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.
- Release type
- Produced by
- Department for Education
- Published
- Last updated
Background information
This accredited official statistics release covers pupil absence in the 2023/24 academic year, including by reason and school types, derived from the school census.
Official statistics in development produced from daily data submitted automatically by schools to the Department are available in the Pupil attendance in schools publication. Due to the timeliness of the data and that they are based on a subset of schools, those figures are estimates that we expect to change as registers are adjusted. They should be viewed as an early indicator for the data provided in later accredited official statistics releases.
This release is derived from the school census from which further analysis, such as school level absence rates and additional characteristics can be produced.
The Department for Education has been publishing information on pupil absence based on the school census since 2010. This is currently published termly and provides detailed information on persistent absence, geographical variations and pupil characteristics. Indicative figures on most data points are also published on a fortnightly basis in the pupil attendance in schools publication.
We are undertaking a review and welcome feedback from users on the frequency of this publication - email us to provide feedback.
Headline facts and figures
Overall absence rate
7.1%
2023/24 academic year - down from 7.4% in 2022/23
What is this?
Overall absence rate in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools, 2023/24
Percentage of persistent absentees (10% or more missed)
20.0%
2023/24 academic year - down from 21.2% in 2022/23
What is this ?
A pupil enrolment is identified as a persistent absentee if they miss 10% or more of their possible sessions.
Overall and persistent absence decreased from 2022/23 to 2023/24
- Across 2023/24, the overall absence rate was 7.1%, a reduction from 7.4% in 2022/23, but higher than pre-pandemic rates (4.7% in 2018/19).
- The overall absence rate varied across terms, increasing from; 6.7% in autumn, to 7.2% in spring and to 7.6% in summer.
- The majority of absence was due to illness, accounting for 3.5% of possible sessions in 2023/24.
- 20.0% of pupils were persistently absent in 2023/24 (i.e. missed 10% or more sessions), a decrease compared to the previous year when it was 21.2%. In 2018/19, 10.9% of pupils were persistently absent
Overall absence
Absence rate is the total number of sessions missed due to absence for all pupils as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions for all pupils. One session is equal to half a day.
Overall absence decreased compared to the previous academic year
The overall absence rate decreased from 7.4% in 2022/23 to 7.1% in 2023/24 . Across school phases, overall absence between 2022/23 and 2023/24:
- decreased in primary schools from 5.9% to 5.5%
- decreased in secondary schools from 9.0% to 8.9%
- remained stable in special schools at 13.0%
Authorised absence decreased, while unauthorised absence increased
Compared to the previous academic year, authorised absence decreased from 5.0% to 4.7%. This was consistent across all school types, with authorised absence dropping from:
- 4.2% to 3.9% in primary schools
- 5.6% to 5.4% in secondary schools
- 9.9% to 9.7% in special schools
In comparison, unauthorised absence in secondary schools increased from 3.4% to 3.5%, and in special schools from 3.2% to 3.3%. However, the rate remained stable at 1.6% in primary schools.
The most common reason for absence was illness
Although illness was the most common reason for absence in 2023/24, it decreased to 3.5% from 3.7% in the previous academic year.
Unauthorised other was the next highest reason for absence at 1.7%, followed by unauthorised holiday and authorised other which remained the same as the previous year at 0.5%.
Overall absence increased across terms in all school types
The overall absence rate increased across terms in 2023/24; from 6.7% in autumn, increasing to 7.2% in spring and to 7.6% in summer. This was consistent across all school types, with secondary schools experiencing the largest term-on-term increases.
Unauthorised absence also generally increased across terms for all school types, with the exception of primary schools, where it was slightly higher in the autumn term compared to the spring term, but highest in the summer term.
Authorised absence was highest during the spring term for both primary and special schools, with rates of 4.3% and 10.1%, respectively. In contrast, secondary schools experienced the highest rate of authorised absence in the summer term at 5.6%.
Comparisons across years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic should be treated with caution. During 2020/21 and 2021/22, not attending in circumstances related to coronavirus (COVID-19), marked as code X, has not been counted as an absence, but has been included as a possible session in the calculation of absence rates. This has included where pupils were self-isolating, shielding, and when a class or bubble has been required to stay at home. From April 2022, in line with our transition to living with COVID-19, schools were no longer advised to record pupils who did not attend for reasons related to COVID-19 using a separate code (Code X).
Persistent and severe absence
A pupil enrolment is identified as persistently absent if 10% or more of possible sessions are missed, and severely absent if 50% or more of possible sessions are missed.
The persistent absence rate decreased compared to the previous year
The number of persistently absent pupils has decreased from 1.57 million in 2022/23 to 1.49 million in 2023/24. This equates to 20.0% of pupils persistently absent in 2023/24, a reduction from 21.2% in the previous year.
Prior to the pandemic, in 2018/19 the persistent absence rate was 10.9%.
Decreases in persistent absence rates were seen across all school types compared to last year, with the largest decrease in primary schools where the rate dropped from 16.2% to 14.6%.
The severe absence rate increased compared to the previous year
2.3% of pupil enrolments were severely absent in 2023/24. This is an increase from 2.0% in the previous year and equates to 171,000 pupil enrolments. Increases in severe absence rates were seen across all school types compared to last year.
Please note: these pupils were recorded on the school census as being on the roll of a school, and had possible sessions recorded during the academic year. For information on the number of children who are not in education, please see: Children missing education
Persistent absence was highest in summer term 2023/24
In line with the increasing termly trend in overall absence in 2023/24, the persistent absence rate also increased term-on-term, from 19.4% in the autumn term to 21.5% in the spring term, and 23.0% in the summer term.
This termly increase was seen across primary and secondary schools, with persistent absence peaking in the summer term at 18.2% in primary schools and 28.2% in secondary schools.
Severe absence was highest in summer term 2023/24
The severe absence rate increased term-on-term, with the national rate peaking at 2.4% in the summer term.
Across school types, severe absence was also highest in the summer term, at 7.2% in special schools, 4.1% in secondary schools, and 0.9% in primary schools.
Further information on absence by severity of absence and year group is available in the pupil absence distributions in schools in England dashboard (opens in new tab). It can be filtered by pupil characteristics including SEN, sex and FSM, at national, regional and LA levels. Data is presented for state-funded primary, secondary and special schools between 2016/17 and 2023/24.
Absence in state-funded alternative provision
State-funded alternative provision (AP) includes pupil referral units, alternative provision academies and alternative provision free schools.
Absence in state-funded alternative provision continues to increase
Overall absence increased in state-funded AP increased from 41.7% in 2022/23 to 42.5% in 2023/24. This was driven by increases in both authorised and unauthorised absence rates.
Geographical variations
Absence rates varied by region in the academic year 2023/24. London had the lowest overall, persistent, and severe absence rates at 6.4%, 17.9% and 1.5%, respectively.
The North East had the highest overall and persistent absence rate at 7.8% and 22.1% respectively, and the South West had the highest severe absence rates at 2.8%.
Pupil characteristics
The following section looks at absence rates by pupil characteristics. For comparison, the overall absence rate for pupils across all schools was 7.1% in 2023/24, while the persistent absence rate was 20.0%.
Free school meals (FSM) eligibility
The overall absence rate for pupils who are eligible for free school meals was 11.0% in 2023/24, a slight decrease from 11.1% in the previous year. This compares to 5.8% for those pupils who were not eligible for free school meals, a decrease from 6.1% in the previous year.
Of pupils eligible for free school meals, 34.8% were persistently absent in 2023/24, a decrease from 36.5% in the previous year. This compares to 14.1% of pupils who were not eligible, which decreased from 15.6%.
Special educational needs (SEN)
The overall absence rate for pupils with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan was 12.6% in 2023/24, an increase from 12.3% in 2022/23. This compares to 10.2% for pupils with SEN support (same as the previous year) and 6.3% with no identified SEN (decrease from 6.6%).
While the overall absence rates have increased for those with EHC plans, persistent absence decreased from 36.0% to 35.5%. For pupils with SEN support, persistent absence decreased from 31.1% to 30.1% and, for pupils with no identified SEN, persistent absence decreased from 18.4% to 16.8%.
Year group
Generally, absence rates tend to increase as age increases. Both the highest overall and persistent absence rates were in year 11 at 10.6% and 29.2%, respectively.
In the primary phase, overall absence rates were lowest in year 3 and year 4 at 5.4%, and persistent absence was lowest in year 3 at 13.5%.
Ethnicity
In the academic year 2023/24, Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma pupils continued to have the highest overall absence rates at 22.1% and 17.6%, respectively. Chinese and Black African pupils had the lowest overall absence rates at 3.3% and 4.0%.
Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma pupils also had the highest persistent absence rates at 70.2% and 62.7%, respectively. This follows similar trends to previous years.
Sex
The overall absence rate was 7.1% for male pupils and 7.2% for female pupils in 2023/24, both representing decreases compared to the previous academic year.
Persistent absence was 19.8% for males and 20.1% for females, also both representing decreases compared to 2022/23.
Young carers
In 2023/24, the overall absence rate for pupils identified as young carers was 12.4%, an increase compared to the previous academic year when it was 12.3%. For pupils who had no young carer status declared, the overall absence rate was 7.1%, a decrease from the 7.3% in the previous academic year.
Of pupils identified as young carers, 37.7% were persistently absent in 2023/24. Of pupils with no young carer status declared, 19.8% were persistently absent in 2023/24.
Data on absence rates for young carers was available for the first time in 2022/23. As this is a new data collection, we expect the quality of the data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established. All schools (except nursery) must send this information as part of the Spring school census, but the recording and handling of the information is at the school’s discretion.
Further absence and attendance data sources
Pupil attendance in schools (official statistics in development)
Official statistics in development produced from daily data submitted automatically by schools to the Department are available in the Pupil attendance in schools publication. Due to the timeliness of the data and that they are based on a subset of schools, the figures are estimates that we expect to change as registers are adjusted. They should be viewed as an early indicator for the data provided in later accredited official statistics releases.
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.ukContact name: Attendance and exclusions statistics team
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