Methodology

Children missing education

• Published: 29 February 2024
• Last updated: 29 February 2024
  See all notes (1)

  1. 29 February 2024

     Updating for 2023/24 to include latest return rates and new data items collected. Adding information on data processing and data availability, and rounding.

Definition - Children missing education

This publication provides data reported by local authorities on children missing education (CME) in England. 

As defined in the Section 436A of the Education Act 1996, CME are children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school.  

This includes children who are awaiting a school place and children in receipt of unsuitable education, including those children local authorities are supporting to place into suitable education.  

An elective home educated (EHE) child whose education is deemed unsuitable should be classified as CME. A separate release has been published relating to EHE. 

Children who are on the roll of a school but persistently or severely absent are recorded in the school census. Information on these children can be found in Pupil absence in schools.

Data collection

Data presented in this publication has been collected through the Elective Home Education and Children Missing Education data collections. 

Full guidance provided to local authorities, including census dates and data item definitions can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/elective-home-education-and-children-missing-education-submit-your-data

Data was collected from local authorities on a voluntary basis for the first time in Autumn 2022. Length of time child was missing education at census date and primary reason for CME were added to the data collection in Autumn 2023/24.

Data quality

Local authorities have a duty under section 436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to establish the identities of children in their area who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise. Discussions with local authorities suggest that the data is an accurate reflection of the number children they have identified but there is some variation in practice, including around when a child should be recorded as CME. This means that whilst the data is an accurate reflection of the number of CME on record within local authorities, it may not represent a consistently defined estimate of all CME across the country.  

The following considerations should be noted when using this data: 

• Data was received from 94% of local authorities in the 2023/24 Autumn term, return rates for the previous academic year varied between 90% and 96%. To account for non-response, national figures have been uprated based on local authority pupil populations.  
• Response rates varied across data items; this includes where more detailed breakdowns are not readily available.
• Length of time child was missing education at census date and primary reason for CME were added to the data collection in Autumn 2023/24.
• As part of the ongoing data quality assurance process, DfE has carried out detailed discussions with local authorities to understand trends in the data. We have learnt that there are three broad reasons driving variation in CME figures between local authorities: 
  • LA characteristics and circumstances. For example, some local authorities recorded high levels of CME due to families arriving from Ukraine and Afghanistan, and their children applying for school places. 
  • Varying CME identification and support practices. For example, some local authorities never close a CME case unless it is confirmed a child is enrolled at school, whereas others close a case once the child has been identified in another local authority or country.  
  • Different working definitions of CME. For example, local authorities report variation in the point at which an EHE child receiving unsuitable education is classified as CME and whether their CME figures include children awaiting a school place and/or children on a school roll for whom CME enquiries are being carried out. 

CME counts will vary depending on the population within the local authority, which may change over time, for example there can be higher numbers of CME at the start of a school year as parents await their preferred school place. Increased identification of CME may also result from improved recording and support practices within local authorities. High or low counts do not necessarily reflect ‘good’ or ‘bad’ practice.  

As this is a new data collection since 2022/23, we expect the quality of the data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established. For example, reductions in the number of unknown values for detailed breakdowns and increased response rates. 

Data processing

Uprating

To account for non-response, national figures have been uprated based on local authority pupil populations of year groups R to 11.

Rate of CME

The rates of CME are calculated using ONS mid-year population estimates for children aged 5 to 16 years in England as the denominator. 

The calculations for national and regional rates of CME are based on uprated figures to account for local authorities for which data was not available.

Data availability and rounding

Data availability

The following symbols are used in the underlying data files as follows: 

x - data not available 

low - denotes figures based on count that rounds to 0, but is not 0. Figures may not sum to breakdowns due to rounding.

Where any number is shown as zero, the original figure submitted was zero. 

Data may not be available for a number of reasons, including where a local authority was unable to return a particular data item in the data collection and changes to the data collected.

Rounding

Local authority and regional data has been rounded to the nearest 10, national figures are rounded to the nearest 100. As a result totals may not equal the sum of their component parts.

Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number, therefore component parts may not sum to 100.

Rates of CME are rounded to one decimal place.

Help and support

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Children missing education statistics and data:

School Statistics Team

Email: school.statistics@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Pauline Potts

Press office

If you have a media enquiry:

Telephone: 020 7783 8300

Public enquiries

If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:

Telephone: 037 0000 2288

Opening times:
Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5pm (excluding bank holidays)