Cumbria LA - LA Number changes

Cumbria LA - LA Number changes

Updated: 18/4/23 - 15:00

All the required work is in progress and will be completed tomorrow. This will result in all of the SIMS schools in Cumbria being moved to their new LA number as appropriate.

This page will be updated as and when the partner team has further information regarding the split of Cumbria into two unitary authorities. 

Cumbria is being broken up in to 2 new authorities from 1st April 2023.

• Out: 909 Cumbria
• In: 942 Cumberland
• In: 943 Westmorland and Furness

The changes could have an impact on your integration to SIMS depending on how you access and process data.

In view of 1st April 2023 being a Saturday and being followed typically by a 2 week Easter break, ESS are proposing to make changes on 19th April 2023 that will make our internal infrastructure move the Cumbrian schools to their new LA numbers.  We will also send out patches to update the affected school's DfE number at that time.

Guidance for Technical Integrators .

ESS is working to support the new authorities in changing the relevant records in SIMS.  This will result in the local authority number / school number being changed to the new values.  This will impact your integration if your product relies upon the local authority number / school number remaining constant.

This change will take effect on Saturday 1st April is a Saturday, this coincides with the first weekend  of the 2-week Easter break for most schools.  ESS are aware this may cause issues for integrators updating their applications during that time.   ESS is investigating options to bring forward or delay the change to the records to increase the likelihood that school staff will be available to assist Tis in updating their products. This is however, not fully in ESS control and needs the agreement of the two new unitary authorities and the schools.

At this time, we do not have a full list of which schools will be in which new Authority that can be shared. 

The work Tis will need to undertake is similar to the changes required when Northamptonshire re-organised in 2021 and previously the reorganisation within Dorset in 2019.

Please contact the Partner Support Team  if further help is needed.

Photographers (25/1/23)

Photo import licences are tied to an LA / School Number.  We are looking into how we can replace licences for Cumbrian schools where appropriate.  If photographers need a licence re-issued for Cumbrian schools then please contact us.  The most likely scenario that will be missed is where a photographer asked for a licence in January/Feb based on the Cumbria LA number(903 LA set) for a booking/photo return after Easter where either a Cumbrian or Westmorland and Furness number is required (942/943 respectively). 

Cashless Caterers and Pay 360 EP (6/3/23)

As the support agent for EP we are aware of a small number of Cumbrian schools using EP (Formerly SIMS Pay) and cashless systems.  We will advise the impacted TIs individually.  As notified above, on the change over date, we will update 'CCP' and the EP management system to reflect the new LA numbers for impacted schools.  The cashless caterer will then need to make changes at their end to ensure that data can continue to flow.

Advice from Pay 360 EP Support:  "All cashless caterers / caterers need to do is to update LA number in the catering systems of the schools currently belonging to LA 909 to the correct LA number according to the list published below. 

For example: update the site of Name of School (909 xxxx) in their catering system to (942|943 xxxx) according to the list. We hope this will be just a config change."

The change date is critical here - it is being different that will prevent the data exchange.

Please contact us if further help is needed. 

List of Schools

The source of the table is the DfE. Please note that the DfE reserved the right to make changes up and until 1/4/23. (E and OE).