Persistent absence has improved compared with last year, the latest government data reveals today.
The rate of persistent absence - pupils who miss 10 per cent or more of their possible sessions - was 18.7 per cent for the current academic year up to 10 January.
This represented a decrease on the persistent absence rate across the same time period for 2023-24, which was at 20.3 per cent, according to the new Department of Education data.
Today’s figures are part of a recent trend of improvements in persistent absence, with the rate dropping between 2022-23 and 2023-24 (from 21.2 per cent to 19.2 per cent respectively).
However, the rate remains high compared with before the Covid pandemic: 10.9 per cent of children were persistently absent in 2018-19.
The data comes after the government launched its pilot scheme for fully funded breakfast clubs, which it claimed “could cut almost half a million days of school absence”.
Parent fines are a ‘blunt tool’, union warns
While figures for last term suggest that attendance is improving, the number of pupils off school without permission at the start of this term had risen compared with last year.
The unauthorised absence rate across state schools in England was 2.7 per cent in the week ending 10 January, the first week of term following the Christmas holidays.
This was higher than the equivalent week in 2024, the week ending 12 January, when the rate was 2.5 per cent.
The latest DfE data also shows that the overall absence rate - authorised and unauthorised - was 6.9 per cent in the week ending 10 January.
This was higher than the equivalent week in 2024, when the overall absence rate was 6.6 per cent.
This uptick has been driven by an increase in unauthorised absences, the DfE said.
The figures come after parent fines for pupil absence were raised in September for the first time since 2012.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders union, said that fining parents is a “blunt tool” that does not get to the “root causes of non-attendance” or “shift the dial in any meaningful way”.
He said that the government must build on measures such as the register of children not in school by “investing more in services like social care and children’s mental health” and ensure that the Child Poverty Taskforce leads to “tangible action”.
Absence for pupils with EHCPs increases
The latest government data breaks down absence rates for pupils receiving free school meals (FSM) and pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) for the most recent autumn term.
Pupils with FSM have a slightly lower absence rate this academic year compared with the autumn term last year (10 per cent versus 10.4 per cent).
The persistent absence rate for the same pupil group fell from 33 per cent to 31.7 per cent this autumn term.
The overall absence rate for pupils receiving SEND support improved slightly last term, falling by 0.2 per cent to 10.1 per cent.
However, the overall absence rate for pupils with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) rose to 13.1 per cent from 12.5 per cent.
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