Children looked after return 2025 to 2026: technical specifications
Data submission specifications for the children looked after (CLA) return for 2025 to 2026.
- From:
- Department for Education
- Published
- 16 October 2024
- Last updated
- 1 August 2025 — See all updates
Applies to England
Documents
Children looked after return 2025 to 2026: technical specifications
PDF, 924 KB, 48 pages
Children looked after return 2025 to 2026: validation rules
PDF, 620596 KB, 130 pages
Details
This is technical information about submitting and validating data for the children looked after data return (also known as SSDA903) for the year 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.
It is for:
- suppliers creating management information software (MIS) for local authorities
- users of local authority MIS software
The information includes:
- a summary of the data items we collect in the return
- an explanation of formats for submitting the data
- a list of validation checks applied to the data return
A guide for local authorities, with detailed explanations of what information to include for each data item, is also available.
Updates to this page
Published 16 October 2024
Last updated 1 August 2025
href="#full-history">+ show all updates
-
Updated the validation rules. Details of the changes are described in the version history.
-
First published.
Sign up for emails or print this page
Details
This is technical information about submitting and validating data for the children looked after data return (also known as SSDA903) for the year 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.
It is for:
- suppliers creating management information software (MIS) for local authorities
- users of local authority MIS software
The information includes:
- a summary of the data items we collect in the return
- an explanation of formats for submitting the data
- a list of validation checks applied to the data return
A guide for local authorities, with detailed explanations of what information to include for each data item, is also available.
Updates to this page
-
Updated the validation rules. Details of the changes are described in the version history.
-
First published.
Sign up for emails or print this page
Update history
2025-10-30 15:11
Updated the ‘Children looked after return 2025 to 2026: validation rules’. Details of the changes are described in the version history.
2025-08-01 15:27
Updated the validation rules. Details of the changes are described in the version history.
2024-10-16 11:35
First published.