Do schools in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland allocate UPNs?
Schools in both Scotland and Wales have the ability to issue UPNs, based on the same algorithm used to create English UPNs, via their schools’ MIS. Due to the different codes used to represent LAs or their regional equivalents, UPNs issued by Scottish schools cannot be fully integrated into the current system operating in England for two reasons: (i) There is a duplication of LA codes between England and Scotland. This duplication creates a situation where UPNs coming into the English schools system have been created using pre-existing English LA codes and possibly school numbers. As generation of the number is based on the same algorithm it is possible that duplicate UPNs will be created by the use of the same LA code and school number. (ii) There are additional problems caused by some of the LA codes used in Scotland, which are invalid LA codes in the scope of the English UPN system. UPNs with invalid English LA codes cannot be transferred into English schools software systems. UPNs
