The proportion of pupils missing school last term has fallen slightly compared with last autumn, government data published today has shown.
The overall rate of pupil absence in the year to date at the end of the autumn term, across all schools, fell from 7.8 to 6.8 per cent year on year, but unauthorised absence remained stubbornly high, Department for Education (DfE) figures show.
Unauthorised absence across 2023-24 was 2.2 per cent, the same as the previous year, despite government efforts to tackle the issue.
And the amount of pupils missing school is still double that seen before the pandemic. The authorised absence rate for the autumn term 2018 was recorded by the DfE as 3.1 per cent, while unauthorised absence was 1.2 per cent.
The data comes after both the government and the opposition set out plans to tackle the ongoing attendance crisis earlier this week, and a DfE campaign aimed at emphasising the importance of regular attendance to parents was launched.
Continuing high unauthorised absence across the academic year to date was recorded across all settings.
The overall absence rate in primary schools for the year so far was 5.3 per cent, compared with 6.5 per cent last year, with authorised absence down to 3.8 per cent this year from 5 per cent in 2022-23.
However, unauthorised absence in primary schools remained about the same as last year, at 1.4 per cent, compared with 1.5 per cent in 2022-23.
Meanwhile overall absence fell year on year in secondary schools, from 9.3 per cent to 8.4 per cent, but unauthorised absence plateaued at 3.1 per cent.
The number of fines issued to parents for unauthorised pupil absence almost doubled to 398,800 in 2022-23 compared with the previous year, according to DfE data - with the vast majority given to parents for taking pupils out of school for term-time holidays.
Severe absence is double pre-pandemic levels
Concern about school attendance has spiralled since the pandemic and the number of pupils classed as persistent or severely absent has soared.
A total of 138,905 pupils were classed as “severely” absent in the 2022-23 autumn and spring terms combined - 26 per cent higher than the levels seen in the previous academic year (110,470), and well over double the numbers seen before the pandemic in 2018-19 (57,167).
The DfE said today’s figures are published as “official statistics in development” to give an indicative figure for the absence rate during the 2023-24 academic year so far, with final statistics for the autumn term set to be published later this year.
On Monday, the government announced the roll-out of 18 more school attendance hubs and a £15-million expansion of its mentor programme for persistently absent children.
Meanwhile, Labour this week said it would use artificial intelligence to spot trends in absence as part of its long-term plans to tackle ongoing high levels of non-attendance.
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