Case Study: Newham Council gains confidence in school admissions with CACI

Caci Help Newham Council Gain Confidence in Their Admissions System

Newham Council, which serves a population of 310,000 and manages thousands of school admissions each year, needed a better way to handle complex catchment, distance, and over-subscription rules. Its existing GIS was cumbersome and time-consuming for the admissions team, and inaccurate distance calculations risked appeals, legal costs, and confusion for parents and carers. CACI Limited supported the council with an improved admissions and distance-measuring approach, alongside a public-facing school information portal.

CACI Limited implemented a more accurate admissions system that integrates with Newham’s LLPG data, plus a School Locator app built with Esri UK that lets families view catchment areas, parishes, nearest schools, maps, and walking/straight-line distances. The result was faster, more efficient processing, greater confidence in admissions decisions, and full transparency for residents. Newham Council also estimated that if appeals fell by 20%, it could save around £15,000 per year, with the potential for much larger savings by reducing judicial review risk.

Newham Council