. Detailed information on all the changes to the validation rules is provided in the ‘Annex A - introduction’ tab of the accompanying validation rules. Chinese ethnicity has been removed from ‘Other ethnic groups’ and added to the ‘Asian or Asian British’ ethnic group in section 3.1 and appendix B2. Further guidance on the information required for referrals has been added directly above the table in section 4.1. Information on the use of the reason for closure codes has been added above the table in section 4.7. The ‘Domestic violence’ factor identified at the end of assessment has been updated to ‘Domestic abuse’ in section 4.10 and appendix B7. This is a change to the description of the factor and is not a change to the information collected for this factor. Information on the recording of assessment factors in cases where a subsequent assessment ended in the outcome that services were no longer required has been added to section 4.10. Cumbria (909) local authority has been removed and replaced by Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness in appendix C. The new local authority codes were not available at the time of publication and will be confirmed once they become available. In addition to these changes there have been minor updates to wording throughout the guide to improve clarity. 10 1.1 Background This is the fourteenth collection of the revised children in need (CIN) census, collecting data over the full financial year, from 1 April to 31 March. The children in need census 2023 to 2024 covers the financial year 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. Census data will be submitted by local authorities to the Department for Education (DfE) between 1 April 2024 and 31 July 2024. If a local authority fails to submit its data by 31 July 2024, it will not be included in the childr