One in five schools used as polling stations

One in five of England’s schools are used as polling stations and face closure or disruption on voting day, Schools Week research finds.

As voting for the snap general election commences, research by Schools Week has found that 22.6 per cent of schools are due to be used as polling stations, with hundreds having to close completely.

Of the 7,894 schools in the 75 areas whose councils provided data, 1,784 are being used as polling stations today (8 June). Of those, 189 have had to close.

This represents a slight increase on 2015, when Schools Week found that one in six schools closed on polling day.

The research also revealed that although many councils are attempting to phase out the use of schools as polling stations, they have been largely unable to do so in time for this election.