The number of pupils who had an unauthorised term-time family holiday last autumn increased by 10.9 per cent, according to new figures from the Department for Education.
In autumn 2018, there were 421,883 pupils at state primary, secondary and special schools where an unauthorised absence was recorded relating to a family holiday which had not been agreed.
This was a rise of 41,359 since autumn 2017, when the figure stood at 380,524 - an increase of 10.9 per cent. This was against a backdrop of an increase in the total number of pupils by 1.7 per cent.
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The percentage of all pupils with one or more unauthorised holiday rose from 5.6 per cent in autumn 2017 to 6.1 per cent in autumn 2018.
However, the overall unauthorised absence rate remained stable at 1.2 per cent.
“Unauthorised holiday absence has been increasing gradually since 2006-07, while authorised holiday absence is now much lower but has remained steady over recent years,” the Department for Education’s statistical report says.
Since September 2013, term-time leave can be granted only in exceptional circumstances, which explains the sharp fall in authorised holiday absence since 2013.
In March, the DfE reported a 75 per cent increase in the number of fines issued to parents, as councils cracked down on families taking children out of school without permission.
Today’s figures show the authorised absence rate decreased from 3.3 to 3.1 per cent, and the absence rate as a whole fell from 4.4 per cent in autumn 2017 to 4.3 per cent in autumn 2018.
The absence rate is the total number of absence sessions for all pupils as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions for all pupils.
The percentage of pupils in state-funded schools who were classified as persistent absentees declined from 11.7 per cent in autumn 2017 to 10.9 per cent in autumn 2018.
Illness is the most common reason for absence, accounting for 55.5 per cent of all absences. It was the main driver for the overall decrease over the long term and since autumn 2017.
Absence rates vary by school type, with overall absence in primary schools standing at 3.7 per cent, in secondary schools at 4.9 per cent and in special schools at 9.7 per cent.
