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Most of the statistics and data cover the absence of pupils aged 5 to 15 in state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools in England.
Separate data cover pupil referral units and 4 year old pupils.
The statistics and data are available at national, regional, local authority (LA) and school level and are used for policy development and as key indicators in school attendance policy.
The overall absence rate has decreased slightly across state-funded primary, secondary and special schools combined between 2017/18 and 2018/19 driven by an decrease in the authorised absence rate. Illness remains the main driver of absence rates.
The overall absence rate decreased in primary schools from 4.2% in 2017/18 to 4.0% in 2018/19. In secondary schools the rate remained steady at 5.5%. In special schools the overall rate decreased slightly from 10.2% to 10.1%
The authorised absence rate has declined from 3.5% in 2017/18 to 3.3% in 2018/19. This follows a period when the rate remained stable at 3.4% or 3.5% from 2013/14 to 2017/18.
The unauthorised absence rate has remained the same in 2017/18 and 2018/19 at 1.4%. This is the highest rate since consistent data became available in 2006/07.
The total number of days missed for overall absence across state-funded primary, secondary and special schools has increased from 59.1 million in 2017/18 to 59.6 million in 2018/19.
This reflects a rise in the total number of pupils. The average number of days missed per pupil enrolment has remained steady at 8.4 days in both 2017/18 and 2018/19.
92.1% of primary, secondary and special school pupil enrolments missed at least 1 session in 2017/18, this fell slightly to 91.6% in 2018/19. (A session is a morning or afternoon.)
The persistent absence rate decreased from 11.2% in 2017/18 to 10.9% in 2018/19.
The overall absence rate for persistent absentees was 19.1% in 2018/19. The rate for all pupils was 4.7%.
Persistently absent pupils accounted for 39.3% of all absence in 2018/19 (up from 38.5% in 2018/19).
Illness is the main driver of absence. Illness accounted for 54.7% of all absence in 2017/18, and 52.6% in 2018/19.
The illness absence rate has decreased from 2.6% of all possible sessions in 2017/18 to 2.5% in 2018/19.
The rate of authorised holiday absence has remained steady at 0.1% in both 2017/18 and 2018/19.
The rate of unauthorised holiday absence has also remained steady, at 0.4% in both 2017/18 and 2018/19.
The unauthorised holiday absence rate has increased gradually since 2006/07 (when it was 0.1%) but has remained at 0.4% since 2016/17 (when rounded to 1 decimal place). In contrast the authorised holiday absence rate dropped substantially between 2006/07 and 2013/14 and has remained steady at 0.1% since then.
The main statistics in this release relate to the period after the April 2017 Supreme Court judgement in the Isle of Wight Council v Jon Platt case. The Supreme Court unanimously agreed that no children should be taken out of school without good reason and clarified that 'regularly' attending means 'in accordance with the rules prescribed by the school'.
The absence rate due to other unauthorised circumstances has increased from 0.8% in 2017/18 to 0.9% in 2018/19.
Nearly half of all pupil enrolments (49.2%) were absent for 5 days or fewer across primary, secondary and special schools. 8.4% had no absence at all.
4.7% of pupil enrolments had more than 25 days of absence in 2018/19, these pupils accounted for 25.8% of sessions missed.
The average total absence per pupil enrolment was 7.3 days in primary schools, 9.5 days in secondary schools and 17.8 days in special schools. Across primary, secondary and special schools the average was 8.4 days of absence.
Summary figures by the various pupil characteristics are provided below and are all for 2018/19.
Overall absence rate:
Overall absence rate:
Persistent absence rate:
Overall absence rate:
Persistent absence rate:
Overall absence rate:
This trend is repeated for the persistent absence rate.
Overall absence rate:
Persistent absence rate:
The overall absence rate for 4 year old pupil enrolments decreased slightly from 5.2% to 5.1%.
Absence recorded for 4-year-olds is not treated as authorised or unauthorised and only reported as overall absence.
The overall absence rate remained steady at 35.3% in 2017/18 and 2018/19.
The persistent absence rate decreased from 76.1% in 2017/18 to 74.6% in 2018/19.
Overall absence and persistent absence rates vary across primary, secondary and special schools by region and local authority (LA).
The North East and Yorkshire and Humber regions had the highest rates of overall absence at 5.0%
The lowest rates were Outer London at 4.4% and Inner London at 4.5%.
The region with the highest persistent absence rate was the North East at 12.1% while Outer London had the lowest rate at 9.9%.
View methodology for Pupil absence in schools in England.
The United Kingdom Statistics Authority designated these statistics as National Statistics in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
Designation signifying their compliance with the authority's Code of Practice for Statistics which broadly means these statistics are:
Once designated as National Statistics it's a statutory requirement for statistics to follow and comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics to be observed.
Find out more about the standards we follow to produce these statistics through our Standards for official statistics published by DfE guidance.
If you have a specific enquiry about Pupil absence in schools in England statistics and data:
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schools.statistics@education.gov.uk
Telephone: Sean Gibson
0370 000 2288
If you have a media enquiry:
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020 7783 8300
If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:
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