Access the Pupil attendance and absence in schools in England: data dashboard (opens in a new tab) here
Data for Autumn term 2024/25 relates to the period from 09 September and 21 December 2024.
The overall absence rate for the autumn term was 6.5% and the persistent absence rate (pupils who miss 10% or more of their possible sessions) was 19.2%.
Absence in the week commencing 21 October 2024, the week immediately prior to half term for most schools, was 7.0%, rising from 4.7% at the beginning of the term. Following half-term, absence fell to 6.0% in the week commencing 04 November 2024 then peaked at 9.4% in the week commencing 16 December 2024, the final week of the autumn term. The increase in absence between half-term and the end of the autumn term is also in line with patterns seen during 2023/24.
Changes in absence during the autumn term have mainly been driven by illness absence, which was 4.9% in the week commencing 11 December, up from the start of term when it was 1.9%.
Unauthorised absence was fairly stable at around 2.0% across the autumn term, with peaks in the week immediately prior to half term when it was 2.4% and in the final week of term when it was 3.2%.
Free school meals (FSM)
The overall absence rate for pupils who are eligible for free school meals was 10.0% in the Autumn term. This compares to 5.2% for pupils who were not eligible for free school meals.
31.7% of pupils who were eligible for free school meals were persistently absent in the Autumn term, compared to 14.4% of pupils who were not eligible.
Special educational needs (SEN)
The overall absence rate for pupils with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan was 13.1% in the Autumn term. This compares to 10.1% for pupils with SEN support and 5.7% with no identified SEN.
35.1.% of pupils with an EHC plan were persistently absent in the Autumn term, compared to 29.0% for pupils with SEN support and 17.0% for pupils with no identified SEN.
Sex
The overall absence rate during the Autumn term was 6.6% for female pupils and 6.5% for male pupils.
The persistent absence rate during the Autumn term was 19.2% for female pupils and 19.1% for male pupils.
Users should be aware of the following:
- Response rate - Of schools participating in the School Census, 99% provided information on the latest full day of data (07 February 2025). Therefore national figures are estimates. Across school types this was: 99% of state-funded primary schools, 98% of state-funded secondary schools and 97% of state-funded special schools. The response rate may vary at certain points of the year due to different term dates. It also became mandatory for schools to share attendance data with the DfE from the start of the 2024/25 academic year, meaning the number of schools reporting may change over time.
- Estimates for non-response - In recognition that response rates are not equal across school types and, therefore, not representative of the total school population, the total rates for all schools have been weighted based on the Spring 2024 school census.
- Reporting lag - Schools update their registers continually and attendance codes change, resulting in absence rates for particular days to decrease over time. Analysis of data from the Summer 2022 term suggests that the absence rate could decrease around 1 percentage point before settling down. Historical figures from week 37 onwards will be recalculated in each publication.
From the start of the 2024/25 academic year, it became mandatory for schools to share attendance data (opens in a new tab) with the DfE. If you are a school that is not already sharing your daily attendance data, you need to approve this in your Wonde portal. This will also give you, your local authority and your multi-academy trust (if applicable) access to daily attendance reports (opens in a new tab) to help identify pupils needing attendance support earlier.