diff --git a/nextjs-app/__tests__/lib/destinations.test.ts b/nextjs-app/__tests__/lib/destinations.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..81d1ef0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nextjs-app/__tests__/lib/destinations.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+import {
+  canAggregate, aggregateCells, canRenderPublishedAggregate,
+  canRenderBar, toBarSegments, CARD_GROUPS,
+  type DestinationCell, type DestinationGroup, type DestinationCategory,
+} from '@/lib/destinations';
+
+const pub = (category: DestinationCategory, pupils: number, cohort: number): DestinationCell => ({
+  category, pupils, percentage: (pupils / cohort) * 100, status: 'published',
+});
+const sup = (category: DestinationCategory): DestinationCell => ({
+  category, pupils: null, percentage: null, status: 'suppressed',
+});
+
+const fullGroup = (): DestinationGroup => ({
+  cohort: 180,
+  cells: [
+    pub('school_sixth_form', 75, 180), pub('sixth_form_college', 21, 180),
+    pub('further_education', 55, 180), pub('other_education', 6, 180),
+    pub('apprenticeship', 8, 180), pub('employment', 6, 180),
+    pub('not_sustained', 5, 180), pub('not_captured', 4, 180),
+  ],
+  aggregates: {},
+});
+
+describe('canAggregate — R2, computing from components', () => {
+  it('allows a sum when every component is published', () => {
+    expect(canAggregate([pub('apprenticeship', 8, 180), pub('employment', 6, 180)])).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('refuses a sum when any component is suppressed', () => {
+    expect(canAggregate([pub('apprenticeship', 8, 180), sup('employment')])).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('refuses a sum when every component is suppressed', () => {
+    expect(canAggregate([sup('apprenticeship'), sup('employment')])).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('aggregateCells', () => {
+  it('sums published cells and derives a percentage from the cohort', () => {
+    expect(aggregateCells([pub('apprenticeship', 8, 180), pub('employment', 6, 180)], 180))
+      .toEqual({ pupils: 14, percentage: (14 / 180) * 100 });
+  });
+
+  it('returns null rather than a partial sum when a component is suppressed', () => {
+    expect(aggregateCells([pub('apprenticeship', 8, 180), sup('employment')], 180)).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
+
+describe('canRenderPublishedAggregate — R2, a total DfE published itself', () => {
+  it('allows it when no component is suppressed', () => {
+    expect(canRenderPublishedAggregate([
+      pub('school_sixth_form', 75, 180), pub('sixth_form_college', 21, 180),
+    ])).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('REFUSES it when exactly one component is suppressed — the aggregate identifies it', () => {
+    expect(canRenderPublishedAggregate([
+      pub('school_sixth_form', 75, 180), sup('sixth_form_college'),
+    ])).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('allows it when two or more components are suppressed', () => {
+    expect(canRenderPublishedAggregate([
+      sup('school_sixth_form'), sup('sixth_form_college'),
+    ])).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('canRenderBar — R1', () => {
+  it('allows a bar when the whole group is published', () => {
+    expect(canRenderBar(fullGroup())).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('refuses a bar when a single category is suppressed', () => {
+    const g = fullGroup();
+    g.cells[1] = sup('sixth_form_college');
+    expect(canRenderBar(g)).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('toBarSegments', () => {
+  it('derives widths from counts, not from rounded percentages', () => {
+    const segs = toBarSegments(fullGroup());
+    expect(segs).toHaveLength(8);
+    expect(segs[0].widthPct).toBeCloseTo((75 / 180) * 100, 10);
+    expect(segs.reduce((a, s) => a + s.widthPct, 0)).toBeCloseTo(100, 6);
+  });
+
+  it('throws rather than silently leaving a gap when the group is suppressed', () => {
+    const g = fullGroup();
+    g.cells[1] = sup('sixth_form_college');
+    expect(() => toBarSegments(g)).toThrow(/suppressed/i);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('CARD_GROUPS', () => {
+  it('partitions every destination category exactly once, plus the absence', () => {
+    const grouped = Object.values(CARD_GROUPS).flat();
+    expect(new Set(grouped).size).toBe(grouped.length);
+    expect(grouped).toEqual(expect.arrayContaining([
+      'school_sixth_form', 'sixth_form_college', 'further_education',
+      'other_education', 'apprenticeship', 'employment',
+    ]));
+    expect(grouped).not.toContain('not_sustained');
+    expect(grouped).not.toContain('not_captured');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/nextjs-app/lib/destinations.ts b/nextjs-app/lib/destinations.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aca8996
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nextjs-app/lib/destinations.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+/**
+ * Destination measures — categories, the card grouping, and the disclosure
+ * guards.
+ *
+ * DfE suppresses individual cells with `c`, and the destination categories sum
+ * to the cohort. So subtracting the published cells from the cohort total
+ * recovers a lone suppressed cell exactly — which is the case on 22% of
+ * mainstream secondaries. The guards below are what stop this module's
+ * consumers doing that by accident, and they are why a percentage is never
+ * reconstructed from a partial sum.
+ *
+ * See docs/superpowers/specs/2026-08-28-destination-measures-design.md.
+ */
+
+export type DestinationCategory =
+  | 'school_sixth_form'
+  | 'sixth_form_college'
+  | 'further_education'
+  | 'other_education'
+  | 'apprenticeship'
+  | 'employment'
+  | 'not_sustained'
+  | 'not_captured'
+  // 16-18 only.
+  | 'higher_education';
+
+export type PupilGroup = 'all' | 'disadvantaged' | 'other';
+
+export type DestinationStatus = 'published' | 'suppressed' | 'not_applicable';
+
+export type CardGroup = 'academic' | 'college' | 'work';
+
+export interface DestinationCell {
+  category: DestinationCategory;
+  pupils: number | null;
+  percentage: number | null;
+  status: DestinationStatus;
+}
+
+export interface DestinationGroup {
+  cohort: number;
+  cells: DestinationCell[];
+  /** Aggregates DfE published itself, keyed by slug. */
+  aggregates: Partial<Record<'sustained_education' | 'sustained_all', DestinationCell>>;
+}
+
+/** Display order, which is also bar order: education, then work, then absence. */
+export const CATEGORY_ORDER: DestinationCategory[] = [
+  'higher_education',
+  'school_sixth_form', 'sixth_form_college', 'further_education', 'other_education',
+  'apprenticeship', 'employment', 'not_sustained', 'not_captured',
+];
+
+/**
+ * Our grouping, not DfE's — the single most arguable thing on the page, which
+ * is why it lives in exactly one place. `not_sustained` and `not_captured` are
+ * deliberately absent: they are the absence of a destination, not a route, and
+ * "activity not captured" includes independent schools and moving abroad.
+ */
+export const CARD_GROUPS: Record<CardGroup, DestinationCategory[]> = {
+  academic: ['higher_education', 'school_sixth_form', 'sixth_form_college'],
+  college: ['further_education', 'other_education'],
+  work: ['apprenticeship', 'employment'],
+};
+
+export function suppressedCount(cells: DestinationCell[]): number {
+  return cells.filter(c => c.status === 'suppressed').length;
+}
+
+/** R2: a sum computed from components is safe only if every component is published. */
+export function canAggregate(cells: DestinationCell[]): boolean {
+  return cells.length > 0 && cells.every(c => c.status === 'published');
+}
+
+export function aggregateCells(
+  cells: DestinationCell[], cohort: number,
+): { pupils: number; percentage: number } | null {
+  if (!canAggregate(cells) || cohort <= 0) return null;
+  const pupils = cells.reduce((sum, c) => sum + (c.pupils ?? 0), 0);
+  return { pupils, percentage: (pupils / cohort) * 100 };
+}
+
+/**
+ * R2, the other direction: DfE published this total itself. Showing it beside
+ * the components is safe only when it spans no suppressed component, or two or
+ * more. Exactly one, and the total names the withheld figure.
+ */
+export function canRenderPublishedAggregate(components: DestinationCell[]): boolean {
+  return suppressedCount(components) !== 1;
+}
+
+/** R1: a bar is drawable only when nothing in the group is withheld. */
+export function canRenderBar(group: DestinationGroup): boolean {
+  return group.cohort > 0 && group.cells.every(c => c.status === 'published');
+}
+
+export interface BarSegment {
+  category: DestinationCategory;
+  pupils: number;
+  /** Exact width from the count — never the rounded percentage. */
+  widthPct: number;
+  /** Rounded value for the segment label. */
+  labelPct: number;
+}
+
+export function toBarSegments(group: DestinationGroup): BarSegment[] {
+  if (!canRenderBar(group)) {
+    throw new Error(
+      'toBarSegments: refusing to draw a bar for a group with suppressed categories — '
+      + 'the gap left behind would disclose the withheld figure (R1).',
+    );
+  }
+  const byCategory = new Map(group.cells.map(c => [c.category, c]));
+  return CATEGORY_ORDER.flatMap<BarSegment>(category => {
+    const cell = byCategory.get(category);
+    if (!cell || cell.pupils === null) return [];
+    const widthPct = (cell.pupils / group.cohort) * 100;
+    return [{ category, pupils: cell.pupils, widthPct, labelPct: Math.round(widthPct) }];
+  });
+}
+
+export const CATEGORY_LABELS: Record<DestinationCategory, string> = {
+  higher_education: 'UK higher education',
+  school_sixth_form: 'State-funded school sixth form',
+  sixth_form_college: 'Sixth-form college',
+  further_education: 'FE and other colleges',
+  other_education: 'Other education destination',
+  apprenticeship: 'Apprenticeship',
+  employment: 'Employment',
+  not_sustained: 'Not recorded as a sustained destination',
+  not_captured: 'Activity not captured',
+};
+
+export const CARD_QUESTIONS: Record<CardGroup, { question: string; hint: string }> = {
+  academic: {
+    question: 'Do leavers stay on an academic route?',
+    hint: 'a school sixth form or a sixth-form college',
+  },
+  college: {
+    question: 'Or move to a college?',
+    hint: 'an FE or other college',
+  },
+  work: {
+    question: 'Or straight into work?',
+    hint: 'an apprenticeship or a job',
+  },
+};
+
+/** Which card a category belongs to, or null for the two absence categories. */
+export function cardGroupFor(category: DestinationCategory): CardGroup | null {
+  for (const [group, categories] of Object.entries(CARD_GROUPS) as [CardGroup, DestinationCategory[]][]) {
+    if (categories.includes(category)) return group;
+  }
+  return null;
+}