Date: 25/09/2026
DfE School Census Date: Thurs 1st Oct 2026
Return Date: Tues 6th Oct 2026
1.DfE – updates
1.1 FSM eligibility check extended to 2 November
The DfE have moved the operational deadline for completing free school meals (FSM) checks from 1 October to 2 November 2026. This is a one-off extension that applies to all FSM eligibility checking activity and includes:
- annual rechecks for pupils who were receiving FSM in the previous academic year
- new FSM applications, including applications received after 1 Oct 2026
Whilst Devon County Council has already completed the recheck exercise, this extension provides an opportunity to check for new FSM applications via the auto enrolment process. Initial lists of eligible FSM pupils will be available by census day and should inform your census. New pupils found eligible after census day will need to record a FSM start date of 01/10/26 and a verification date of 01/10/26. Schools should retain any evidence of eligibility for audit purposes.
Eligibility established and recorded by 2 November 2026 will continue to be taken into account for relevant FSM-related funding allocations.
Further information is available via the DfE’s free school meals guidance (operational information on eligibility checks) and their school census guidance (how to record FSM eligibility).
1.2 Exclusion and Suspension Reasons
From the autumn 2026 term, the exclusion reason code DA (Drug and Alcohol related) is being replaced by two codes:
DR – Drug related
AR – Alcohol related
Similarly, DB (Persistent or general disruptive behaviour) is being replaced by:
LD – Persistent disruptive behaviour: low-level disruption
CB – Persistent disruptive behaviour: challenging behaviour
However, both DA (drug and alcohol related) and DB (persistent disruptive behaviour) remain valid for the autumn and spring censuses when recording exclusions that occurred during the 2026 spring and summer terms only.
1.3 Kinship Care
The DfE have advised that the kinship care field is self-declared by the child/parent or guardian. The recording and handling of this information is at the school’s discretion.
Schools do not need to get parental or pupil consent to the provision of information for the purposes of the census but should respect the wishes and feelings of both young people, their carers and parents.
A pupil can be recorded as being in kinship care, post-looked-after (PLAA) and a young carer, or any combination of these indicators where the relevant criteria are met.
2.DfE – known issues
The DfE have identified that the errors listed below are triggering incorrectly in schools’ MIS. They have issued a revised XSLT to software suppliers to address these issues. However software suppliers may not have sufficient time to implement the changes in their systems before the census.
Schools should check these errors carefully, if the data associated to the error is correct and you believe the error is being generated incorrectly you can upload your return to COLLECT. The errors will then automatically disappear in COLLECT. Any errors which remain in COLLECT should be considered genuine data quality issues and must be resolved by the school.
| Suspension and exclusions errors 2280 and 2321 | errors 2280 and 2321 A valid suspension or permanent exclusion reason/s must be provided | These are being triggered incorrectly where the reason code DB persistent disruptive behaviour has been used. This is a valid reason for spring and summer term exclusions collected in the autumn census and can be used. |
| Managed Move errors 4057 to 4060 | 4057: start date, destination school or reason is missing from managed move record 4058: destination school URN is invalid 4059: managed moved reason is invalid 4060: managed move start date is invalid | The above errors are being triggered incorrectly where a pupil has more than one managed move. |
| FSM errors 4061 and 4064 | 4061: a valid last verified date must be provided for each open period of FSM eligibility. 4064: the FSM expansion cohort started on 1st Aug 26, so the expanded FSM could not begin earlier than this date | Error 4061 is being triggered incorrectly for single FSM periods where the verification date is blank Error 4064 is being triggered incorrectly where 1 August 2026 onwards is recorded as the start date (for pupils with an FSM category of Expanded FSM). |
| Table 5 of summary report | number of service children and number of pupils eligible for expanded FSM on census day were not being counted correctly |
2.Bromcom – known issues
2.1 Early Years Hours
Bromcom guidance is incorrectly advising that hours at setting must equal total funded hours. This is incorrect, hours at setting can be more than the funded hours.
3. Devon County Council – updates
3.1 FSM Verification Date for schools signed up to DCC FSM eligibility checking service
The Local Authority has re-checked FSM eligibility and pupil lists are available via the Provider Portal. As advised by the Free School Meals team the date verified for those re-checked is 01/08/26.
For those children who were eligible through the auto enrolment process the LA will be re-checking these through the same process. This is planned to take place by Fri 2nd October. For census purposes
3.2 Recording FSM eligibility;
- If a pupil qualified for FSM before the autumn 2026 term and is reconfirmed as eligible under the ‘target’ category keep the original FSM start date add the FSM category (targeted) and date verified. (original Devon LA re-check: date verified 01/08/26, auto-enrolment re-check: date verified 01/10/26)
- If a pupil moves from the targeted to the expanded category, you must close their targeted FSM period and record a new expanded FSM period, with the earliest start date of 1 August 2026. (original Devon LA re-check: targeted end date 31/07/26, expanded start date 01/08/26, date verified 01/08/26, auto-enrolment re-check: targeted end date 30/09/26, expanded start date 01/10/26, date verified 01/10/26)
- If a pupil qualified for FSM before the autumn 2026 term but is no longer eligible for either category, the FSM period should be returned with category of ‘targeted’ and FSM end date of the date eligibility was checked. (original Devon LA re-check: end date: 01/08/26, auto-enrolment re-check: end date: 01/10/26)
- For new FSM claims under the expanded criteria, the earliest start date is 1 August 2026.
3.3 Devon County Council FSM auto enrolment process
Two auto enrolment lists will be available by census day;
- new pupils identified as eligible for FSM for the first time
- re-checks of pupils who were originally identified as eligible via previous auto enrolment check
Newly identified FSM eligible children will need an opt out letter, whilst those who are re-checked will not. Further information will be provided by FSM team.
For those newly identified pupils, a list of ‘opted out’ pupils will follow once the opt out period has passed.
Schools should upload their return as normal by Tue 6th October and include FSM records for children identified as eligible. This will allow us to carry out our checks while we wait for the auto-award opt-out period. If any amendments are required following the opt-out period, these can either be included in an amended file (if we’ve identified other queries in your return), or updated directly in COLLECT and we can guide you through this process.
3.4 Early Years 2yr old basis for funding
Last year some Early Years children were incorrectly recorded as being eligible for two-year-old funding via the economic basis when they should have been recorded with expanded funded hours via working parents. Whilst this did not directly affect the funding as the rates are the same, the data in the census returns was incorrect and impacted on DfE statistics on Early Years in Devon.
Can you please use the information in the ‘2 Year Olds – School Census October 2026 Eligible with reason’ reports from the Early Years Portal which is issued the week of school census following eligibility checks being carried out. You should also use the ‘EYPP – School Census Oct 2026 Eligible with reason’ to inform your census too.