Data set from Pupil absence in schools in England

Absence by geographic level - full academic years

Not the latest data

Published 17 October 2024

Last updated 17 October 2024

Absence information for full academic years for all enrolments in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools including information on overall absence, persistent absence and reason for absence for pupils aged 5-15.

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Data set details

• Theme: Pupils and schools
• Publication: Pupil absence in schools in England
• Release: Autumn and spring term 2023/24
• Number of rows: 10,337
• Geographic levels: Local authority, National, Regional
• Indicators:
  • Authorised absence rate
  • Authorised absence rate (persistent absentees only)
  • Authorised holiday rate
  • Authorised other rate
  • Authorised reasons rate
  • Excluded rate
  • Extended authorised holiday rate
  • Illness rate
  • Late rate
  • Medical appointments rate
  • No reason yet rate
  • Number of authorised absence sessions
  • Number of authorised absence sessions (persistent absentees only)
  • Number of authorised holiday sessions
  • Number of authorised other sessions
  • Number of authorised reasons sessions
  • Number of excluded sessions
  • Number of extended authorised holiday sessions
  • Number of illness sessions
  • Number of late sessions
  • Number of medical appointments sessions
  • Number of no reason yet sessions
  • Number of overall absence sessions
  • Number of overall absence sessions (persistent absentees only)
  • Number of overall reasons sessions
  • Number of persistent absentees (10% or more missed)
  • Number of pupil enrolments
  • Number of religious observance sessions
  • Number of schools
  • Number of sessions possible
  • Number of sessions possible (persistent absentees only)
  • Number of sessions recorded as exceptional circumstances
  • Number of sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances
  • Number of severe absentees (50% or more missed)
  • Number of study leave sessions
  • Number of traveller sessions
  • Number of unauthorised absence sessions
  • Number of unauthorised absence sessions (persistent absentees only)
  • Number of unauthorised holiday sessions
  • Number of unauthorised other sessions
  • Number of unauthorised reasons sessions
  • Overall absence rate
  • Overall absence rate (persistent absentees only)
  • Overall reasons rate
  • Percentage of persistent absentees (10% or more missed)
  • Percentage of severe absentees (50% or more missed)
  • Rate of sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances
  • Religious observance rate
  • Study leave rate
  • Traveller rate
  • Unauthorised absence rate
  • Unauthorised absence rate (persistent absentees only)
  • Unauthorised holiday rate
  • Unauthorised other rate
  • Unauthorised reasons rate
• Filters:
  • School type
• Time period: 2006/07 to 2022/23

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Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data

time_period	time_identifier	geographic_level	country_code	country_name	region_code	region_name	old_la_code	new_la_code	la_name	education_phase	num_schools	enrolments	sess_possible	sess_overall	sess_authorised	sess_unauthorised	sess_overall_percent	sess_authorised_percent	sess_unauthorised_percent	enrolments_pa_10_exact	enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent	sess_possible_pa_10_exact	sess_overall_pa_10_exact	sess_authorised_pa_10_exact	sess_unauthorised_pa_10_exact	sess_overall_percent_pa_10_exact	sess_authorised_percent_pa_10_exact	sess_unauthorised_percent_pa_10_exact	enrolments_pa_50_exact	enrolments_pa_50_exact_percent	sess_auth_illness	sess_auth_appointments	sess_auth_religious	sess_auth_study	sess_auth_traveller	sess_auth_holiday	sess_auth_ext_holiday	sess_auth_excluded	sess_auth_other	sess_auth_totalreasons	sess_unauth_holiday	sess_unauth_late	sess_unauth_other	sess_unauth_noyet	sess_unauth_totalreasons	sess_overall_totalreasons	sess_x_covid	sess_y_exceptional	sess_auth_illness_rate	sess_auth_appointments_rate	sess_auth_religious_rate	sess_auth_study_rate	sess_auth_traveller_rate	sess_auth_holiday_rate	sess_auth_ext_holiday_rate	sess_auth_excluded_rate	sess_auth_other_rate	sess_auth_totalreasons_rate	sess_unauth_holiday_rate	sess_unauth_late_rate	sess_unauth_other_rate	sess_unauth_noyet_rate	sess_unauth_totalreasons_rate	sess_overall_totalreasons_rate	sess_x_covid_rate
201718	Academic year	Regional	E92000001	England	E12000001	North East				State-funded secondary	179	145040	49081998	2897080	1887164	1009916	5.90253	3.84492	2.05761	22380	15.43023	6953299	1441033	758772	682261	20.72445	10.9124	9.81205	1931	1.33136	1384815	137791	6797	4915	2381	29775	z	127457	177365	1871296	201578	12775	741480	52358	1008191	2879487	z	z	2.821431597	0.28073633	0.013848255	0.010013855	0.004851066	0.06066379	z	0.259681768	0.36136467	3.812591329	0.410696402	0.026027873	1.510696447	0.106674549	2.054095271	5.866686601	0
201718	Academic year	Regional	E92000001	England	E12000002	North West				State-funded secondary	460	396165	138074674	7718364	5185816	2532548	5.58999	3.75581	1.83419	56856	14.3516	18108103	3674328	1985339	1688989	20.29107	10.96382	9.32726	4843	1.22247	3929174	429450	49788	63323	2584	49861	z	197731	460597	5182508	434950	100131	1873023	122776	2530880	7713388	z	z	2.845687689	0.31102735	0.036058749	0.045861416	0.001871451	0.036111619	z	0.143205842	0.333585434	3.75340955	0.315010702	0.072519454	1.356529004	0.08892	1.83297916	5.58638871	0
201718	Academic year	Regional	E92000001	England	E12000006	East of England				Special	101	10149	3484102	349625	289938	59687	10.03487	8.32174	1.71312	2928	28.85013	954200	246029	194903	51126	25.7838	20.4258	5.358	418	4.11863	148718	40187	1056	615	1091	14063	z	7345	73032	286107	4681	3376	46738	3360	58155	344262	z	z	4.268474344	1.153439251	0.030309101	0.017651607	0.031313664	0.403633418	z	0.210814724	2.096149883	8.211785992	0.134353127	0.096897278	1.341464745	0.096438049	1.669153199	9.880939192	0
202122	Academic year	Regional	E92000001	England	E12000008	South East				Special	181	21493	7585625	993111	797717	195394	13.09201	10.51617	2.57585	8620	40.10608	2971974	765002	587209	177793	25.74053	19.75821	5.98232	1165	5.42037	440884	67599	973	2855	479	24022	z	11256	247975	796043	12672	9906	166323	6168	195069	991112	143836	95238	5.812098542	0.891146082	0.012826893	0.037636978	0.006314575	0.316677927	z	0.148385927	3.269012112	10.49409904	0.167052814	0.130589108	2.192607728	0.081311692	2.571561341	13.06566038	1.896165445
202122	Academic year	Regional	E92000001	England	E12000008	South East				Total	3299	1168861	410950689	30927011	23672290	7254721	7.52572	5.76037	1.76535	256791	21.96934	85297330	16742091	11375786	5366305	19.62792	13.33663	6.29129	18434	1.57709	18851626	1189387	75011	339234	44327	218953	z	300993	2446585	23466116	1337723	462128	5111349	276000	7187200	30653316	4569720	2894739	4.587320694	0.289423289	0.018253042	0.08254859	0.010786452	0.053279628	z	0.073243094	0.595347584	5.710202374	0.325519104	0.112453395	1.243786453	0.067161343	1.748920294	7.459122669	1.111987429

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Variables in this data set

Table showing all 56 variables

Variable name	Variable description
education_phase	School type - Filter by school type - Total includes primary, secondary and special
enrolments	Number of pupil enrolments
enrolments_pa_10_exact	Number of persistent absentees (10% or more missed)
enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent	Percentage of persistent absentees (10% or more missed)
enrolments_pa_50_exact	Number of severe absentees (50% or more missed)
enrolments_pa_50_exact_percent	Percentage of severe absentees (50% or more missed)
num_schools	Number of schools
sess_auth_appointments	Number of medical appointments sessions
sess_auth_appointments_rate	Medical appointments rate
sess_auth_excluded	Number of excluded sessions
sess_auth_excluded_rate	Excluded rate
sess_auth_ext_holiday	Number of extended authorised holiday sessions
sess_auth_ext_holiday_rate	Extended authorised holiday rate
sess_auth_holiday	Number of authorised holiday sessions
sess_auth_holiday_rate	Authorised holiday rate
sess_auth_illness	Number of illness sessions
sess_auth_illness_rate	Illness rate
sess_auth_other	Number of authorised other sessions
sess_auth_other_rate	Authorised other rate
sess_auth_religious	Number of religious observance sessions
sess_auth_religious_rate	Religious observance rate
sess_auth_study	Number of study leave sessions
sess_auth_study_rate	Study leave rate
sess_auth_totalreasons	Number of authorised reasons sessions
sess_auth_totalreasons_rate	Authorised reasons rate
sess_auth_traveller	Number of traveller sessions
sess_auth_traveller_rate	Traveller rate
sess_authorised	Number of authorised absence sessions
sess_authorised_pa_10_exact	Number of authorised absence sessions (persistent absentees only)
sess_authorised_percent	Authorised absence rate
sess_authorised_percent_pa_10_exact	Authorised absence rate (persistent absentees only)
sess_overall	Number of overall absence sessions
sess_overall_pa_10_exact	Number of overall absence sessions (persistent absentees only)
sess_overall_percent	Overall absence rate
sess_overall_percent_pa_10_exact	Overall absence rate (persistent absentees only)
sess_overall_totalreasons	Number of overall reasons sessions
sess_overall_totalreasons_rate	Overall reasons rate
sess_possible	Number of sessions possible
sess_possible_pa_10_exact	Number of sessions possible (persistent absentees only)
sess_unauth_holiday	Number of unauthorised holiday sessions
sess_unauth_holiday_rate	Unauthorised holiday rate
sess_unauth_late	Number of late sessions
sess_unauth_late_rate	Late rate
sess_unauth_noyet	Number of no reason yet sessions
sess_unauth_noyet_rate	No reason yet rate
sess_unauth_other	Number of unauthorised other sessions
sess_unauth_other_rate	Unauthorised other rate
sess_unauth_totalreasons	Number of unauthorised reasons sessions
sess_unauth_totalreasons_rate	Unauthorised reasons rate
sess_unauthorised	Number of unauthorised absence sessions
sess_unauthorised_pa_10_exact	Number of unauthorised absence sessions (persistent absentees only)
sess_unauthorised_percent	Unauthorised absence rate
sess_unauthorised_percent_pa_10_exact	Unauthorised absence rate (persistent absentees only)
sess_x_covid	Number of sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances
sess_x_covid_rate	Rate of sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances
sess_y_exceptional	Number of sessions recorded as exceptional circumstances

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Footnotes

1. Total includes state-funded primary, secondary and special schools. Data for special schools is available from 2016/17 to present.
2. Sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances are included as possible sessions in 2020/21 and 2021/22 only, but not as an absence within absence rates.

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Absence by geographic level - full academic years statistics and data:

Attendance and exclusions statistics team

Email: schools.statistics@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Attendance and exclusions statistics team

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