Pupil absence rates have continued to rise after the pandemic despite a government attendance drive, Department for Education (DfE) figures published today reveal.
The absence rate for the last autumn term was 7.5 per cent, up from 6.9 per cent the previous year.
And the data published today also revealed that almost a quarter of pupils (24.2 per cent) were persistently absent - missing 10 per cent or more of their sessions - for the autumn term of the current academic year.
It comes as the DfE announced the expansion of its attendance drive aimed at tackling pupil absence from next month.
The department said that the high level of persistent absence was driven by illness, with 12.4 per cent of pupils off owing to illness alone.
The rise in pupil persistent absence in the autumn term of 2022-23 related mainly to primary and special schools.
In primary, the rate of persistent absence increased from 19.5 per cent in the autumn term of 2021-22 to 20.9 per cent this academic year.
And in special schools, the persistent absence rate increased from 39.4 per cent in autumn 2021-22 to 40.9 per cent in this academic year.
There was a small decrease in persistent absence in secondary schools - 27.4 per cent in 2022-23, down from 27.7 per cent in 2021-22.
But the rate of severe absence - pupils missing 50 per cent of sessions or more - increased across secondary (2.8 per cent of pupils), special (5.8 per cent), and primary schools (0.7 per cent).
Yesterday the DfE said that seven multi-academy trusts had been selected to roll out attendance hubs as part of its efforts to tackle rising absence rates.
Rise in unauthorised persistently absent
A report published today by the DfE also revealed that while the rate of persistent absence for unauthorised other reasons (PAUO) in pupils of secondary school age was already on an increasing trajectory before the pandemic, that figure is now climbing more steeply.
In the 2006-07 academic year, 1.4 per cent of pupils were PAUO, rising to 2.2 per cent in 2018-19.
However, in 2021-22, this figure rose to 3.8 per cent.
The report, an analysis of the characteristics associated with PAUO and contributing factors, aims to provide help for schools in identifying pupils for early interventions.
More than half (57.3 per cent) of the PAUO cohort in 2018-19 had been eligible for free school meals at some point in their school careers, compared with 22.5 per cent of all pupils.
