Metric permalink
Persistent school absence (England)
Part of the Childhood and Social Floor domain. Share of pupils in state-funded schools in England missing 10% or more of possible school sessions, indicating a systemic attendance crisis.
Latest data
Latest reading
2024
A higher reading is treated as worse for this indicator.
Score composition
Stress score
Blended from three components: (60% weight), trend (30% weight) and volatility (10% weight). Full formula on the methodology page.
Level · 60% weight
Percentile: this metric is scored against its own history, where today sits between its best and worst recorded years.
Trend · 30% weight
Measured from the direction and size of the change between the two most recent readings.
Volatility · 10% weight
100Measured from how much this indicator has swung period on period across its recorded history.
Data confidence and provenance
Confidence and source
How much weight to put on the reading, the mean data-confidence across the component metrics (source quality, recency and completeness).
Source
Pupil absence in schools in England
- Update frequency
- Termly
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- DfE
- Series ID
- 019d209c/TuAuP
- Frequency
- AY (DfE EES API)
- Accessed
- 13 August 2026
Known weakness
England-only; the 10% threshold is a policy definition rather than an evidence-based harm threshold, and the metric cannot distinguish school-refusing from poverty-related absence.
Notes
Verified official value from DfE (019d209c/TuAuP), accessed 2026-08-13.
Historical values
History
| Period | Value | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 19.3 | |
| 2007 | 18.5 | |
| 2008 | 18.5 | |
| 2009 | 17.4 | |
| 2010 | 16.3 | |
| 2011 | 13.5 | |
| 2012 | 13.6 | |
| 2013 | 10.7 | |
| 2014 | 11 | |
| 2015 | 10.5 | |
| 2016 | 10.8 | |
| 2017 | 11.2 | |
| 2018 | 10.9 | |
| 2020 | 12.1 | |
| 2021 | 22.5 | |
| 2022 | 21.2 | |
| 2023 | 20 | |
| 2024 | 18.1 |