Enjoy a unique learning experience on a free school visit to UK Parliament. Applications for Summer Term will open on 23 January 2025 at 10am.
Get ready to apply for your visit to UK Parliament in Summer Term 2025. Your free school visit to UK Parliament includes an engaging curricula-informed workshop in our Education Centre and an unforgettable tour of the iconic Palace of Westminster.
What to do before 23 January
Closer to 23 January, we will be providing more detailed information about how to apply and what to expect on the day. In the meantime, there are four things you can do now to get ready.
1. Save the date!
Set a reminder in your calendar for Thursday 23 January at 10am.
2. Plan your time
We expect a high number of applications so to ensure fair access, there will be a queue management system in place.
The queue wait time will depend on the number of people who log in to make a booking, so this may mean that you are in the queue for some time. Once released from the queue and on the booking page, the application itself will take 20 minutes to complete.
Please make sure you have enough time allocated for this on the day for both the queue and the application submittal. Applications are processed on a first come first served basis.
3. Get your key information together
In order to apply for a free school visit, you will need your school’s postcode and unique reference number. Depending on where you are in the UK, this will be a SEED, DE or URN number and can be found here.
You will also need to confirm your group size including number of adults and students. The minimum group size is 12 people, including adults. Tours and workshops have a maximum capacity of 36, including adults. If you’re bringing more than 36 people, you will need to book multiple timeslots. The ratio of adults to pupils depends on student age:
- age 5-7: 1 adult to 7 pupils
- age 7-18: 1 adult to 15 pupils
4. Check if you are eligible to get help with travel costs
Our travel subsidy scheme helps education groups visiting UK Parliament from outside London and the South East with their travel costs. If your group is eligible you could receive up to 85% of your receipted travel costs to the value of £2,400. To check your eligibility and for details of how to submit your claim please see our Terms and Conditions.
You can sign up to our newsletter to get notified when more information is made available. You can also visit our vacancies pages to view availability for visits up to April 2025.
Check your eligibility for our travel subsidy
Eligibility
Our travel subsidy scheme helps education groups visiting UK Parliament from outside London and the South East with their travel costs. If your group is eligible you could receive up to 85% of your receipted travel costs to the value of £2,400.
To check your eligibility and for details of how to submit your claim please see our Terms and Conditions.
Claims
You have 60 days from the date of your visit to submit your claim by completing the claim form and returning to us via email. You can only submit the claim after you have completed your visit with us.
To check your eligibility and for details of how to submit your claim please see our Terms and Conditions.
Travel subsidy for visits April 2024 onwards
At the General Election, there was a change to UK constituency boundaries. This means some schools have been redistributed to different constituencies, which may affect their travel subsidy band.
If you made your booking before the General Election (4 July), you are entitled to the same travel subsidy allowance that you were entitled to at the time you applied. This will only apply for the term the booking has been made for, and normal travel subsidy eligibility criteria apply.
Learn more about why UK constituency boundaries have changed.
Important information before you apply
Availability
We aim to welcome as many UK students as possible within the c.1,000 sessions per term that we can offer. With over 33,000 schools in the UK, these visits are highly popular. You should not book any travel before receiving a booking confirmation from us.
Cancellations and your responsibility
If you are unable to attend your session, it is your responsibility to advise us with as much notice as possible, ideally four weeks or more. Cancelling at short notice does not allow enough time for another school to apply for the session, which remains unused and fewer students will have had the chance to visit Parliament this year.
Group sizes
Tours and workshops have a maximum capacity of 36. The ratio of adults to pupils depends on students’ age:
- Age 5-7: 1 adult to 7 pupils
- Age 7-18: 1 adult to 15 pupils
You can book up to 108 visitors in each academic term. If you’re bringing more than 36 people, we’ll split your group across multiple timeslots. The minimum group size is 12 people, including adults.
Planning your visit
FAQ
Our FAQs section has lots of useful information to help you plan your visit and make sure everything goes smoothly on the day including how to find us, to maximum group sizes, arrival and security, and more.
Contact us
Please contact our bookings team at engage@parliament.uk, or via phone on 020 7219 4496 Monday to Friday, 9:00-17:00.
Please note that we cannot accept bookings for school groups via e-mail or voicemail.
Tours and workshops
Tour and workshops
Parts of Parliament: Building a law (Tour and workshop – 2hr 15min)
Ever wonder how a law is made? Take part in an interactive workshop that helps your group discover how laws are made in Parliament.
This workshop is aimed at 7–11-year-olds.
The Power of Petitions (Tour and workshop – 2hr 15min)
Discover how young people can get involved in the working of Parliament through creating your own petitions. Can your group convince its group leaders that their petition needs to be taken through to the next stage?
This workshop is aimed at 11–16-year-olds.
Snap Election! (Tour and workshop – 2hr 15min)
Have you ever wanted to create your own policies and manifesto? Your group will split into their own brand-new parties and go through the process of creating their own manifestos based on sector polices. Which party will win your groups election?
This workshop is aimed at 16-18-year-olds.
Story of Parliament (Tour only – 1hr 30min)
Your visit begins in the Education Centre with a 15 minute, 360 degree film on the history of the UK Parliament which explores how our democracy developed and how it works today. This is followed by a tour of the Palace of Westminster where these themes come to life in the famous spaces.
This is aimed at 7-18-year-olds.
