Autumn and spring term 2022/23

Pupil absence in schools in England

Pupil absence, including overall, authorised and unauthorised absence and persistent absence by reason and pupil characteristics for the full academic year.

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  • Absence rates by geographic level - autumn and spring term combined

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Absence information for all enrolments in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools including information on overall absence, persistent absence and reason for absence for pupils aged 5-15.

    Number of rows
    4,855
    Indicators
    • Authorised absence rate
    • Authorised holiday rate
    • Authorised other rate
    Filters
    • School type
    Time period
    2016/17 Autumn and spring term to 2022/23 Autumn and spring term
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  • Absence rates by geographic level - school level - autumn and spring term combined

    School

    Absence information for all enrolments in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools including information on overall absence, persistent absence and reason for absence for pupils aged 5-15. Includes school level data.

    Number of rows
    127,291
    Indicators
    • Authorised absence rate
    • Authorised holiday rate
    • Authorised other rate
    Filters
    • School type
    Time period
    2016/17 Autumn and spring term to 2022/23 Autumn and spring term
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  • Absence rates by geographic level - termly

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Termly absence information for all enrolments in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools including information on overall absence, persistent absence and reason for absence for pupils aged 5-15.

    Number of rows
    7,752
    Indicators
    • Authorised absence rate
    • Authorised holiday rate
    • Authorised other rate
    Filters
    • School type
    Time period
    2018/19 Autumn term to 2022/23 Spring term
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  • Absence rates by geographic level - full academic years

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Absence information for full academic years for all enrolments in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools including information on overall absence, persistent absence and reason for absence for pupils aged 5-15.

    Number of rows
    9,690
    Indicators
    • Authorised absence rate
    • Authorised absence rate (persistent absentees only)
    • Authorised holiday rate
    Filters
    • School type
    Time period
    2006/07 to 2021/22
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  • Absence rates by geographic level - school level - full academic years

    School

    Absence information for full academic years for all enrolments in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools including information on overall absence, persistent absence and reason for absence for pupils aged 5-15. Includes school level data.

    Number of rows
    169,736
    Indicators
    • Authorised absence rate
    • Authorised absence rate (persistent absentees only)
    • Authorised holiday rate
    Filters
    • School type
    Time period
    2013/14 to 2021/22
    Data set information page for Absence rates by geographic level - school level - full academic years
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  • Absence rates by pupil characteristic - autumn and spring term combined

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Absence information by characteristics for all enrolments in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools including information on overall absence, persistent absence and reason for absence for pupils aged 5-15. Characteristics included are gender, year group, free school meal eligibility, SEN provision, SEN type of need, ethnicity and language.

    Number of rows
    194,384
    Indicators
    • Authorised absence rate
    • Authorised absence rate exact
    • Number of authorised absence sessions
    Filters
    • Characteristic
    • School type
    Time period
    2016/17 Autumn and spring term to 2022/23 Autumn and spring term
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  • Absence rates by pupil characteristic - full academic years

    Local authority, National, Regional

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

    Number of rows
    174,468
    Indicators
    • Authorised absence rate
    • Authorised absence rate exact
    • Number of authorised absence sessions
    Filters
    • Characteristic
    • School type
    Time period
    2017/18 to 2021/22
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  • Absence rates by pupil characteristic - termly

    National

    Termly absence information by characteristics for all enrolments in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools including information on overall absence, persistent absence and reason for absence for pupils aged 5-15. Characteristics included are gender, year group, free school meal eligibility, SEN provision, SEN type of need, ethnicity and language.

    Number of rows
    1,288
    Indicators
    • Authorised absence rate
    • Authorised absence rate exact
    • Number of authorised absence sessions
    Filters
    • Characteristic
    • School type
    Time period
    2020/21 Autumn term to 2022/23 Spring term
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  • Absence rates in state-funded alternative provision - autumn and spring term combined

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Absence information for state-funded alternative provision (including pupil referral units, alternative provision academies and free schools).

    Number of rows
    1,373
    Indicators
    • Authorised absence rate
    • Number of authorised absence sessions
    • Number of authorised holiday sessions
    Time period
    2013/14 Autumn and spring term to 2022/23 Autumn and spring term
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  • Absence rates in state-funded alternative provision - full academic years

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Absence rates for state-funded alternative provision (includes pupil referral units, alternative provision academies and alternative provision free schools

    Number of rows
    1,222
    Indicators
    • Authorised absence rate
    • Number of authorised absence sessions
    • Number of authorised holiday sessions
    Time period
    2013/14 to 2021/22
    Data set information page for Absence rates in state-funded alternative provision - full academic years
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  • Absence rates as a percentage of possible sessions by band - autumn and spring term combined

    National

    The number of pupil enrolments by their absence in the term as a percentage of possible sessions. Covers overall absence, authorised absence and unauthorised absence. Data by one percent bands.

    Number of rows
    2,448
    Indicators
    • Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into that per cent band for authorised absence
    • Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into that per cent band for illness absence
    • Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into that per cent band for non-attendance due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
    Filters
    • Absence percentage band
    • School type
    Time period
    2016/17 Autumn and spring term to 2022/23 Autumn and spring term
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  • Absence rates as a percentage of possible sessions by band - full academic years

    National

    The number of pupil enrolments by overall, authorised and unauthorised absence percentage point bands.

    Number of rows
    3,264
    Indicators
    • Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into that per cent band for authorised absence
    • Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into that per cent band for illness absence
    • Number of all pupil enrolments that fall into that per cent band for non-attendance due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
    Filters
    • Absence percentage band
    • School type
    Time period
    2013/14 to 2021/22
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  • Absence rates for four year olds - autumn and spring term combined

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Overall absence for all enrolments in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools for pupils aged 4.

    Number of rows
    3,478
    Indicators
    • Number of overall absence sessions
    • Number of pupil enrolments
    • Number of schools
    Filters
    • School type
    Time period
    2016/17 Autumn and spring term to 2022/23 Autumn and spring term
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  • Absence rates for four year olds - school level - autumn and spring term combined

    School

    Overall absence for all enrolments in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools for pupils aged 4.  Includes school level data.

    Number of rows
    98,566
    Indicators
    • Number of overall absence sessions
    • Number of pupil enrolments
    • Number of schools
    Filters
    • School type
    Time period
    2016/17 Autumn and spring term to 2022/23 Autumn and spring term
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  • Enrolments with one or more session of absence, including by reason for absence - autumn and spring term combined

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of enrolments with one or more session of absence, including by reason for absence.

    Number of rows
    3,878
    Indicators
    • Number of enrolments with at least one absence session due to agreed extended family holiday
    • Number of enrolments with at least one absence session due to agreed family holiday
    • Number of enrolments with at least one absence session due to arriving late
    Filters
    • School type
    Time period
    2016/17 Autumn and spring term to 2022/23 Autumn and spring term
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  • Enrolments with one or more session of absence, including by reason for absence - full academic years

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of enrolments with one or more session of absence, including by reason for absence.

    Number of rows
    5,819
    Indicators
    • Number of enrolments with at least one absence session due to agreed extended family holiday
    • Number of enrolments with at least one absence session due to agreed family holiday
    • Number of enrolments with at least one absence session due to arriving late
    Filters
    • School type
    Time period
    2012/13 to 2021/22
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  • Enrolments with one or more session of absence, including by reason for absence - school level - autumn and spring term combined

    School

    The number of enrolments with one or more session of absence, including by reason for absence. Includes school level data.

    Number of rows
    127,291
    Indicators
    • Number of enrolments with at least one absence session due to agreed extended family holiday
    • Number of enrolments with at least one absence session due to agreed family holiday
    • Number of enrolments with at least one absence session due to arriving late
    Filters
    • School type
    Time period
    2016/17 Autumn and spring term to 2022/23 Autumn and spring term
    Data set information page for Enrolments with one or more session of absence, including by reason for absence - school level - autumn and spring term combined
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  • Enrolments with one or more session of absence, including by reason for absence - school level - full academic years

    School

    The number of enrolments with one or more session of absence, including by reason for absence. Includes school level data.

    Number of rows
    169,736
    Indicators
    • Number of enrolments with at least one absence session due to agreed extended family holiday
    • Number of enrolments with at least one absence session due to agreed family holiday
    • Number of enrolments with at least one absence session due to arriving late
    Filters
    • School type
    Time period
    2013/14 to 2021/22
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Data guidance

Description of the data sets included in this release, including information on data sources, coverage, quality and any data conventions used.

Description

This document describes the data included in the ‘Pupil absence in schools in England’ National Statistics release’s underlying data files. This data is released under the terms of the Open Government License (opens in new tab) and is intended to meet at least 3 stars for Open Data (opens in new tab). The methodology should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality as well as explaining methodology used in producing the data.

Coverage

This release provides information on the levels of overall, authorised and unauthorised absence in:

  • state-funded primary schools
  • state-funded secondary schools
  • special schools

It includes information on:

  • reasons for absence
  • persistent absentees
  • separate absence information for state-funded alternative provision (including pupil referral units, alternative provision academies and free schools)

The information is based on pupil level absence data collected via the school census.

File formats and conventions

Rounding and Suppression

This dataset has not had suppression applied. Rates are presented to one decimal place in the report but are unrounded in the underlying data files

Conventions

The following convention is used throughout the underlying data. 

‘x’  Not available.

‘z’  Not applicable

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Pupil absence in schools in England statistics and data:

Attendance and exclusions statistics team

Email: schools.statistics@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Attendance and exclusions statistics team

Press office

If you have a media enquiry:

Telephone: 020 7783 8300

Public enquiries

If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:

Phone: 0370 000 2288

Opening times

Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm (closed on bank holidays)

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