Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, when admitted to mainstream schools, pupils receive a Unique Pupil Number; and if so, how this number is used to track the educational journey of a child.

Unique pupil numbers (UPNs) are allocated to pupils at the point of first entry into the state funded school sector. This is usually when a pupil joins a nursery or primary school, including joining nursery classes in a primary school. It can also be when a pupil enters the state funded school sector later in their school career.

UPNs are primarily used to facilitate the transfer of school-based education and attainment data through the state funded school system in England. The system enables accurate and timely data sharing between schools or academies, local authorities and central government and enable the operational and analytical longitudinal linking of education data throughout a pupil’s school career.

For example, UPNs allow us to link data provided by schools and local authorities via statutory data collections, such as the school census, to attainment data from awarding bodies. This provides the department, education providers, Parliament and the wider public with a clear picture of how the education and children’s services sectors are working. This helps these sectors to better target and evaluate policy interventions to help ensure all children are kept safe from harm and receive the best possible education.