Access the Pupil attendance and absence in schools in England: data dashboard (opens in a new tab) here.
Data for the academic year 2024/25 relates to the period from 09 September 2024 to 18 July 2025. Data from across the year to date is available in the pupil attendance dashboard (opens in a new tab) and the data catalogue on this page (see “Explore data and files”).
Across the 2024/25 academic year, overall absence was 6.9% which is a 0.3 percentage point decrease compared to last academic year. This decrease in absence is equivalent to approximately 5.31 million more days in school compared to the 2023/24 academic year, assuming pupil numbers are equal across years. For further information on how these new estimates are calculated, see the 'Calculating days in school' section of the Pupil attendance in schools methodology.
The rate of persistent absence (pupils who miss 10% or more of their possible sessions) for the 2024/25 academic year was 18.7%. In the autumn term the rate of persistent absence was 19.1% which increased to 20.2% in the spring term and to 21.9% in the summer term.
Overall absence
Following the start of the academic year, absence gradually grew from 4.7% to 7.0% in the weeks before half term. Absence then fell to 5.9% in the week commencing 11 November 2024 before steadily increasing across the second half term to 7.8% in the week before half term and finally peaking at 9.4% in the final week of the autumn term.
Absence fell in the first week of the spring term to 6.8%, and further in the second week to 6.4%. Following this, absence increased across the first half of the spring term to a peak of 7.6% in the week before half-term. Absence decreased to 6.2% following the spring half-term and remained around 6.5% in the weeks following, before rising to a yearly high of 9.6% in the final week of the spring term. This peak coincided with Eid al-Fitr celebrations where there were higher levels of authorised absence due to religious observances.
Following the Easter holiday, absence fell to 6.4% and remained around 6.5% for the majority of the half-term before increasing to 8.4% in the week before half-term. Absence further increased to 9.1% in the week following half-term, which marked Eid al-Adha celebrations. Absence decreased to 6.5% in the following week before steadily increasing across the second half term, peaking at 9.1% in the final week of the academic year.
Illness absence
Illness absence accounted for the largest proportion of authorised absence across the academic year. Illness absence increased across the autumn term, from the lowest rate of the academic year of 1.9% in the first week of autumn term, to the highest of the academic year of 4.9% in the final week of the autumn term. Illness absence dropped to 3.0% in the first week of the spring term but then increased to around 4.0% for the rest of the half-term. Illness absence fell at the start of the second spring half-term to 3.0% and remained lower across this half term at around 3.3% before peaking at 3.5% in the final week of spring term. Across the summer term, illness absence was between 2.4% - 2.9%, apart from peaks in the week before half term of 3.3% and in the final week of the academic year of 3.2%.
Unauthorised absence
Unauthorised absence was fairly stable around 2.0% across the autumn term, with peaks in the week immediately prior to half term of 2.4% and in the final week of term of 3.2%. Unauthorised absence remained high in the first week of the spring term at 2.6% before falling to 2.0% in the following week. Unauthorised absence remained around 2.0% for the majority of the spring term, apart from peaks of 2.4% in the week before half term and 3.1% in the final week of spring term. Compared to the other terms, unauthorised absence was generally higher across the summer term with rates varying between 2.2% - 3.1% across the term with peaks of 3.1% in the week before half term and 4.4% in the final week of the academic year.
Free school meals (FSM)
The overall absence rate for pupils who are eligible for free school meals was 10.6% in the 2024/25 academic year. This compares to 5.4% for those pupils who were not eligible for free school meals.
33.0% of pupils who were eligible for free school meals were persistently absent in the 2024/25 academic year, compared to 13.4% of pupils who were not eligible.
These rates have decreased compared to 2023/24 equivalent statistics.
Special educational needs (SEN)
The overall absence rate for pupils with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan was 13.7% in the 2024/25 academic year. This compares to 10.6% for pupils with SEN support and 6.0% with no identified SEN.
36.9% of pupils with an EHC plan were persistently absent in the 2024/25 academic year, compared to 29.9% for pupils with SEN support and 16.5% for pupils with no identified SEN.
Overall absence rates for pupils with an EHC plan have increased, whereas the rate has decreased for pupils with SEN support and no identified SEN and rates of persistent absence in all groups have decreased compared to 2023/24 equivalent statistics.
Sex
The overall absence rate during the 2024/25 academic year was 6.9% for female pupils and 6.8% for male pupils. The persistent absence rate was 19.0% for female pupils and 18.4% for male pupils.
These rates have decreased compared to 2023/24 equivalent statistics.
Users should be aware of the following:
- Response rate - Of schools participating in the School Census, 96% provided information on the latest full day of data (18 July 2025). Therefore national figures are estimates. Across school types this was: 97% of state-funded primary schools, 95% of state-funded secondary schools and 96% 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.