Autumn term 2023/24

Pupil absence in schools in England

This is the latest data

• Published: 16 May 2024
• Last updated: 8 August 2024
  See all updates (1)

  1. 8 August 2024

     Additional section and underlying data added presenting absence rates by pupil characteristics including FSM, SEN, year group, gender, ethnicity and language.

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• Produced by: Department for Education

This National Statistics release looks at pupil absence in the Autumn term 2023/24, including by reason and school types, derived from the school census.

Experimental official statistics 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 National 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.

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Headline facts and figures - 2023/24

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Overall absence

The 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 term

6.7% of possible sessions were recorded as absence in Autumn term 2023/24, a decrease from 7.5% in Autumn 2022/23. Pre-pandemic overall absence rates were consistently below 5%. 

Authorised absence decreased, while unauthorised absence increased

Authorised absence has decreased from 5.4% in Autumn 2022/23 to 4.5% in Autumn 2023/24. Unauthorised absence has increased slightly, from 2.1% to 2.2% over the same period.

Absence decreased across all school types

Overall absence:

• decreased in primary schools from 6.3% in Autumn 2022/23 to 5.3% in Autumn 2023/24
• decreased in secondary schools from 8.8% to 8.1%
• decreased in special schools from 13.4% to 12.7%

Each of these school types had a decrease in authorised absence and an increase in unauthorised absence.

The most common reason for absence was illness

The majority of absence was due to illness, which accounted for 3.5% of possible sessions. This was a reduction from 4.5% in Autumn term 2022/23, but higher than the pre-pandemic long-term trend of below 3%.

Most other reasons show similar absence rates to the previous autumn term.

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 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.

The rate of persistent absence has decreased

The number of persistently absent pupils decreased from 1.7 million in Autumn 2022/23 to 1.4 million in Autumn 2023/24.

This equates to 19.4% of pupils who were persistently absent in Autumn 2023/24; a decrease from 24.2% in Autumn 2022/23. Before the pandemic, in 2018/19, the persistent absence rate was 10.9%   

Illness is a major component of persistent absence with 7.8% of all pupils missing 10% or more sessions due to illness alone.

The rate of severe absence has increased

2.0% of pupil enrolments were severely absent in Autumn 2023/24, an increase from 1.7% in Autumn 2022/23. This equates to 142,000 pupil enrolments who were severely absent, increased from 125,000.

Persistent absence rates have decreased, and severe absence rates have increased, across all school types

The decrease in the rate of persistent absentees was seen in all school types: 

• in primary schools, a decrease from 20.9% in Autumn 2022/23 to 15.4% in Autumn 2023/24
• in secondary schools, a decrease from 27.4% to 23.4%
• in special schools, a decrease from 40.9% to 36.2%

The rate of pupils with severe absence increased in all school types:

• in primary schools an increase from 0.7% in Autumn 2022/23 to 0.8% in Autumn 2023/24
• in secondary schools an increase from 2.8% to 3.1%
• in special schools an increase from 5.8% to 6.2%

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

Absence in state-funded alternative provision

Absence in state-funded alternative provision has increased

The overall absence rate in state-funded alternative provision (including pupil referral units) has increased from 39.8% in Autumn 2022/23 to 40.7% in Autumn 2023/24. Authorised absence has decreased slightly during this period from 22.2% to 22.1%, while unauthorised absence has increased from 17.7% to 18.6%.

Geographical variations

Absence rates vary across regions

Overall absence varies from 5.9% in London to 7.5% in the North East.

Persistent absence varies from 17.3% in London to 22.9% in the North East.

The map below displays absence rates by local authority.

Pupil characteristics

Absence rates continue to be higher for FSM 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 2023/24 was 6.7% and the persistent absence rate was 19.4%. In line with overall reductions in absence from the previous year, rates for most individual groups also decreased when compared to Autumn 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.

Sex - The overall absence rates for females and males were the same at 6.7% and the persistent absence rates differed by a very small amount at 19.4% for females and 19.5% for males.

Free school meals (FSM) - The overall absence rate for FSM eligible pupils is almost twice that for non FSM eligible pupils, 10.2% compared to 5.4%. The trend is similar in persistent absence rates with 32.1% for FSM eligible pupils and 14.5% 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 is 12.3%, which is higher than for those with SEN support at 9.6%, and more than twice that for pupils with no identified SEN at 5.8%. Similarly for persistent absence the rate was 34.1% for pupils with an EHC plan, 28.2% for pupils with SEN support and 16.6% for pupils with no identified SEN.

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 9.5% and 9.6%, compared to 6.7% for all pupils. Persistent absence ranged from 14.2% in year 3, to 26.3% in year 11. The biggest decrease in absence from Autumn 2022/23 was in year 1 and below, overall absence decreased from 7.3% to 5.7% and persistent absence decreased from 25.4% to 17.2%. 

The trends are generally consistent with previous years.

Ethnicity

Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy Roma pupils had the highest overall absence rates at 20.9% and 16.8% in Autumn 2023/24.  Chinese and Black African pupils had the lowest rates at 2.9% and 3.7%. This follows similar trends to previous years. Similar patterns are shown in persistent absence rates. 

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 national statistics releases.

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Methodology

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• Pupil absence statistics: methodology

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