Special educational needs survey: guide to submitting data
How local authorities should report data for the annual special educational needs survey, commonly known as SEN2.
Applies to England
The SEN2 survey is a statutory data collection that takes place every January. You must complete a statutory collection by law unless there’s a good reason not to.
The survey collects information on education, health and care (EHC) plans.
This survey should not be confused with the annual school census. This also collects data on the number of pupils with statements of special educational needs and EHC plans.
Important dates
The 2027 survey deadlines are:
- survey day: Thursday 21 January 2027
- deadline for submitting data: Thursday 18 March 2027
Submit your data
You’ll need to:
- register and log in with DfE Sign-in
- use COLLECT to submit your data
Contact your school or local authority approver, if:
- you want to request a DfE Sign-in username or password so you can access COLLECT
- ‘special educational needs survey’ is not on the list of collections you can see in COLLECT
Get help using DfE Sign-in
If you do not know who your approver is, use the DfE Sign-in request form.
If you’ve forgotten your password, use DfE Sign-in to reset it. You will need to click ‘Start now’ and then the ‘I’ve forgotten my password’ link.
We’ll only be able to change the status of your data submission to ‘authorised’ once you’ve cleared all errors in the data in COLLECT.
Survey documents
The following documents will help you complete the person level survey.
Survey guides
- Special educational needs person level survey: guide
- Special educational needs person level survey: technical specification
- Special educational needs person level survey: report specifications
- COLLECT guides
Queries about submitting data
Use the service request form if you have any questions about your data. We aim to answer your question within 5 working days.