Data set from Pupil absence in schools in England

Absence by pupil characteristics - termly

Latest data

Published 20 March 2025

Last updated 20 March 2025

Absence information at national level for the full academic year, by each term, by pupil characteristics including SEN, FSM, language, year group, gender and ethnicity for England.

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Data set details

• Theme: Pupils and schools
• Publication: Pupil absence in schools in England
• Release: Academic year 2023/24
• Geographic levels: National
• Indicators:
  • Authorised absence rate
  • Authorised absence rate exact
  • Number of authorised absence sessions
• Filters:
  • Characteristic
  • School type
• Time period: 2018/19 Autumn term to 2023/24 Summer term

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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	education_phase	characteristic	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	sess_auth_illness	sess_auth_appointments	sess_auth_religious	sess_auth_study	sess_auth_traveller	sess_auth_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_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	sess_y_exceptional_rate
202324	Autumn term	National	E92000001	England	Total	Ethnicity Major Any Other Ethnic Group	172612	23000194	1328382	841294	487088	5.77553	3.65777	2.11776	29285	16.9658	3588614	736387	399578	336809	20.52009494	11.13460517	9.385489774	631171	68083	2229	728	259	11469	23401	98020	835360	122812	30216	313611	18085	484724	1320084	0	70027	2.744198592	0.296010547	0.009691223	0.003165191	0.001126077	0.049864797	0.10174262	0.426170318	3.631969365	0.533960714	0.131372805	1.363514586	0.078629772	2.107477876	5.739447241	0	0.304462649
202324	Autumn term	National	E92000001	England	Total	Ethnicity Major Asian Total	933995	127068174	7029152	4729008	2300144	5.5318	3.72163	1.81017	152265	16.30255	19847502	3807292	2126357	1680935	19.18272637	10.71347417	8.469252201	3803382	306214	49925	7633	116	73648	65706	388401	4695025	956363	130325	1144155	53965	2284808	6979833	0	358512	2.993182227	0.240984025	0.039289933	0.006007012	9.12896E-05	0.057959438	0.05170925	0.305663478	3.694886652	0.752637714	0.102563054	0.900426097	0.042469328	1.798096194	5.492982846	0	0.282141459
202324	Autumn term	National	E92000001	England	Total	Ethnicity Major Black Total	460439	61305703	2683931	1754358	929573	4.37795	2.86166	1.51629	55270	12.00376	6781265	1398194	783779	614415	20.61848342	11.55800577	9.060477654	1277775	137357	2069	1943	350	21178	71995	230889	1743556	161708	104611	617862	41188	925369	2668925	0	165272	2.084267756	0.224052565	0.00337489	0.003169363	0.000570909	0.03454491	0.117436056	0.376619121	2.84403557	0.263773176	0.170638285	1.007837721	0.067184614	1.509433796	4.353469366	0	0.269586665
202324	Autumn term	National	E92000001	England	Total	Ethnicity Major Mixed Total	502846	68629580	4776510	3124587	1651923	6.95984	4.55283	2.40701	104757	20.83282	13769090	3044762	1723727	1321035	22.11302272	12.5188157	9.594207025	2387734	198297	4893	2389	251	35818	112474	354414	3096270	290566	163303	1149536	38273	1641678	4737948	0	190536	3.479161609	0.288938093	0.007129579	0.003481006	0.000365732	0.052190324	0.163885602	0.516415808	4.511567753	0.423383037	0.237948418	1.674986209	0.055767499	2.392085162	6.903652915	0	0.277629559
202324	Autumn term	National	E92000001	England	Total	Ethnicity Major Unclassified	118202	15637103	1307391	790562	516829	8.36083	5.05568	3.30515	29695	25.12225	3671015	918950	482182	436768	25.03258636	13.13484145	11.8977449	575788	49495	1219	547	815	7914	34858	110996	781632	71180	36725	392302	12987	513194	1294826	0	57283	3.682191004	0.316522824	0.007795562	0.00349809	0.005211963	0.050610398	0.222918529	0.709824576	4.998572945	0.455199406	0.234858081	2.508789512	0.083052468	3.281899467	8.280472412	0	0.366327446

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Variables in this data set

Table showing first 5 of 53 variables

Variable name	Variable description
characteristic	Characteristic - Filter by characteristic
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
enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent	Percentage of persistent absentees

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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.
3. EHC plans – A pupil has an EHC plan when a formal assessment has been made. A document is in place that sets out the child’s need and the extra help they should receive. EHC plans were introduced in September 2014 replacing Statements of SEN, with these being phased out by April 2018. This category therefore includes Statements of SEN for the years up to 2018.
4. Total includes state-funded primary, secondary and special schools.

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