Department for Education written question – answered at on 18 March 2026.
Saqib Bhatti
Shadow Minister (Education)
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many independent schools closed in 2024 compared with 2025.
Saqib Bhatti
Shadow Minister (Education)
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils left independent schools in 2024 compared with 2025, and how this compares with the estimated figure of 3,000 pupils.
Olivia Bailey
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
There were 129 private school closures between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2025. In 2024, there were 58 closures and in 2025 there were 71 closures.
The government does not collect pupil-level data from private schools.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
