‘Crisis of school absenteeism’ affecting poorer pupils the most, new data suggests

Pupils on free school meals are more than three times more likely to be absent without authorisation in every region outside the capital, new data for secondary schools suggests.

Data published by the Department for Education (DfE) shows that secondary students in the north of England are also more likely to miss school without permission than children in London or the Midlands.

The data has led experts to warn schools are facing a “crisis of absenteeism” following the Covid pandemic, hitting the poorest pupils hardest.

Some 7.5 per cent of secondary school sessions, blocks of classes in the morning or afternoon, had a child eligible for free school meals absent without permission in Yorkshire and the Humber last term. This was 7.3 per cent in the North East of England and 6.5 per cent in the North West, compared to 4.2 per cent in London, and 5.4 per cent in the West Midlands.

For children who weren’t eligible for free school meals, unauthorised absence rates dropped to just 2 per cent for the North East, 1.8 per cent in the North West, and 2.1 per cent in Yorkshire. In London, this was 1.7 per cent, data for the autumn 2024 term showed.

School absence rates have risen since the pandemic, and academics from the London School of Economics predict that they will remain above pre-Covid levels until those who began secondary school during the pandemic have left.

Professor of social mobility, Lee Elliot Major, at Exeter University, said: “We are facing a crisis of school absenteeism. No matter what we do in education, if children aren’t in the classroom, they’re falling behind.

“Regional variations in attendance are closely tied to the levels of poverty beyond the school gates. Many children growing up in disadvantaged areas, where local job prospects are also limited, are more likely to miss school regularly, further limiting their future opportunities.

“A child on free school meals in Sunderland or Southport will be facing a completely different environment to one based in Stratford or Southwark – with many from families where generations have had poor experiences of schooling.”

He said trust and relationships needed to be “rebuilt between schools and families” to encourage children back into the classroom.

Russell Hobby, chief executive of educational equality organisation Teach First, said: “Once again we see that pupils from the poorest backgrounds, especially in the North of England, are the most likely to miss school.”

The new data comes as charities warn that they are seeing young people resort to self-harm and school refusal amid crippling academic pressures in the wake of Covid.

Praveena Pakium, from Step by Step, a Surrey-based charity, said: “We are seeing more safeguarding alerts than before the pandemic. Children refusing to go to school also feels connected to the pandemic, with people being out of school for so long. It’s not always easy to go back to how things were, and there is an increased anxiety. I think we’ve still got a lot of fallout from that time.”

She warned that “young people are using self-harm as a coping mechanism” and they are seeing more children with increasingly complex mental health needs.

New polling by Parentkind for The Times showed that almost a third of children in the UK have refused to go to school at least once in the past year.

This adds up to an estimated 3.3 million children who declined to attend school for at least one day last year.

Ten per cent of these children, equivalent to 330,000 students, had missed two or more weeks of school, the poll suggested.

Martyna Lambon, from Aberdeen Foyer, a youth charity in Scotland, said they were also seeing more young people struggle to attend school post-Covid. She said: “We forgot we left these kids behind after the pandemic. Nothing was normal for them growing up during that time, and now resilience is something they really struggle with.

“Some 16-and-17-year-olds appear to have lost all hope if they fail their final exams or leave school earlier. They no longer believe in themselves or their future, convinced they have no chance of achieving anything.”

Chief executive of EveryYouth Nick Connolly pointed to rising youth homelessness as having an impact on school attendance. He said: “Students experiencing homelessness face even bigger challenges to their academic performance and are 7.5 times more likely to have reported frequent absences from school.”

Matt Garrod, at the Benjamin Foundation in East Anglia, a youth homelessness charity, said they are seeing “more young people coming into their accommodation services with complex needs and with mental health challenges”.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Tackling the epidemic of school absence is everyone’s responsibility – government, schools, parents, and children – we need a national effort to get our kids back in the classroom.

“Persistent absence has improved this autumn term, with thanks to the hard work of schools and parents, but there are still far too many children missing school.

“This government inherited an absence crisis but we remain laser-focused on tackling the problem and its drivers – ensuring attendance remains a key focus of school inspections, providing access to mental health professionals to all schools, and reforming the SEND system, so we deliver on our Plan for Change and every child achieves thrives in school.”