The Education Committee will hold a deep-dive evidence session on Tuesday 22 July to examine whether the Government has the right strategies in place to tackle school absence.
The Committee welcomes contributions from experts in this field to help inform its questioning. Relevant research can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Rates of ‘persistent absence’ – when a pupil misses 10% or more of their school sessions in a term – have remained significantly higher than before the covid pandemic.
The latest Department for Education (DfE) data shows that 20% of all school pupils were persistently absent in 2023/24 – equal to nearly 1.5 million pupils across state primary and secondary schools. This was up from the 10.9% persistent absence rate in 2018/19.
Rates of persistent absence in 2023/24 were higher in secondary schools (25.6%) than in primaries (14.6%).
Among secondary school pupils who were eligible for free school meals, the persistent absence rate was 43%.
The rate of ‘severe absence’ in 2023/24, meaning a pupil missed 50% of sessions, was 2.3%.
Meanwhile, for the 2024/25 academic year-to-date persistent absence figure was 18.4 per cent.
Witnesses for this evidence session will be announced in the week prior to 22 July.
Education Committee Chair Helen Hayes MP said:
“As the pandemic came to an end, alarm bells began to ring about the rising number of children missing school.
“As rates of persistent absence still worryingly stand at one-fifth of all pupils in the last academic year, it is imperative that the Government and the entire schools sector maintain a focus on this generation-defining issue.
“In this evidence session we will take stock of the policy interventions that have been used to encourage attendance, such as Attendance Mentors, Attendance Hubs and breakfast clubs.
“We will look at the impacts on attendance of unmet need for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and mental health conditions, and the barriers to attending school associated with poverty. We will also be informed by recommendations made to the previous government by the predecessor Education Committee in 2023.”
Read about the previous Education Committee’s 2023 report on pupil absence.
