Verdict
No, and not indefinitely. For the census the surname you record is the one the school believes to be right — DfE says schools are not expected to have verified it against a birth certificate or other legal document. Addresses do carry a “every effort must be made” duty, but the guidance names the end of the road: if you cannot get it, leave the fields blank or partial and ignore the resulting validation errors.
What the source actually says
On the pupil’s name:
“The pupil’s full legal surname as the school believes it to be (schools are not expected to have verified this from a birth certificate or other legal document).”
On the home address, after saying a valid address is expected for most pupils:
“While every effort must be made to obtain these pupil details, if it is not possible to get the address, you should leave these fields blank or add a partial address and ignore the validation errors. Address fields should not be used to record notes such as ‘protected address’ or any other personal details about the pupil.”
— Data items 2026 to 2027, DfE, published 28 July 2026, “Surname” and “Home information” sections DfE
Two related limits in the same guidance. The unique pupil number is not yours to work out:
“You should not calculate it manually, as the UPN would either be:”
“generated by your MIS”
“transferred from another school in a common transfer file ( CTF )”
And the property reference number behind an address is not something anyone expects you to look up:
“We do not expect schools to collect or look up the UPRN . Instead, this will be automatically populated within your school system when entering addresses if the OS AddressBase database is used as a reference.”
— same source, “Unique pupil number ( UPN ) (used for funding)” and “Unique property reference number” sections DfE
Read the address rule accurately: it does impose real effort before it releases you, and a stubborn validation error is only acceptable once that effort has been made. It is a limit on chasing, not a licence to skip it.
Your school may still require it
Your school can ask to see documents when a pupil joins, can set its own admissions paperwork, and can ask you to keep trying for a missing address for as long as it thinks reasonable. That is an internal standard the school has chosen — the census itself does not demand the birth certificate.
See also Do I have to chase families who won't give ethnicity or first language? and Do we need parents' consent before pupil data goes in the school census?.