for review and completion. Once you have downloaded your workbook you can work on it offline.   

If your local authority needs to provide any other documents, these will be displayed on the same page for you to download (underneath the workbook file). You can then close the window until you are ready to upload your return.    

When you have completed your workbook offline, you will need to sign into the form again and select the option to upload your high needs place change return. 

5.3 Uploading your high needs place change return 

When selecting the option to upload your high needs place change return, you will be able to upload your workbook to tell us either: 

• you have no changes to high needs places and will upload a nil return
• you have made changes to the workbook and will upload a completed return

You must make sure that: 

• you have completed the workbook correctly 
• the validation page shows no errors 
• there are no embedded documents in your workbook file 

For more information, read the how to complete the high needs place change workbook for 2026 to 2027 guidance. 

Your file must be: 

• in .xls or .xlsx format (Microsoft Excel) 
• 10MB or smaller in size 
• named using only letters, numbers, or underscores (no spaces or special characters) 

To upload your completed return, click the ‘Choose file’ button, navigate to the completed high needs place change workbook on your device, select it, and then click the ‘Open’ button. 

If your file upload is unsuccessful at the first attempt, try again. 

5.4 Declarations page 

Once you have completed all relevant data entries you must complete all mandatory declarations. You will not be able to submit your form without fully completing this section. You will need to tick each statement box to confirm your agreement. 

5.5 Submission summary 

The summary page allows you to check your answers before submitting your form.

You can change your answers using the ‘Change’ link that appears next to each data entry. 

You can also save a breakdown of the form information, by clicking ‘Save summary as PDF’ before you submit.  

We are unable to accept a PDF summary of your answers as proof of submission.

You must select ‘Submit’ at the bottom of this page and you will receive a unique reference number for your submission to be processed.

5.6 Confirmation 

The final page confirms your form has been successfully submitted. You will receive a unique reference number, followed by an explanation of what happens next. 

You will also receive an email confirming successful submission of your claim. This email contains a link to download a PDF of your submission, which is valid for 6 months from the date of your submission.

Make a note of your unique reference number as we will not include this information in your confirmation email.

5.7 Resubmitting your return 

You can make changes to the form and resubmit until 5pm on Friday 5 December 2025. To do this, you will need to sign back in and access the form, make your amendments and resubmit it.   

You will be unable to amend your data after the submission deadline. We will use your most recent submission and disregard all previous submissions. 

You will receive a new unique submission reference for an amended submission. 

6. Enquiries  

If you have read this guidance and have any questions, you can contact us via the Customer Help Portal. 

7. Feedback 

We are committed to enhancing our user experience and improving our digital forms.  We, therefore welcome and encourage user feedback.