Autumn and spring term 2023/24

Pupil absence in schools in England

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Introduction

This accredited official statistics release looks at pupil absence in the autumn and spring terms in 2023/24, 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 unlike the daily data.

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 by 31 January 2025 - email us to provide feedback (opens in a new tab).

Related information

Releases in this series

View releases (31) for Pupil absence in schools in England

Methodologies

Headline facts and figures - 2023/24

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Overall absence

The overall 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 rates decreased compared to the previous autumn and spring terms

6.9% of possible sessions were recorded as absence in autumn and spring 2023/24 combined, a decrease from 7.3% in autumn and spring 2022/23. Comparatively, in the years leading up to the pandemic overall absence rates were below 5%. 

The rate of absence due to illness reduced to 4.7% in autumn and spring 2023/24 from 5.1% in the same period in 2022/23, leading to an overall reduction in the authorised absence rate. The unauthorised absence rate remained the same as the previous year at 2.2%. However, there were differences across school types with small increases in unauthorised absence in secondary and special schools.

Absence decreased across all school types

Between autumn and spring 2022/23 and autumn and spring 2023/24, overall absence:

  • decreased in primary schools from 6.0% to 5.4% 
  • decreased in secondary schools from 8.7% to 8.5%
  • decreased in special schools from 13.2% to 13.0%

Illness accounts for over half of all absence

Absence due to illness decreased from 4.1% of possible sessions in autumn and spring 2022/23 to 3.6% in autumn and spring 2023/24 but continued to account for over half of all absence. The rate of absence due to illness remained higher than pre-pandemic levels, in autumn and spring 2018/19 this was 2.6%. 

Overall absence has increased from autumn 2023/24 to spring 2023/24

The overall absence rate has increased from 6.7% in autumn 2023/24 to 7.2% in spring 2023/24, with increases across all school types.

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).

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Persistent 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. 

10% of sessions translates to around 7 days of absence across the term.

Persistent absence has decreased compared to autumn and spring 2022/23

The rate of persistently absent pupils decreased from 21.2% in autumn and spring 2022/23 to 19.2% in autumn and spring 2023/34. Before the pandemic, in 2018/19, the persistent absence rate was 10.5%.   

This equates to 1.42 million persistently absent pupils in autumn and spring 2023/24, a decrease from 1.56 million in autumn and spring 2022/23.

Severe absence has increased compared to autumn and spring 2022/23

2.1% of pupils were severely absent (missed 50% or more sessions) in autumn and spring 2023/24, an increase from 1.9% in the same terms in 2022/23. This equates to 158,000 pupils who were severely absent, increased from 139,000.

Persistent absence rates have decreased and severe absence rates have increased compared to autumn and spring 2022/23, across all school types

Between autumn and spring 2022/23 and autumn and spring 2023/24, the rate of persistent absentees: 

  • in primary schools decreased from 17.3% to 14.7% 
  • in secondary schools decreased from 25.2% to 23.9%
  • in special schools decreased from 39.1% to 36.8%

Between autumn and spring 2022/23 and autumn and spring 2023/24, the rate of pupils with severe absence:

  • in primary schools increased from 0.7% to 0.8%
  • in secondary schools increased from 3.1% to 3.5%
  • in special schools increased from 6.1% to 6.4%

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

The persistent absence rate increased between autumn and spring 2023/24

The persistent absence rate increased from 19.4% in autumn 2023/24 to 21.5% in spring 2023/24.

The spring 2023/24 persistent absence rate was higher than the previous spring term (20.6%). The pattern of increased persistent absence rates between autumn and spring terms was seen across all school types.

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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 40.7% of possible sessions in autumn and spring 2022/23 to 41.6% in autumn and spring 2023/24. This was driven by increases in both authorised and unauthorised absence rates.

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Geographical variations

Overall absence rates varied by region, from 6.1% in London to 7.6% in the North East.

Persistent absence also varied by region, from 17.2% in London to 21.6% in the North East.

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Pupil characteristics

Absence rates continued to be higher for free school meal eligible pupils and pupils with special educational needs

The table below shows absence rates broken down by sex, free school meal eligibility (FSM), special educational need provision (SEN) and national curriculum year group. For context, the overall absence rate for autumn and spring 2023/24 was 6.9% and the persistent absence rate was 19.2%. In line with overall reductions in absence from the previous year, rates for most individual groups also decreased when compared to autumn and spring 2022/23.

Data where sex, FSM status, SEN, year group and ethnicity are unclassified/unknown are not presented in the tables due to very low numbers, which lead to volatile rates.

Free school meals (FSM) - The overall absence rate for FSM eligible pupils was almost twice that for non FSM eligible pupils, 10.6% compared to 5.6%. Persistent absence rates were more than double, 33.0% for FSM eligible pupils and 13.8% for non FSM eligible pupils.

Special educational needs (SEN) - The overall rate of absence for pupils who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan was 12.5%, which is higher than for those with SEN support at 10.0%, and more than twice that for pupils with no identified SEN at 6.1%. Similarly for persistent absence the rate was 34.8% for pupils with an EHC plan, 28.9% for pupils with SEN support and 16.2% for pupils with no identified SEN.

Sex - The overall absence rates for females and males were the same at 6.9% and the persistent absence rates differed by a very small amount at 19.2% for females and 19.3% for males.

Year group - Typically absence rates increase as year group increases. The highest absence rates were in national curriculum year groups 10 and 11 (excluding pupils outside the normal year group structure) at 9.8% and 10.0%, compared to 6.9% for all pupils. Persistent absence ranged from 13.5% in year 3, to 27.3% in year 10. The biggest decrease in absence from autumn and spring 2022/23 was in year 1 and below, overall absence decreased from 6.8% to 5.8% and persistent absence decreased from 21.1% to 16.2%. 

The trends are generally consistent with previous years.

Ethnicity

Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma pupils had the highest overall absence rates at 21.0% and 16.9% in autumn and spring term 2023/24.  Chinese and Black African pupils had the lowest rates at 3.3% and 3.8%, respectively. This follows similar trends to previous years. Similar patterns are shown in persistent absence rates. 

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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.

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Help and support

Methodology

Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.

Accredited official statistics

These accredited official statistics have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Accreditation signifies their compliance with the authority's Code of Practice for Statistics which broadly means these statistics are:

  • managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
  • meet identified user needs
  • produced according to sound methods
  • well explained and readily accessible

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

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

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