Severe and persistent absence rates more than doubled last year compared with pre-pandemic levels, data published by the government shows.
Department for Education figures reveal that 2.1 per cent, about 158,000 pupils, were “severely absent” in the autumn and spring terms of 2023-24 in England, compared with 139,000 (1.9 per cent) in the same period in 2022-23.
This is more than double (0.8 per cent) the percentage of pupils who were severely absent - missing at least half of possible school sessions - in 2018-19.
Persistent absence rates also increased from 19.4 per cent in autumn last year to 21.5 per cent in the following spring term alone, the figures show.
More than half of absences due to illness
Some 19.2 per cent (1.42 million pupils) were persistently absent in the autumn and spring terms last year, which means they missed 10 per cent or more of sessions.
However, this is down from the 21.2 per cent levels recorded in the autumn and spring terms in 2022-23, and a fall from 22.3 per cent in the same period in 2021-22, but still double the 10.5 per cent recorded pre-pandemic.
Meanwhile, the figures show that overall pupil absences increased from autumn to spring 2023-24, but combined absence for the two terms remained lower than in the same period in 2022-23.
In the combined terms for autumn and spring 2023-24, the overall absence rate was 6.9 per cent, a reduction from 7.3 per cent in 2022-23 but higher than comparable pre-pandemic rates, which were below 5 per cent during both equivalent terms.
Just over half of absence was because of illness, which accounted for 3.5 per cent of possible sessions in autumn 2023-24 and 3.8 per cent in spring 2023-24. The level of absence owing to illness reduced compared with the combined terms for autumn and spring 2022-23, but remained higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said schools deserve “great credit” for the decline in overall absence rates, but added that it was of “particular concern” that more than 2 per cent of pupils are missing at least half their time in school.
He called for more investment in attendance support services to help identify the reasons and solutions for prolonged absences, and a better network of support for pupils with mental health issues and special educational needs and disabilities “to ensure they get the help they require before things escalate to the point where attending school becomes very challenging”.
Absence ‘endemic’
Beth Prescott, the programme lead at the Centre for Social Justice, said school absence has become “endemic, with parents often thinking it is not essential for children to attend school every day”.
“Without faster and further action, like the national rollout of attendance mentors and a parental participation strategy, we will be picking up the pieces from this unfolding social disaster for years to come,” she said.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary at the school leaders’ union NAHT, said that while schools were “working incredibly hard to boost attendance” reasons for absence were “often deep-rooted issues facing children and families” including “everything from sickness and mental health problems to poverty and other social challenges”.
He added that increased investment in services such as children’s mental health and social care is needed in the forthcoming budget and spring spending review, “to help schools further improve attendance and ensure pupils do not miss out on their education”.
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