Data set from Pupil absence in schools in England

Absence by geographic level

Latest data

Published 20 March 2025

Last updated 20 March 2025

Absence information 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.

---

On this page

Data set details

• Theme: Pupils and schools
• Publication: Pupil absence in schools in England
• Release: Academic year 2023/24
• Geographic levels: Local authority, National, Regional
• Indicators:
  • Authorised absence rate
  • Authorised absence rate (persistent absentees only)
  • Authorised holiday rate
• Filters:
  • School type
• Time period: 2006/07 to 2023/24

---

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
202324	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Total	21318	7453730	2620428796	187334908	122518525	64816383	7.14902	4.67551	2.4735	1487022	19.95004	481076048	106327162	59604680	46722482	22.10194	12.38987	9.71208	171269	2.29776	90654323	8114443	1483200	1351342	258366	1372092	z	4037281	14164668	121435715	13865207	4806370	44440869	1305452	64417898	185853613	z	5488820	3.45952247	0.309660885	0.056601423	0.051569499	0.009859684	0.052361354	z	0.154069479	0.540547716	4.63419251	0.529119777	0.183419218	1.695938812	0.049818259	2.458296066	7.092488576	z
202324	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						State-funded primary	16798	3949827	1416729763	78298118	55143023	23155095	5.52668	3.89228	1.6344	575032	14.55841	189864575	33374677	20654418	12720259	17.57815	10.8785	6.69965	33747	0.85439	43346297	3490968	849600	1583	204887	898580	z	390482	4968660	54151057	9225399	2102156	10991595	473115	22792265	76943322	z	1444091	3.059602341	0.246410296	0.059969094	0.000111736	0.014461968	0.063426352	z	0.027562208	0.350713321	3.822257315	0.651175633	0.148380874	0.775842739	0.033394866	1.608794111	5.431051426	z
202324	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						State-funded secondary	3431	3364185	1154265758	102604511	62579611	40024900	8.88916	5.42159	3.46756	860003	25.56349	273384888	67921040	35374133	32546907	24.84447	12.93932	11.90516	128154	3.80936	44663425	4141514	611219	1336653	50466	309551	z	3565911	7835738	62514477	4449857	2602315	32154701	792330	39999203	102513680	z	3758962	3.869423024	0.358800733	0.052953057	0.115801148	0.00437213	0.026818001	z	0.308933274	0.678850425	5.415951792	0.385514078	0.225451979	2.785727704	0.068643637	3.465337399	8.881289191	z
202324	Academic year	National	E92000001	England						Special	1089	139718	49433275	6432279	4795891	1636388	13.01204	9.70175	3.3103	51987	37.20852	17826585	5031445	3576129	1455316	28.22439	20.06065	8.16374	9368	6.70493	2644601	481961	22381	13106	3013	163961	z	80888	1360270	4770181	189951	101899	1294573	40007	1626430	6396611	z	285767	5.349839759	0.97497283	0.045275171	0.026512506	0.006095085	0.331681443	z	0.163630672	2.751729478	9.649736943	0.384257365	0.206134431	2.618829119	0.080931316	3.29015223	12.93988917	z
202324	Academic year	Regional	E92000001	England	E12000001	North East				Total	1099	341569	121558270	9452962	5581851	3871111	7.77649	4.59191	3.18457	75354	22.06114	25070156	5702082	2861625	2840457	22.7445	11.41447	11.33003	9138	2.6753	4125893	365998	30173	14186	19162	93029	z	298044	628703	5575188	908030	160512	2730141	69283	3867966	9443154	z	350565	3.394168904	0.301088523	0.024821841	0.011670123	0.015763633	0.076530375	z	0.245186115	0.517202984	4.586432499	0.746991546	0.132045315	2.245952497	0.056995711	3.181985068	7.768417566	z

---

Variables in this data set

Table showing first 5 of 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)

---

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.

---

Using this data

• Download the underlying data as a compressed ZIP file

• View or create your own tables

  View tables that we have built for you, or create your own tables from open data using our table tool

Download this data using code

Access this data using common programming languages using the URL below.

Example code

---