Net capacity assessment programme for primary schools

From September 2025, the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) Net Capacity Assessment (NCA) programme will ensure that accurate and up-to-date information on pupil capacity is available for government-funded primary schools in England.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will visit schools in England between September 2025 and March 2029. They have published the list of schools to be visited in the first two tranches between September 2025 and March 2026. There are 8 Devon schools in first trance and 11 in the second.

They will publish a full tranche list before April 2026. Following this they will publish an up to date list of schools by tranche once a year. Schools can find out the dates of site visits using the tranche list (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 71.6 KB).

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will visit primary schools to collect data on pupil capacity, they will measure rooms, record room types and use the NCA tool and methodology to calculate the number of pupils a school can accommodate, based on the size and use of the spaces available.

NCA reports will be shared with schools, local authorities, dioceses and multi-academy trusts.

The benefits of the NCA programme include:

• Identification of spare capacity where demand for places is high
• More effective use of space and curriculum planning
• Independent verification of capacity for admissions and appeals
• Accurate information to help respond to new policies and developments, such as breakfast clubs and additional childcare places.

Further guidance can be found in the NCA programme guide (PDF, 358 KB, 12 pages) and How to read your NCA report (mainstream schools) (PDF, 234 KB, 3 pages).

The primary school programme follows the successful 2023 to 2025 programme that ensured that accurate, up-to-date information on pupil capacity is available for government-funded mainstream secondary schools and special schools.