Permanent data table

'Absence rates by geographic level' from 'Pupil absence in schools in England'

WarningWARNING - The data used in this table may now be out-of-date as a new release has been published since its creation.

'Absence rates by geographic level' for Special, State-funded primary and State-funded secondary in England between 2016/17 and 2021/22

		2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2020/21	2021/22
Number of persistent absentees (10% or more missed)	Total	744,276	783,424	771,863	872,438	1,643,876
	State-funded primary	325,229	344,023	328,745	347,489	699,877
	State-funded secondary	392,199	409,888	412,485	466,903	893,492
	Special	26,848	29,513	30,633	58,046	50,507
Number of severe absentees (50% or more missed)	Total	48,460	53,699	60,247	81,652	120,623
	State-funded primary	13,662	14,702	15,565	28,314	25,155
	State-funded secondary	31,001	34,614	39,823	46,717	88,188
	Special	3,797	4,383	4,859	6,621	7,280
Percentage of persistent absentees (10% or more missed)	Total	10.8%	11.2%	10.9%	12.1%	22.5%
	State-funded primary	8.3%	8.7%	8.2%	8.8%	17.7%
	State-funded secondary	13.5%	13.9%	13.7%	14.8%	27.7%
	Special	28.5%	29.6%	28.8%	48.9%	40.4%
Percentage of severe absentees (50% or more missed)	Total	0.7%	0.8%	0.8%	1.1%	1.7%
	State-funded primary	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%	0.7%	0.6%
	State-funded secondary	1.1%	1.2%	1.3%	1.5%	2.7%
	Special	4.0%	4.4%	4.6%	5.6%	5.8%

Total includes state-funded primary, secondary and special schools. Data for special schools is available from 2016/17 to present.
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.

Source: Pupil absence in schools in England, Absence rates by geographic level

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