Children missing education are at significant risk of underachieving, being victims of harm, exploitation or radicalisation, and becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) later in life. Local authorities have a legal duty to make arrangements to identify, as far as it is possible to do so, the identities of children in their area who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education.
The number of CME decreased compared to previous autumn term
Local authorities reported 34,700 children missing education on census day in autumn 2025. This is a decrease of 4,500 compared to autumn 2024. (The proportion of local authorities providing data reached 100% for the first time in autumn 2024, previous term estimates include adjustments made for non-response.)
The rate of CME was 0.4% of the population of comparable ages (based on ONS mid-year population estimates (opens in new tab) for children aged 5 to 16 years).
As this is a relatively new data collection, which first started in autumn 2022 and became mandatory in autumn 2024, changes over time are likely to be in part due to improvements in data quality and recording practices, for example use of more consistent working definitions, enhanced tracking processes and improved familiarity with the collection. For further information on data quality please see the methodology.
The length of time children are missing education varies
Of those children that were CME on census day in autumn 2025, 50% had been missing education for 12 weeks or less and 42% of CME had been missing education for more than 12 weeks. The length of time the remaining 8% had been CME was unknown. This is consistent with the previous autumn term.
‘School application awaiting outcome’ was the most reported reason for CME
The primary reasons known or provided for CME continued to be largely similar to previous autumn terms. The top two most reported reasons for CME were ‘school application awaiting outcome’ (includes awaiting outcome on admissions appeal), accounting for 13% of children, and ‘believed to have moved out of the country’, accounting for 10% of children. ‘Unsuitable elective home education’ continued to increase, becoming the third most reported reason at 9%.
Over 1 in 5 reasons for CME (22%) remain unknown or not recorded.
Five new primary reasons for CME were introduced from autumn 2025 and appear in the table below, a low proportion of local authorities were able to report against the new reasons in this introductory term.
Primary reason | 2023/24 Autumn term | 2024/25 Autumn term | 2025/26 Autumn term |
|---|---|---|---|
| School application awaiting outcome | 8% | 10% | 13% |
| Believed to have moved to another country | 11% | 13% | 10% |
| Unsuitable elective home education | 6% | 7% | 9% |
| Believed to have moved to another local authority | 9% | 8% | 8% |
| Moved in from another local authority | 7% | 7% | 8% |
| Waiting school start | 5% | 7% | 5% |
| Did not get school preference | 3% | 4% | 3% |
| Offered school place but not yet accepted | z | z | 3% |
| Moved in from another country | 3% | 3% | 2% |
| Difficulty accessing suitable school place | 2% | 3% | 3% |
| Challenging School Attendance Order | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Did not apply for a school place at compulsory school age | z | z | low |
| Mental health | z | z | low |
| Parental decision not to register at school | z | z | low |
| Physical health | z | z | low |
| School dissatisfaction general | 1% | low | low |
| School dissatisfaction SEND | low | low | low |
| School dissatisfaction bullying | low | low | z |
| Other | 10% | 14% | 13% |
| Not recorded | 20% | 12% | 7% |
| Unknown | 14% | 10% | 15% |
Footnotes:
- Local authority response rates to the data collection vary by census date. To account for non-response, where required national and regional figures have been uprated based on local authority pupil populations.
- CME counts will vary depending on the population within the local authority, which may change over time. Increased identification of CME may also result from improved recording and support practices within local authorities. High or low counts of CME do not necessarily reflect ‘good’ or ‘bad’ practice.
- A figure that rounds to 0, but is not 0 is denoted by 'low'.
- Primary reason ‘other’ includes instances where local authority systems record two or more of the data collection reasons in a single category, for example mental and physical health.
Source: EHE and CME census
CME by characteristic
The proportion of children missing education varies by characteristics. The figures below relate to autumn 2025 but trends remain similar to previous years.
Sex
45% of CME were reported as female and 53% of CME were reported as male (the rest were unknown). This compares to 49% of the overall school population as female and 51% male as at January 2025.
Year group
The number of CME in primary year groups was less than in secondary with 6-7% of CME in each of the year groups 1 to 6 and 10-13% in each of the year groups 7 to 11.
Ethnicity
36% of CME were of White ethnicity, 4% were of Mixed ethnicity, 7% were of Asian ethnicity, 4% were of Black ethnicity and 4% of other ethnicity. The remaining 45% had refused to provide their ethnicity or were unknown. This compares to the overall school population of 68% White ethnicity, 7% Mixed ethnicity, 14% Asian ethnicity, 6% Black ethnicity and 3% other ethnicity, with 2% unclassified.
Special educational needs (SEN)*
8% of CME had an additional requirement of SEN support and 8% of CME had an education, health and care plan (increased from 6% with SEN and 7% with an EHC plan the previous autumn). This compares with 14% and 5%, respectively, for the overall school population.
Children in need*
3% of CME were recorded as a child in need, 1% were recorded as having a child protection plan and 1% were a looked after child. This compares with 3% children in need, 0.4% having a child protection plan and 0.7% looked after children amongst the overall child population.
*SEN provision and Child in need status are as known to the local authority as at the census day and therefore may exclude children who previously held these additional requirements and those for whom these requirements were not known.
The following characteristic was collected for the first time in autumn 2025 and may be under-reported in this first collection.
English as an additional language
18% of CME had a first language other than English. This compares to 21% of the school population.
CME by local authority
The number and rate of children missing education varies across local authorities. Counts will vary depending on the local population, which may change over time; for example significant migration may lead to higher numbers of CME at the start of a school year as parents await their preferred school place. Increased identification of CME may also result from improved recording and support practices within local authorities. High or low counts do not necessarily reflect ‘good’ or ‘bad’ practice.