Nursery World - Labour warns of primary school place 'crisis'

More than a quarter of councils will face a shortage of primary school places in September, according to an analysis by Labour.

The party claims that 40 councils in England will have more pupils than places for the next school year.

Their analysis is based on School Capacity figures for May 2013.

In March, the National Audit Office estimated that 240,000 new primary school places would be needed by September 2014 to meet increased demand.

And the problem is set to get worse, says Labour, with nearly half of councils forecasting a shortage of places for September 2015, rising to two-thirds of councils by 2017.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the party has also revealed that a quarter of councils believe their current level of Government funding is not sufficient to create the extra school places needed to meet demand for 2015/16.

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