Absence from school

Published 10 October 2017

Last updated 1 March 2018 - see all updates

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• in 2015/16, 6.93 million pupils were at state-funded primary, secondary or special school in England – 69% were White British, 10% were Asian, 6% were Black, 6% were from the Other White ethnic group, 5% had Mixed ethnicity, and 0.4% were Chinese

• Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma pupils had the highest overall and persistent absence rates

• Chinese and Black African pupils had the lowest overall and persistent absence rates

• pupils at special schools were more likely to be absent than pupils at primary or secondary schools

Things you need to know

Data is based on pupil enrolments rather than individual pupils. Some pupils may be counted more than once within the total enrolment figure (for example, if they moved schools during the academic year, or are registered in more than one school).

It is a school’s responsibility to record absence data correctly in their school census return, and the parent’s responsibility to truthfully report the reason for a child’s absence from school.

Some of the statistics quoted here are based on very small numbers of pupils (for example, only 111 Traveller of Irish Heritage pupils went to a special school in January 2016) and are highly variable over time.

The data includes pupils for whom ethnicity was not obtained, was refused, or could not be determined.

The Department for Education (DfE) has excluded, or ‘suppressed’, very small numbers (for example, values of 1 or 2, a percentage based on 1 or 2 pupils who achieved, or 0, 1 or 2 pupils who did not achieve a particular level).

This is because, where the size of the ethnic group population is small enough that an individual’s identity could be revealed, information is suppressed to preserve confidentiality. This is consistent with DfE’s statistical policy statement on confidentiality (PDF opens in a new window or tab) (PDF).

What the data measures

This data measures absence rates from state-funded primary, secondary and special schools in England.

‘Overall absence’ is defined as each pupil’s authorised and unauthorised absences from school, as a percentage of the total number of their possible ‘sessions’ at school. A session is a morning or afternoon of the school day.

A pupil is categorised as ‘persistently absent’ if they miss 10% or more of their possible sessions at school.

For overall absence rates at national and local authority level, the data calculates the total absences of all pupils as a percentage of the total possible sessions for all pupils, broken down by ethnicity.

For persistent absence rates at national and local authority level, the data calculates the total number of persistently absent pupils as a percentage of all pupils, broken down by ethnicity.

The data covers the academic year 2015/16 (September 2015 to July 2016).

The ethnic categories used in this data

This data uses categories from the Department for Education’s school census, which is broadly based on the 2001 national Census, with 3 exceptions:

• Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma children have been separated into 2 categories
• Sri Lankan has been added to the Asian/Asian British group but is not reported separately
• Chinese pupils have been assigned a separate category

These changes were made after consultations with local authorities and lobby groups.

The categories in the school census are as follows:

White:

• White British
• White Irish
• Traveller of Irish Heritage
• Gypsy/Roma
• Other White

Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups:

• White and Black Caribbean
• White and Black African
• White and Asian
• Other Mixed background

Asian/Asian British:

• Indian
• Pakistani
• Bangladeshi
• Sri Lankan
• Other Asian background

Black/African/Caribbean/Black British:

• Black African
• Black Caribbean

• Other Black background

• Chinese

• Other ethnic group

Information is provided for both detailed and broad ethnic groups where possible and when the data is available.

However, local authority data is only provided for the 6 broad ethnic groups. Information about the specific ethnic categories is excluded to preserve confidentiality and ensure individuals cannot be identified.

The 6 broad categories are as follows:

• Asian/Asian British
• Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
• Chinese
• Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
• White
• Other

2. Overall absence by ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/16
• Source: Statistics: pupil absence

Number of sessions missed, and overall absence rate, by ethnicity

Ethnicity	%	Sessions
All	4.6	109,518,001
Asian	4.6	11,386,961
Bangladeshi	5.0	1,993,974
Indian	3.6	2,401,600
Pakistani	5.4	5,420,851
Asian other	3.9	1,570,536
Black	3.4	4,547,588
Black African	3.0	2,573,675
Black Caribbean	4.6	1,330,289
Black other	3.7	643,624
Chinese	2.4	229,856
Mixed	4.8	6,122,888
Mixed White/Asian	4.4	1,294,391
Mixed White/Black African	4.3	724,384
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	5.6	1,971,965
Mixed other	4.7	2,132,148
White	4.6	83,998,206
White British	4.6	75,810,357
White Irish	5.2	367,420
White Irish Traveller	17.9	308,843
White Gypsy/Roma	12.7	985,364
White other	4.8	6,526,222
Other	4.5	1,842,594
Unknown	5.5	1,389,908

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Absence from school Overall absence by ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• in 2015/16, Chinese, Black African and Indian pupils had the lowest rates of overall absence, at 2.4%, 3.0% and 3.6% respectively

• Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma pupils were most likely to be absent, missing 17.9% and 12.7% of their total number of morning and afternoon sessions at school

• White British pupils missed an average of 4.6% of their total number of morning and afternoon sessions at school

• among the broad ethnic groups, Chinese and Black pupils had the lowest overall absence rates (at 2.4% and 3.4% respectively), and pupils with Mixed ethnicity had the highest overall absence rate (at 4.8%)

3. Persistent absence by ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/16
• Source: Statistics: pupil absence

Number of pupil enrolments classed as persistently absent, and persistent absence rate, by ethnicity

Ethnicity	%	Enrolmemts
All	10.5	707,390
Asian	9.7	68,025
Bangladeshi	10.6	11,830
Indian	6.1	11,460
Pakistani	12.6	36,105
Asian other	7.5	8,630
Black	7.0	26,555
Black African	5.1	12,565
Black Caribbean	11.7	9,750
Black other	8.5	4,235
Chinese	3.1	825
Mixed	12.1	43,145
Mixed White/Asian	9.9	8,125
Mixed White/Black African	10.2	4,795
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	15.7	15,725
Mixed other	11.3	14,505
White	10.7	542,530
White British	10.4	480,080
White Irish	13.8	2,745
White Irish Traveller	63.2	3,645
White Gypsy/Roma	48.0	11,810
White other	11.5	44,245
Other	10.0	11,785
Unknown	16.4	14,525

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Absence from school Persistent absence by ethnicity Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2015/16, overall, 10% of pupils in England were classed as 'persistently absent' – that is, they missed at least 10% of their total number of morning and afternoon sessions at school

• Chinese, Black African and Indian pupils were least likely to be persistently absent, at 3.1%, 5.1% and 6.1% of pupils respectively

• 63% of Traveller of Irish Heritage pupils, and 48% of Gypsy/Roma pupils, were persistently absent

• 10.4% of White British pupils were persistently absent, about the same as the national average

4. Overall absence by ethnicity and type of school

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/16
• Source: Statistics: pupil absence

Number and percentage of overall absence by ethnicity and type of school

	Primary		Secondary		Special
Ethnicity	Primary %	Primary Sessions	Secondary %	Secondary Sessions	Special %	Special Sessions
All	4.0	55,102,906	5.2	51,712,506	9.1	2,702,589
Asian	4.5	6,497,357	4.6	4,569,080	11.1	320,524
Bangladeshi	5.0	1,141,375	4.8	796,712	11.5	55,887
Indian	3.6	1,399,239	3.6	958,467	8.4	43,894
Pakistani	5.1	3,025,931	5.5	2,223,154	12.3	171,766
Asian other	3.8	930,812	3.7	590,747	9.9	48,977
Black	3.1	2,412,956	3.7	1,981,647	7.3	152,985
Black African	2.8	1,433,387	3.2	1,052,357	6.8	87,931
Black Caribbean	4.1	630,888	4.9	661,722	8.1	37,679
Black other	3.4	348,681	4.0	267,568	8.4	27,375
Chinese	2.5	148,223	2.2	76,358	5.7	5,275
Mixed	4.3	3,378,331	5.6	2,597,895	9.0	146,662
Mixed White/Asian	4.0	737,050	5.0	532,647	8.5	24,694
Mixed White/Black African	3.9	417,957	5.1	290,525	7.6	15,902
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	4.8	1,012,005	6.5	909,589	9.8	50,371
Mixed other	4.3	1,211,319	5.3	865,134	9.2	55,695
White	4.0	41,039,657	5.4	40,987,008	8.9	1,971,541
White British	3.9	36,130,383	5.3	37,846,176	8.8	1,833,798
White Irish	4.7	176,884	5.7	180,397	13.5	10,139
White Irish Traveller	17.6	230,227	18.2	69,931	24.3	8,685
White Gypsy/Roma	11.6	589,436	14.6	377,253	18.1	18,675
White other	4.5	3,912,727	5.3	2,513,251	9.7	100,244
Other	4.4	1,077,347	4.7	718,954	10.2	46,293
Unknown	4.8	549,035	5.9	781,564	10.2	46,293

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Absence from school Overall absence by ethnicity and type of school Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2015/16, 68.6% of pupils in primary schools in England were White British, and 31.4% came from all other ethnic groups (including White ethnic minorities); in secondary schools, 72.1% were White British and 27.9% came from all other ethnic groups; and in special schools, 72.9% were White British, and 27.1% came from all other ethnic groups

• with the exception of Chinese and Bangladeshi pupils, all ethnic groups had higher overall absence rates in secondary schools than in primary schools

• pupils in special schools had the highest overall absence rates for all ethnic groups

• in primary schools, Traveller of Irish Heritage, Gypsy/Roma and Pakistani pupils had the highest rates of overall absence, at 17.6%, 11.6% and 5.1% respectively

• in secondary schools, Traveller of Irish Heritage, Gypsy/Roma and Mixed White and Black Caribbean pupils had the highest rates of overall absence, at 18.2%, 14.6% and 6.5% respectively

• Chinese and Black African pupils were least likely to be absent from both primary and secondary school – Chinese pupils missed 2.5% of their primary school sessions and 2.2% of their secondary school sessions, while Black African pupils missed 2.8% of their primary school sessions and 3.2% of their secondary school sessions

• in special schools, Traveller of Irish Heritage, Gypsy/Roma and White Irish pupils were most likely to be absent, missing 24.3%, 18.1% and 13.5% of their sessions respectively

• Chinese and Black African pupils were least likely to be absent from special schools, missing 5.7% and 6.8% of their sessions respectively

5. Persistent absence by ethnicity and type of school

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/16
• Source: Statistics: pupil absence

Number of pupil enrolments classed as persistently absent, and persistent absence rate, by ethnicity and type of school

	Primary		Secondary		Special
Ethnicity	Primary %	Primary Enrolments	Secondary %	Secondary Enrolments	Special %	Special Enrolments
All	8.2	314,625	13.1	370,145	26.9	22,620
Asian	9.2	37,395	9.7	27,705	36.4	2,925
Bangladeshi	10.8	6,855	9.4	4,455	38.9	520
Indian	5.9	6,425	6.1	4,655	25.9	375
Pakistani	11.6	19,270	13.0	15,255	40.7	1,580
Asian other	7.0	4,845	7.4	3,335	32.7	450
Black	6.0	13,180	7.9	12,115	21.6	1,255
Black African	4.4	6,595	5.5	5,270	19.7	705
Black Caribbean	10.3	4,435	12.9	4,985	24.6	330
Black other	7.3	2,155	9.7	1,860	24.3	225
Chinese	3.1	525	2.6	255	16.5	40
Mixed	9.9	21,775	15.1	20,100	27.9	1,275
Mixed White/Asian	8.1	4,115	12.7	3,810	24.9	200
Mixed White/Black African	8.5	2,570	12.8	2,095	22.2	130
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	12.8	7,480	19.4	7,770	31.8	470
Mixed other	9.6	7,610	13.8	6,420	28.0	475
White	8.1	228,985	13.8	297,500	25.8	16,045
White British	7.5	192,700	13.6	272,495	25.4	14,885
White Irish	12.6	1,330	14.8	1,340	35.2	75
White Irish Traveller	64.0	2,810	60.8	775	59.4	60
White Gypsy/Roma	45.5	7,245	52.6	4,400	55.0	165
White other	10.2	24,895	13.4	18,490	30.0	860
Other	9.4	6,720	10.4	4,670	31.2	395
Unknown	14.1	6,045	17.7	7,800	37.5	685

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Absence from school Persistent absence by ethnicity and type of school Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2015/16, in primary schools, Traveller of Irish Heritage, Gypsy/Roma, and Mixed White and Black Caribbean pupils were most likely to be persistently absent, with 64%, 45.5% and 12.8% respectively missing at least 10% of their school sessions

• in secondary schools, Traveller of Irish Heritage, Gypsy/Roma, and Mixed White and Black Caribbean pupils were most likely to be persistently absent, at 60.8%, 52.6% and 19.4% respectively

• Chinese and Black African pupils had the lowest percentages of persistent absence in both primary and secondary schools

• with the exception of pupils from a Traveller of Irish Heritage background, persistent absence rates were highest in special schools for all ethnic groups

6. Overall absence by ethnicity and local authority

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/16
• Source: Statistics: pupil absence

Overall absence rate by ethnicity and local authority

Local authority	Asian	Black	Mixed	White	Chinese	Other
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Barking and Dagenham	4.6	2.5	5.0	5.5	2.5	4.4
Barnet	4.2	4.0	4.7	4.5	2.6	4.7
Barnsley	4.4	2.7	4.4	5.1	0.7	4.9
Bath and North East Somerset	4.9	7.4	6.0	4.8	2.7	5.5
Bedford	5.1	3.1	5.1	4.4	2.0	4.4
Bexley	3.5	2.1	4.5	4.8	2.0	4.0
Birmingham	5.2	3.7	5.2	5.2	2.2	4.5
Blackburn with Darwen	4.4	3.0	5.1	4.8	2.0	5.5
Blackpool	3.7	4.0	4.7	4.7	2.8	3.9
Bolton	4.0	2.5	4.9	4.7	3.0	5.5
Bournemouth	3.6	3.5	4.8	4.8	3.0	4.3
Bracknell Forest	3.5	2.7	4.0	4.0	2.0	3.3
Bradford	4.8	2.8	5.8	5.0	2.0	5.5
Brent	4.0	4.5	4.9	4.7	2.4	5.0
Brighton and Hove	5.1	4.3	5.1	5.0	2.3	5.3
Bristol, City of	5.7	5.1	5.8	5.4	2.9	5.7
Bromley	3.9	3.2	4.5	4.3	2.5	4.1
Buckinghamshire	5.4	3.8	5.0	4.5	3.1	4.6
Bury	5.3	2.7	4.5	4.1	1.6	4.5
Calderdale	4.3	3.0	5.0	4.1	2.2	4.8
Cambridgeshire	4.7	3.4	4.5	4.4	2.7	4.6
Camden	5.8	4.2	5.5	5.1	2.2	4.8
Central Bedfordshire	4.5	3.4	4.8	4.6	2.0	5.2
Cheshire East	4.5	3.1	4.5	4.2	2.0	5.3
Cheshire West and Chester	4.7	3.3	4.8	4.6	2.9	4.3
City of London	4.6	2.4	3.3	2.3		3.4
Cornwall	4.8	3.1	4.9	4.7	3.5	6.2
County Durham	4.3	3.1	4.2	4.7	3.0	5.1
Coventry	3.9	2.5	5.2	4.8	2.8	4.2
Croydon	4.6	3.6	4.8	4.9	2.3	4.8
Cumbria	4.5	4.5	4.4	4.7	3.6	4.6
Darlington	4.9	4.4	4.6	4.9	3.2	4.3
Derby	4.5	3.3	5.6	5.0	2.3	5.5
Derbyshire	4.2	3.9	4.7	4.2	2.3	4.6
Devon	4.1	3.3	4.6	4.3	3.0	4.5
Doncaster	4.7	3.0	5.0	5.3	2.1	5.7
Dorset	4.1	3.3	4.3	4.7	3.1	5.1
Dudley	4.9	3.4	5.4	4.7	2.4	5.0
Ealing	4.2	4.3	4.9	4.7	2.4	4.5
East Riding of Yorkshire	4.2	3.5	4.2	4.2	2.9	3.6
East Sussex	4.4	3.6	5.1	5.1	1.9	5.3
Enfield	4.7	4.0	4.9	5.1	2.3	4.6
Essex	4.1	2.6	4.3	4.4	2.6	3.9
Gateshead	4.5	2.2	3.6	4.5	3.1	4.5
Gloucestershire	4.5	3.5	5.3	4.5	2.7	4.9
Greenwich	4.1	2.7	4.8	5.2	2.3	3.6
Hackney	4.8	3.4	5.0	4.5	2.0	4.2
Halton	4.4	4.7	4.3	4.8	1.6	4.0
Hammersmith and Fulham	4.5	4.2	5.1	4.7	2.4	4.8
Hampshire	3.4	2.7	4.1	4.2	2.6	4.1
Haringey	5.1	4.0	5.0	4.8	1.9	4.5
Harrow	3.9	4.5	4.9	4.6	2.1	5.0
Hartlepool	4.6	2.7	3.9	5.0	1.8	4.5
Havering	4.6	2.9	5.1	5.0	2.5	4.4
Herefordshire, County of	4.0	2.9	4.0	4.3	2.8	3.5
Hertfordshire	4.5	2.9	4.6	4.5	2.6	4.3
Hillingdon	4.0	4.1	4.6	5.5	3.0	4.0
Hounslow	3.9	3.9	4.7	5.0	1.9	4.0
Isle of Wight	4.9	6.5	4.7	4.8	2.8	4.7
Isles of Scilly			3.6	4.7
Islington	4.9	3.6	4.9	5.0	2.0	4.2
Kensington and Chelsea	5.0	3.8	4.7	4.6	2.9	4.2
Kent	3.6	2.4	4.4	4.8	2.6	4.4
Kingston upon Hull, City of	4.6	2.4	4.4	4.8	2.8	4.8
Kingston upon Thames	4.2	4.1	4.2	4.1	2.5	3.6
Kirklees	5.4	3.7	5.1	4.1	1.7	5.2
Knowsley	2.9	4.2	6.1	5.5	2.3	4.4
Lambeth	4.9	4.0	5.1	4.4	2.1	4.9
Lancashire	4.9	3.1	4.4	4.2	2.6	4.6
Leeds	5.2	2.8	5.3	4.8	2.1	4.9
Leicester	4.1	3.7	6.0	6.0	2.0	4.9
Leicestershire	3.7	2.7	4.4	4.3	2.3	4.6
Lewisham	4.3	3.8	5.0	5.2	2.3	4.5
Lincolnshire	4.0	3.1	4.5	4.6	2.0	4.2
Liverpool	4.1	3.6	5.7	5.5	2.1	4.9
Luton	5.2	3.3	5.3	5.3	2.2	4.8
Manchester	4.5	2.8	5.1	5.2	1.9	4.3
Medway	4.2	2.3	4.9	4.9	2.5	4.1
Merton	4.1	3.2	4.3	4.5	2.3	3.6
Middlesbrough	4.7	2.6	5.3	5.7	2.6	5.1
Milton Keynes	4.6	3.0	4.8	4.8	2.8	4.5
Newcastle upon Tyne	4.5	2.4	4.2	4.9	2.4	4.5
Newham	4.6	3.2	5.1	5.7	2.5	4.1
Norfolk	4.6	3.0	4.9	4.8	2.5	4.6
North East Lincolnshire	4.9	1.7	4.6	4.6	2.1	4.2
North Lincolnshire	5.0	3.5	4.0	4.3	2.3	5.8
North Somerset	4.6	4.7	4.8	4.7	3.0	4.5
North Tyneside	4.8	2.2	3.8	4.3	2.7	5.5
North Yorkshire	4.7	3.4	4.3	4.5	2.9	5.2
Northamptonshire	4.3	3.1	4.7	4.7	2.1	4.2
Northumberland	4.3	2.8	4.8	4.6	2.6	4.8
Nottingham	4.6	2.9	4.9	5.1	2.1	4.8
Nottinghamshire	4.5	3.2	4.7	4.4	2.7	4.9
Oldham	5.1	2.6	5.7	5.0	1.7	5.9
Oxfordshire	5.5	3.7	5.1	4.5	2.4	4.6
Peterborough	4.5	2.8	4.5	4.8	2.1	3.7
Plymouth	4.6	2.7	4.3	4.6	3.2	4.7
Poole	4.0	3.5	4.4	4.5	2.6	4.0
Portsmouth	4.5	2.3	4.6	5.3	2.6	4.5
Reading	4.3	3.1	5.3	4.8	2.8	4.3
Redbridge	5.0	3.9	5.0	5.0	2.6	5.1
Redcar and Cleveland	4.3	3.4	5.2	4.9	1.3	4.1
Richmond upon Thames	4.5	4.0	4.2	3.9	2.7	4.2
Rochdale	4.7	2.4	4.5	4.7	2.3	4.4
Rotherham	5.3	2.6	5.4	5.1	1.9	4.7
Rutland	3.2	2.8	3.0	3.2	2.1	4.5
Salford	4.3	2.3	4.1	5.0	2.6	4.7
Sandwell	4.2	3.4	5.3	5.1	2.3	5.1
Sefton	4.4	2.7	5.0	5.0	3.5	5.0
Sheffield	5.3	3.6	5.4	5.0	2.2	4.8
Shropshire	4.5	4.5	4.3	4.2	2.4	4.7
Slough	4.4	3.4	4.4	4.7	2.1	4.2
Solihull	4.5	3.5	5.3	4.6	2.0	3.9
Somerset	4.3	3.2	4.8	4.6	3.4	4.2
South Gloucestershire	5.1	4.2	5.5	4.8	2.4	4.3
South Tyneside	4.7	2.9	4.5	4.8	3.4	4.6
Southampton	4.4	3.0	4.7	4.9	2.1	4.3
Southend-on-Sea	4.3	2.4	4.3	4.4	2.0	4.6
Southwark	4.9	3.0	4.8	5.0	2.6	4.3
St. Helens	4.0	3.4	4.3	4.6	2.8	5.6
Staffordshire	4.4	3.7	4.7	4.3	2.4	4.4
Stockport	5.4	3.6	4.9	4.6	2.4	4.7
Stockton-on-Tees	5.0	2.1	4.8	4.7	2.1	5.0
Stoke-on-Trent	5.1	2.7	5.4	4.9	2.3	5.6
Suffolk	4.8	3.3	4.7	4.5	2.5	4.0
Sunderland	4.2	2.1	4.8	4.8	2.9	5.8
Surrey	4.2	3.1	4.0	4.2	2.5	3.7
Sutton	3.8	3.0	4.2	4.6	2.4	3.8
Swindon	4.3	2.9	4.8	4.4	2.8	4.7
Tameside	4.4	2.7	4.8	4.5	2.1	3.7
Telford and Wrekin	4.3	2.5	4.7	4.5	1.7	4.1
Thurrock	4.1	2.1	4.4	4.8	1.7	3.9
Torbay	4.1	4.1	5.4	5.0	3.0	5.2
Tower Hamlets	4.1	3.2	5.6	6.1	2.0	3.6
Trafford	4.9	3.1	4.3	3.8	2.3	4.2
Wakefield	5.4	2.9	5.3	4.9	2.1	4.7
Walsall	4.3	3.0	5.2	5.0	2.0	5.3
Waltham Forest	5.2	3.9	5.2	5.0	2.4	4.3
Wandsworth	4.7	4.3	5.1	4.2	2.9	4.3
Warrington	5.1	3.6	4.5	4.4	2.7	5.5
Warwickshire	3.6	3.3	4.4	4.3	2.6	4.0
West Berkshire	4.7	3.3	4.4	4.0	1.9	4.5
West Sussex	4.7	3.8	4.6	4.5	2.7	4.5
Westminster	5.2	4.2	5.2	4.9	2.4	5.1
Wigan	5.0	2.7	4.3	4.6	2.7	5.0
Wiltshire	3.9	3.7	4.7	4.7	2.9	4.2
Windsor and Maidenhead	4.7	3.2	4.2	4.2	2.5	4.2
Wirral	4.5	3.9	4.7	5.0	2.5	5.3
Wokingham	4.5	3.2	4.4	4.0	2.7	5.1
Wolverhampton	3.8	3.3	5.4	5.0	2.2	6.1
Worcestershire	4.7	3.9	4.6	4.3	2.1	4.5
York	4.1	2.9	4.3	4.2	3.0	5.5

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Absence from school Overall absence by ethnicity and local authority Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2015/16, Asian pupils had the highest overall absence rate in Camden in London (5.8%) and the lowest overall absence rate in Knowsley in the North West (2.9%)

• Black pupils had the highest overall absence rate in Bath and North East Somerset in the South West (7.4%) and the lowest overall absence rate in North East Lincolnshire in Yorkshire and the Humber (1.7%)

• Chinese pupils had the highest overall absence rate in Cumbria in North West (3.6%) and the lowest overall absence rate in Barnsley in Yorkshire and the Humber (0.7%)

• Mixed ethnicity pupils had the highest overall absence rate in Knowsley in the North West (6.1%) and the lowest overall absence rate in Rutland in the East Midlands (3%)

• White pupils had the highest overall absence rate in Tower Hamlets in London (6.1%) and the lowest overall absence rate in the City of London (2.3%)

7. Persistent absence by ethnicity and local authority

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/16
• Source: Statistics: pupil absence

Percentage of pupil enrolments classed as persistently absent by ethnicity and local authority

Local authority	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	White	Other
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Barking and Dagenham	9.5	4.0	4.4	13.9	15.0	9.2
Barnet	7.3	8.8	2.9	11.2	9.4	9.8
Barnsley	11.3	4.2	0.0	9.2	12.7	12.1
Bath and North East Somerset	11.7	22.1	5.2	15.2	10.7	13.6
Bedford	11.5	5.4		12.3	9.5	7.5
Bexley	4.5	2.5	1.3	9.3	11.4	8.0
Birmingham	11.8	8.3	4.1	14.6	13.5	10.4
Blackburn with Darwen	9.4	6.5		11.8	13.0	17.8
Blackpool	6.5	10.9		14.9	12.6
Bolton	7.6	4.5	4.8	13.2	11.6	16.1
Bournemouth	5.8	6.9	6.1	11.1	10.7	8.9
Bracknell Forest	5.3	3.9	0.0	8.3	8.7	4.4
Bradford	10.9	5.5		17.5	14.1	15.7
Brent	7.7	10.6	4.6	11.6	10.8	11.1
Brighton and Hove	12.5	8.6	3.2	12.9	11.0	10.9
Bristol, City of	15.6	13.5	5.3	16.3	14.0	15.1
Bromley	7.9	7.0	4.4	10.7	9.8	9.6
Buckinghamshire	13.5	8.6	5.3	12.7	10.2	9.5
Bury	12.0	6.1	3.3	9.6	8.9	12.0
Calderdale	8.4	4.3		10.6	8.8	14.5
Cambridgeshire	11.4	7.4	4.8	9.7	9.0	10.8
Camden	14.4	8.2		14.2	12.9	10.9
Central Bedfordshire	10.0	7.5	2.9	12.1	10.0	14.0
Cheshire East	9.9	6.8	2.0	10.5	8.8	15.5
Cheshire West and Chester	11.5	6.5		10.7	10.2	7.9
City of London	5.0	0.0
Cornwall	11.4	4.8	5.7	11.4	10.9	20.5
Coventry	7.1	3.9	5.6	14.2	12.0	9.1
Croydon	10.1	7.7	2.4	12.1	12.1	10.5
Cumbria	10.9	14.1	6.7	10.8	10.6	15.1
Darlington	10.6		7.7	12.4	12.7	6.8
Derby	9.6	6.2		17.0	13.3	13.4
Derbyshire	9.1	10.2	1.8	11.8	9.2	11.8
Devon	7.0	4.2	4.2	10.8	8.8	10.0
Doncaster	10.9	8.0	2.0	13.5	13.9	15.8
Dorset	9.9	10.1	3.5	8.2	10.9	18.0
Dudley	10.6	7.4	7.2	15.1	11.1	10.7
Durham	10.5	5.3	7.0	10.2	11.0	15.2
Ealing	8.7	9.2	2.0	11.9	10.8	8.9
East Riding of Yorkshire	9.0		10.0	9.3	9.1	4.9
East Sussex	9.8	7.4		13.3	12.3	13.5
Enfield	10.2	9.0	2.6	12.6	13.2	9.8
Essex	8.6	4.4	4.0	10.1	9.6	7.9
Gateshead	9.3	3.6	6.5	6.4	10.1	10.2
Gloucestershire	9.2	7.5	3.1	13.3	10.2	12.5
Greenwich	7.0	4.6	2.0	12.1	13.1	6.1
Hackney	9.5	6.9	2.9	12.5	9.5	7.9
Halton	14.3	25.0	0.0	10.6	11.6	0.0
Hammersmith and Fulham	10.7	9.2		13.9	11.1	10.2
Hampshire	5.8	4.4	4.1	9.1	8.8	8.0
Haringey	11.3	8.5	2.7	12.6	11.2	9.7
Harrow	6.6	10.0	3.4	11.9	10.7	10.4
Hartlepool	10.0	8.5	0.0	9.4	11.9	20.0
Havering	9.6	5.5	2.5	12.9	12.0	10.1
Herefordshire	11.0			8.4	9.4
Hertfordshire	8.9	5.0	3.4	10.7	9.6	10.0
Hillingdon	7.9	8.6	4.3	9.8	14.2	7.1
Hounslow	6.6	7.1		11.1	12.4	5.9
Isle of Wight	11.1	11.1		10.4	11.7	15.6
Isles of Scilly				0.0	6.0
Islington	10.1	7.0		11.9	12.9	7.6
Kensington and Chelsea	10.1	6.5	7.5	10.6	10.1	8.0
Kent	6.3	4.4	3.9	10.4	11.8	9.3
Kingston upon Hull, City of	9.5	3.3		10.8	12.0	13.5
Kingston upon Thames	7.4	8.7	1.5	7.9	8.5	6.2
Kirklees	12.4	9.1	1.9	14.1	8.9	11.0
Knowsley	4.7	7.7		14.5	15.1	10.8
Lambeth	10.2	8.4	2.5	12.6	9.8	11.1
Lancashire	10.7	8.2	2.7	10.3	9.4	10.6
Leeds	12.1	5.1	2.2	14.3	11.4	11.6
Leicester	8.0	7.0	2.6	16.5	17.1	10.6
Leicestershire	6.1	5.2	3.0	10.3	9.3	8.1
Lewisham	8.4	9.1	2.0	12.3	12.8	10.2
Lincolnshire	8.4	7.0	1.9	10.9	10.8	9.7
Liverpool	7.7	8.0	2.6	15.9	15.0	10.9
Luton	11.7	7.1	3.5	14.1	14.3	10.4
Manchester	9.2	5.0	2.8	12.8	13.4	9.4
Medway	7.6	4.0	2.8	12.2	12.5	8.8
Merton	7.8	5.9	2.0	9.2	10.4	6.3
Middlesbrough	10.7	4.5		15.2	16.1	13.6
Milton Keynes	10.0	5.0	2.2	11.5	11.5	10.0
Newcastle upon Tyne	9.4	4.8	1.8	10.0	12.9	11.0
Newham	9.9	6.4	1.7	13.0	16.0	8.6
Norfolk	10.8	5.2	3.1	12.5	10.9	8.8
North East Lincolnshire	9.5	0.0		12.2	11.3	9.4
North Lincolnshire	9.4	8.7	0.0	8.7	9.4	18.7
North Somerset	11.9	9.9	5.3	11.4	10.4	6.3
North Tyneside	12.2	2.7	4.0	8.6	9.7	15.7
North Yorkshire	10.9	8.3	6.8	9.8	9.5	10.4
Northamptonshire	8.5	5.6	3.3	11.7	10.6	8.5
Northumberland	10.6			13.4	10.1	12.9
Nottingham	9.6	5.6	2.9	12.6	12.9	13.2
Nottinghamshire	9.6	7.6	3.1	11.2	9.8	13.3
Oldham	11.0	4.3		15.9	12.2	18.3
Oxfordshire	14.5	7.6	2.4	12.6	10.0	11.1
Peterborough	8.8	4.5		10.4	11.6	9.1
Plymouth	8.9	4.0	5.2	9.7	10.6	10.5
Poole	6.1	5.5		10.5	9.9
Portsmouth	10.0	5.0	6.9	11.8	13.4	12.4
Reading	9.2	5.1		14.1	11.4	9.5
Redbridge	10.8	8.7	2.4	12.8	12.2	11.6
Redcar and Cleveland	9.6	9.4	0.0	11.9	11.1
Richmond upon Thames	8.8	7.8	2.2	8.9	7.0	7.9
Rochdale	9.1	4.8	0.0	9.7	11.4	7.4
Rotherham	12.4	5.8	4.8	16.4	13.0	9.9
Rutland	6.4	5.2	0.0	5.1	5.1	15.0
Salford	7.5	4.4		11.0	12.6	12.3
Sandwell	7.8	6.4	2.5	13.8	12.8	11.4
Sefton	10.8	5.8	10.0	10.2	12.3	14.8
Sheffield	13.2	7.3	2.6	15.6	12.9	10.6
Shropshire	11.5	10.3		9.6	8.7	8.7
Slough	8.0	5.3	0.0	10.5	11.3	6.8
Solihull	9.0	7.7		14.8	10.7	6.5
Somerset	9.5	4.7	5.5	12.0	10.2	9.2
South Gloucestershire	13.8	10.2	4.0	14.1	10.8	11.7
South Tyneside	9.0	5.4		8.2	11.4	12.1
Southampton	9.3	5.5		10.9	11.2	10.9
Southend-on-Sea	9.0	3.4	2.3	9.7	9.6	12.0
Southwark	9.9	5.5	2.6	12.2	12.8	9.8
St. Helens	9.4	8.6	0.0	10.7	10.9	14.5
Staffordshire	8.6	8.8	2.7	12.1	9.0	10.1
Stockport	12.4	7.2	1.6	12.4	10.7	10.8
Stockton-on-Tees	11.3	2.0		11.5	10.7	9.5
Stoke-on-Trent	12.7	4.3	4.8	14.7	12.3	20.1
Suffolk	11.3	6.7		11.5	9.7	9.2
Sunderland	7.8	3.7	3.1	12.2	11.7	20.9
Surrey	8.3	6.4	3.1	7.8	8.8	6.4
Sutton	6.9	6.0	2.6	9.1	10.8	7.7
Swindon	8.9	5.8	3.4	11.1	10.2	11.0
Tameside	8.1	5.7		11.0	10.1	5.3
Telford and Wrekin	8.6	5.2		11.9	10.8	10.7
Thurrock	8.0	3.2		10.7	11.3	10.5
Torbay	8.7			15.3	12.5	17.3
Tower Hamlets	7.6	5.4		15.3	17.9	7.3
Trafford	10.7	6.4	1.5	10.3	7.7	8.1
Wakefield	13.1	4.6		12.8	11.5	7.1
Walsall	8.5	6.3		15.1	12.5	14.4
Waltham Forest	11.3	8.9	6.3	13.5	12.8	8.5
Wandsworth	9.9	9.7	2.6	13.2	9.1	9.4
Warrington	11.7	7.6		10.5	9.3	13.5
Warwickshire	5.9	6.3	2.2	10.2	9.3	9.0
West Berkshire	10.3	5.9	0.0	10.3	8.1	9.5
West Sussex	10.7	8.1	3.3	11.3	9.9	9.3
Westminster	12.1	9.6	3.2	14.5	11.3	11.1
Wigan	14.0	5.6		10.1	10.0	12.1
Wiltshire	8.4	9.1	5.4	10.7	10.2	9.5
Windsor and Maidenhead	9.2	9.0	5.4	7.9	8.6	8.8
Wirral	9.8	9.8	2.4	12.6	12.6	9.8
Wokingham	9.0	5.7	4.3	10.0	8.1	11.0
Wolverhampton	7.1	7.5	6.5	13.8	12.6	24.1
Worcestershire	10.0	8.1	0.0	10.5	9.6	11.7
York	10.3	5.6		10.1	9.0	17.6

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Absence from school Persistent absence by ethnicity and local authority Summary

This data show that:

• in 2015/16, Asian pupils had the highest persistent absence rate in Bristol in the South West (15.6%) and the lowest persistent absence rate in Bexley in London (4.5%)

• Black pupils had the highest persistent absence rate in Halton in the North West (25%) and the lowest persistent absence rate in North East Lincolnshire in Yorkshire and the Humber (0%)

• Chinese pupils had the highest persistent absence rate in Sefton in the North West and East Riding in Yorkshire and the Humber (both 10%) and an absence rate of 0% in 12 local authorities where data was available

• Mixed ethnicity pupils had the highest persistent absence rate in Bradford in Yorkshire and the Humber (17.5%) and the lowest persistent absence rate in the Isles of Scilly in the South West (0%)

• White pupils had the highest persistent absence rate in Tower Hamlets in London (17.9%) and the lowest persistent absence rate in Rutland in the East Midlands (5.1%)

8. Methodology

Pupil absence is reported by schools and collected via the termly school census. National codes enable schools to record and monitor attendance and absence in a consistent way.

Absence information is matched with each pupil's enrolment to give figures for the full academic year. The school census collects information for a pupil’s attendance in the term prior to the census. For example, the spring school census collects information on absence during the autumn term.

Data is collected for the previous term to ensure all absences are accounted for and recorded in each term. Special schools provide annual absence data in the autumn school census.

Absence information is collected and disseminated at enrolment level rather than pupil level. This means that where a pupil has moved school throughout the year, they will be counted more than once as they have recorded attendance at more than 1 school. This allows for schools to be held accountable for pupil absences, as the absence is attached to enrolments at a particular school, not the individual pupil.

All state-funded mainstream schools are required to provide 2 possible sessions per day, morning and afternoon, to all pupils.

Schools are required to take attendance registers twice a day: once at the start of the morning session of each school day and once during the afternoon session.

Failure of a parent to ensure regular attendance for their child of compulsory school age can lead to a penalty notice or prosecution. Local authorities and schools have legal responsibilities regarding accurate recording of a pupil’s attendance.

Suppression rules and disclosure control

Enrolment numbers at national and regional levels are rounded to the nearest 5.

Local authority totals across school types are also rounded to the nearest 5 to prevent any suppressed values being disclosed.

Enrolment numbers of less than 3 and rates based on fewer than 3 pupil enrolments have been suppressed. This is because, where the size of the ethnic group population is small enough that an individual’s identity could be revealed, information is suppressed to preserve confidentiality. The Code of Practice for Official Statistics requires DfE to take reasonable steps to ensure that their published or disseminated statistics protect confidentiality.

For more information about DfE’s disclosure control procedures for its statistical releases please see DfE’s statistical policy statement on confidentiality (PDF opens in a new window or tab) (PDF).

Rounding

Enrolment numbers at national and regional levels are rounded to the nearest 5.

Local authority totals across school types are also rounded to the nearest 5 to prevent disclosure of any suppressed values.

Related publications

Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2016

Quality and methodology information

9. Data sources

Source

Statistics: pupil absence

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Education

Publication frequency

Every academic term

Purpose of data source

The data helps schools, local authorities and the government have a greater understanding of the level of absence and the reasons for it.

10. Download the data

Absence from school - England - Spreadsheet (csv) 23 KB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, school type, value, denominator and numerator.

Absence from school - local authority - Spreadsheet (csv) 3 MB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, local authority, school type, value, denominator and numerator.

Publication release date: 10 October 2017

Updated: 1 March 2018

full page history

1. 1 March 2018 minor updates for style
2. 11 October 2017 Technical change: Updated url to match page title.
3. 10 October 2017 First published

From: Department for Education

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