Data set from Pupil absence in schools in England

Absence rate as a percentage of possible sessions by 5% bands with pupil characteristics

Latest data

Published 26 March 2026

Last updated 26 March 2026

The number of pupil enrolments by overall absence 5 percentage point bands in state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools, by pupil characteristics including SEN, FSM, year group and sex.

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Data set details

• Theme: Pupils and schools
• Publication: Pupil absence in schools in England
• Release: Academic year 2024/25
• Number of rows: 277,633
• Geographic levels: Local authority, National, Regional
• Indicators:
  • Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into the 0.00 - 4.99 percent band for overall absence
  • Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into the 10.00 - 14.99 percent band for overall absence
  • Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into the 15.00 - 19.99 percent band for overall absence
• Filters:
  • FSM Status
  • National Curriculum Year Group
  • SEN provision
• Time period: 2016/17 to 2024/25

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Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data

time_identifier	time_period	geographic_level	country_code	country_name	region_name	region_code	old_la_code	new_la_code	la_name	phase_type_grouping	fsm_eligibility	sen_status	sex	nc_year	enrolments_overall_0_5	enrolments_overall_5_10	enrolments_overall_10_15	enrolments_overall_15_20	enrolments_overall_20_25	enrolments_overall_25_30	enrolments_overall_30_35	enrolments_overall_35_40	enrolments_overall_40_45	enrolments_overall_45_50	enrolments_overall_50_55	enrolments_overall_55_60	enrolments_overall_60_65	enrolments_overall_65_70	enrolments_overall_70_75	enrolments_overall_75_80	enrolments_overall_80_85	enrolments_overall_85_90	enrolments_overall_90_95	enrolments_overall_95_99	enrolments_overall_100
Academic year	202425	National	E92000001	England						Special	Eligible	Any special educational need	Female	1	216	234	158	66	45	17	14	7	11	4	5	3	1	1	1	1	3	1	0	1	2
Academic year	202425	National	E92000001	England						Special	Eligible	Any special educational need	Female	2	297	317	156	82	40	27	18	11	6	6	4	1	4	1	1	0	2	3	3	1	4
Academic year	202425	National	E92000001	England						Special	Eligible	Any special educational need	Female	3	401	354	200	105	72	35	25	16	5	10	7	4	3	4	2	1	2	2	2	2	4
Academic year	202425	National	E92000001	England						Special	Eligible	Any special educational need	Female	4	455	383	215	89	51	45	15	24	13	5	6	2	2	6	2	6	2	4	1	3	6
Academic year	202425	National	E92000001	England						Special	Eligible	Any special educational need	Female	5	519	380	216	105	62	39	24	11	11	9	6	8	4	5	1	2	5	0	0	8	10

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Variables in this data set

Table showing first 5 of 26 variables

Variable name	Variable description
enrolments_overall_0_5	Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into the 0.00 - 4.99 percent band for overall absence
enrolments_overall_10_15	Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into the 10.00 - 14.99 percent band for overall absence
enrolments_overall_100	Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into the 99.00 - 100.00 percent band for overall absence
enrolments_overall_15_20	Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into the 15.00 - 19.99 percent band for overall absence
enrolments_overall_20_25	Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into the 20.00 - 24.99 percent band for overall absence

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Footnotes

1. 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.
2. From 2023/24 the school census data item ‘sex’ replaced ‘gender’. Historical use of the word “gender” in the data collection may have meant that “gender identity” was reported in some cases, as opposed to legal sex. While this is unlikely to have a significant effect on overall figures, it may affect figures in more granular subdivisions. Time-series in this publication prior to spring 2023 which contained gender as a category may be affected.

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Absence rate as a percentage of possible sessions by 5% bands with pupil characteristics 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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