School Appeal Success Rate by Council: The 2026 Figures

Every year around 47,115 families in England appeal a school place and 34,711 of those appeals reach an independent panel. 6,414 succeed. That is the national picture, and on its own it is almost useless to a parent, because the odds depend enormously on where you live and on which year group you are appealing for.

This is every English council, ranked on secondary appeal success, from the DfE’s own figures.

What is the school appeal success rate in England?

18.5% of school appeals heard by a panel in 2026 were upheld, 6,414 of 34,711, from 47,115 appeals lodged. By phase that is 19.5% at secondary, 15.0% at primary and 8.1% for infant class size appeals, which are decided under a much narrower legal test. Success is measured as a share of appeals heard, which is how the Department for Education reports it, so appeals withdrawn before a hearing are not counted as losses. Your own council’s figure is in the table below.

How do I find my council’s school appeal success rate?

Enter your postcode or choose your council in the checker below. It shows how many secondary, primary and infant class appeals were upheld there, against England, and where your council ranks.

School appeal success rate by council, 2026

Why infant class appeals sit so far below the rest

Nationally, 8.1% of infant class appeals heard were upheld in 2026, and 47 councils had none succeed at all. That is not panels being harsh. It is the law.

Regulations made under section 1 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 cap an infant class at 30 pupils per school teacher. Where a place was refused to protect that limit, paragraph 4.6 of the School Admission Appeals Code lets a panel uphold the appeal only where admitting another child would not actually breach the limit, or the arrangements did not comply with admissions law or were not applied correctly and your child would otherwise have got a place, or the refusal was not one a reasonable admission authority would have made.

How much your child needs that school is not one of the grounds. Appeals for older primary year groups, and refusals for any other reason, are decided on the ordinary two stage test and succeed far more often.

For who counts as an excepted pupil, the mistakes that can win an appeal and every council’s infant class figure, see infant class size appeals explained.

Writing the appeal itself? See how to write a school appeal letter, built around the two stage test the panel has to follow, with a template.

The deadlines

• At least 20 school days from the refusal notification to lodge a written appeal (Appeals Code 2.1a).
• At least 10 school days’ notice of the hearing (2.1b).
• Decision letters within five school days of the hearing where possible (2.1d).
• Normal round appeals heard within 40 school days of the lodging deadline (2.3a).
• Every admission authority must publish its appeals timetable by 28 February each year (2.2).

How we calculated this

Figures are the DfE’s published local authority tables for reporting year 2026, which covers appeals for places starting September 2025. We report success as a share of appeals heard, not lodged, because that is how the DfE reports it and because appeals withdrawn before a hearing are not losses. Infant class appeals are a subset of primary appeals, not an extra category, so primary and secondary sum to the total. Councils with fewer than 10 secondary appeals heard are excluded from the ranking, because a handful of cases makes a percentage meaningless.

Use the data

The full dataset behind this page is available as JSON: /data/school-appeals-by-council.json. It contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, sourced from the Department for Education. Free to reuse, and a link back is appreciated.

Common questions

What percentage of school appeals are successful?

In England in 2026, 19.5% of secondary appeals heard by a panel were upheld and 15.0% of primary appeals. Infant class appeals, decided on a narrower test, ran at 8.1%. By council, secondary success ranges from 0.0% to 88.4%.

How long do I have to appeal a school place?

At least 20 school days from the date you were told your application was unsuccessful. That is the minimum set by the School Admission Appeals Code, so check the exact date on your refusal letter and the admission authority’s published timetable.

Can you win an infant class size appeal?

Rarely. Only three narrow grounds are available under paragraph 4.6 of the Appeals Code, and need alone is not one of them. Nationally 8.1% of those heard were upheld in 2026, and 47 councils had none succeed.

Who do I appeal to?

The admission authority for that school. For community and voluntary controlled schools that is the council. For academies, foundation and voluntary aided schools it is the school or its trust. The appeal is then heard by an independent panel, not by the school or the council.

Does appealing affect my waiting list place?

No. The two run separately, and appealing does not remove you from a waiting list or move you down it.

Sources

• Department for Education, Admission appeals in England, reporting year 2026, published 6 August 2026.
• Department for Education, School Admission Appeals Code (2022).
• School Standards and Framework Act 1998, section 1, and the School Admissions (Infant Class Sizes) (England) Regulations 2012.