Data set from Pupil absence in schools in England

Absence by school location - IDACI and urban or rurality

Not the latest data

Published 26 March 2026

Last updated 21 May 2026

Absence information by the school location including the level of deprivation and rurality. Includes where a school location may differ from administrative authority responsible for the school.

---

On this page

Data set details

• Theme: Pupils and schools
• Publication: Pupil absence in schools in England
• Release: Academic year 2024/25
• Number of rows: 50,215
• Geographic levels: Local authority, Local authority district, National, Regional
• Indicators:
  • Authorised absence rate
  • Number of authorised absence sessions
  • Number of overall absence sessions
  • Number of persistent absentees
  • Number of pupil enrolments
  • Number of sessions possible
  • Number of unauthorised absence sessions
  • Overall absence rate
  • Percentage of persistent absentees
  • Unauthorised absence rate
• Filters:
  • IDACI band of school location
  • Rurality band of school location
  • School type
• Time period: 2018/19 to 2024/25

---

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	lad_code	lad_name	old_la_code	new_la_code	la_name	education_phase	sch_rurality	sch_idaci	enrolments	sess_possible	sess_overall	sess_overall_percent	sess_authorised	sess_authorised_percent	sess_unauthorised	sess_unauthorised_percent	enrolments_pa_10_exact	enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent
202425	Academic year	Regional	E92000001	England	E12000002	North West						Special	Total	0 - 10 % most deprived	4787	1682269	230249	13.68681	156143	9.28169	74106	4.40512	1785	37.28849
202425	Academic year	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000002	North West			357	E08000008	Tameside	State-funded secondary	Total	Total	15501	5198308	472841	9.09606	208319	4.00744	264522	5.08862	3873	24.98548
202425	Academic year	Regional	E92000001	England	E12000003	Yorkshire and The Humber						State-funded secondary	Urban - city and town C1 C2	Total	105158	36254216	3337564	9.206	1863952	5.14134	1473612	4.06466	26935	25.61384
202425	Academic year	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000001	North East			392	E08000022	North Tyneside	State-funded primary	Total	60 - 70 %	870	320214	15862	4.95356	11106	3.46831	4756	1.48526	115	13.21839
202425	Academic year	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000002	North West			357	E08000008	Tameside	Total	Total	30 - 40 %	2421	864537	56869	6.57797	28124	3.25307	28745	3.3249	404	16.68732

---

Variables in this data set

Table showing all 13 variables

Variable name	Variable description
education_phase	School type - Filter by school type
enrolments	Number of pupil enrolments
enrolments_pa_10_exact	Number of persistent absentees
enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent	Percentage of persistent absentees
sch_idaci	IDACI band of school location - Filter by IDACI band of school location
sch_rurality	Rurality band of school location - Filter by rurality band of school location
sess_authorised	Number of authorised absence sessions
sess_authorised_percent	Authorised absence rate
sess_overall	Number of overall absence sessions
sess_overall_percent	Overall absence rate
sess_possible	Number of sessions possible
sess_unauthorised	Number of unauthorised absence sessions
sess_unauthorised_percent	Unauthorised absence rate

---

Footnotes

1. Total includes state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools.
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

---

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Absence by school location - IDACI and urban or rurality statistics and data:

Attendance and exclusions statistics team

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

---