Absence from school

Published

1. Main facts and figures

  • in the 2021 to 2022 school year, the overall absence rate was 7.6%
  • 22.5% of pupils missed 10% or more of their school sessions – this is known as ‘persistent absence’
  • Traveller of Irish heritage and Gypsy or Roma pupils had the highest rates of overall and persistent absence
  • pupils from the Chinese and black African ethnic groups had the lowest rates

Further Research:

Analysis by The Education Policy Institute highlighted that absence rates for Traveller of Irish heritage and Gypsy or Roma pupils were high before the COVID-19 pandemic but have increased further. This is mostly due to an increase in unauthorised absences. Research conducted by the Anti-Bullying Alliance (PDF) (PDF opens in a new window or tab) identified particular challenges that Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller pupils experience at school, such as racism, stereotyping and bullying. The Anti-Bullying Alliance’s All Together programme which supports schools to reduce bullying of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller and other pupils who are bullied, also improved pupils’ well-being and attendance.

In 2023, the UK government announced plans to address high absence rates through programmes such as ‘Attendance Hubs’. Hubs share practice and resources to improve attendance, such as automatic text messages to parents whose children do not attend school. They also use data to identify children at risk of persistent absence to help prevent it. There are plans for trained mentors to work with persistently absent pupils and their families to identify and overcome their barriers to attending school.

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

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

Data is based on pupil enrolment records 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 school year
  • are registered in more than one school

Rates have been rounded to 1 decimal place.

How absence rates are calculated

Overall absence rate:

The total number of absences as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions at school. There are usually 2 sessions in a school day, in the morning and afternoon.

The data includes authorised and unauthorised absences.

Persistent absence rate:

The total number of pupil enrolments who were persistently absent, as a percentage of all pupil enrolments. A pupil is persistently absent if they miss 10% or more of their possible sessions at school.

The ethnic groups used in the data

The data uses the ethnic groups from the 2001 Census with 2 exceptions:

  • Traveller of Irish heritage, and Gypsy and Roma pupils are in 2 separate categories
  • the Chinese ethnic group has its own category, rather than being part of the Asian ethnic group

For local authority data, percentages are shown for 6 ethnic groups as a whole:

  • Asian
  • black
  • Chinese
  • mixed
  • white
  • 'other'

This is to make sure that numbers are based on enough pupils to be reliable.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document for the data.

Some of this data is based on very small numbers of pupils. Find out more about how group size affects the reliability of data.

In the data file

See Download the data for the total number of pupil enrolments in each local authority.

3. By ethnicity (overall absence)

Overall absence rate and number of sessions missed, by ethnicity
Ethnicity % Sessions
All 7.6 194,229,197
Asian 6.7 19,656,450
Bangladeshi 6.8 2,985,565
Indian 5.7 4,869,963
Pakistani 7.9 8,904,457
Asian Other 5.8 2,896,465
Black 5.1 7,308,949
Black African 4.4 4,356,143
Black Caribbean 7.4 1,837,228
Black Other 5.7 1,115,578
Chinese 3.6 534,252
Mixed 7.7 12,942,318
Mixed White and Asian 6.9 2,812,817
Mixed White and Black African 7.2 1,686,753
Mixed White and Black Caribbean 9.4 3,846,282
Mixed Other 7.3 4,596,466
White 7.9 146,154,047
White British 7.9 131,177,325
White Irish 8.8 562,441
Gypsy, Roma 17.8 1,512,991
Irish Traveller 22.1 454,117
White Other 7.1 12,447,173
Other 6.7 3,611,232

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (overall absence)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (overall absence)’ (CSV)

Summary of Absence from school By ethnicity (overall absence) Summary

The data shows that:

  • in the 2021 to 2022 school year, the overall absence rate was 7.6%
  • pupils from the Chinese ethnic group had the lowest overall absence rate, missing 3.6% of their total school sessions
  • Traveller of Irish heritage (22.1%) and Gypsy and Roma (17.8%) pupils had the highest overall absence rates
  • white British pupils missed 7.9% of their total school sessions

4. By ethnicity and area (overall absence)

Overall absence rate, by ethnicity and local authority
Local authority All Asian Black Chinese Mixed White Other
% % % % % % %
All - England 7.6 6.7 5.1 3.6 7.7 7.9 6.7
Barking and Dagenham 6.6 6.5 4.1 2.7 7.6 8.3 6.5
Barnet 6.5 6.1 6.0 4.1 7.0 6.6 6.8
Barnsley 8.1 7.8 4.7 1.9 6.9 8.1 7.2
Bath and North East Somerset 7.7 6.7 6.8 3.7 8.4 7.6 9.5
Bedford 7.4 7.5 4.9 3.4 8.2 7.4 8.0
Bexley 6.8 5.6 3.9 3.7 7.1 8.0 6.3
Birmingham 7.8 7.6 5.7 3.3 8.5 8.9 6.5
Blackburn with Darwen 7.4 6.4 3.7 3.8 8.0 8.4 6.6
Blackpool 7.9 5.6 5.1 2.5 7.6 8.0 8.9
Bolton 6.9 5.6 3.9 3.1 7.5 7.8 6.0
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 7.7 6.3 4.7 3.9 7.7 7.8 6.7
Bracknell Forest 6.7 5.8 4.4 4.3 6.4 6.9 5.6
Bradford 9.0 8.6 5.1 3.3 10.0 9.4 8.0
Brent 6.3 5.7 6.1 3.6 6.8 6.8 6.5
Brighton and Hove 8.2 7.4 6.2 3.7 7.9 8.4 7.5
Bristol, City of 8.3 8.0 6.9 4.2 9.3 8.4 7.5
Bromley 6.8 6.2 5.4 4.0 7.2 7.1 6.7
Buckinghamshire 7.5 7.5 5.9 4.6 7.9 7.5 7.3
Bury 7.1 7.2 4.5 2.8 7.7 7.2 6.2
Calderdale 7.4 7.6 5.8 3.0 8.0 7.3 7.0
Cambridgeshire 7.6 6.7 5.8 4.1 7.2 7.7 6.3
Camden 7.7 8.4 6.6 5.0 8.2 7.8 6.7
Central Bedfordshire 7.6 7.0 5.6 3.8 8.1 7.7 6.9
Cheshire East 7.4 6.7 5.9 4.3 7.2 7.5 8.5
Cheshire West and Chester 7.8 6.5 4.6 4.6 7.1 7.8 6.7
City of London 4.3 5.0 7.1 2.1 2.8 3.5 4.1
Cornwall 8.3 8.1 7.8 5.4 8.1 8.3 8.2
County Durham 8.1 6.7 4.8 3.3 6.9 8.2 7.0
Coventry 7.6 6.2 4.0 3.5 8.5 8.9 6.4
Croydon 7.0 6.8 5.6 3.7 7.9 7.7 7.4
Cumbria 7.7 6.3 4.8 4.3 7.2 7.7 7.1
Darlington 7.7 6.3 3.6 2.3 7.2 7.8 6.1
Derby 7.6 6.5 4.5 3.4 8.2 8.1 6.0
Derbyshire 7.7 6.4 5.4 3.6 7.8 7.7 8.1
Devon 8.3 6.6 5.2 4.4 8.3 8.3 6.8
Doncaster 8.4 6.7 4.3 2.7 7.9 8.6 7.9
Dorset 8.2 5.8 5.6 4.3 7.5 8.2 8.4
Dudley 8.0 7.5 5.0 3.1 8.8 8.1 6.9
Ealing 6.5 6.1 6.3 3.7 7.0 6.8 6.5
East Riding of Yorkshire 7.4 7.1 5.3 4.5 7.1 7.4 6.6
East Sussex 8.0 6.0 5.4 3.4 7.8 8.0 7.8
Enfield 6.9 6.2 5.5 3.2 7.4 7.6 6.7
Essex 7.7 6.3 4.4 3.8 7.6 7.9 5.9
Gateshead 8.3 7.3 3.4 3.2 6.3 8.5 7.6
Gloucestershire 7.4 6.4 5.0 4.0 7.9 7.5 9.2
Greenwich 6.5 5.7 4.3 3.6 7.3 8.1 5.7
Hackney 6.4 6.6 5.3 2.2 7.3 7.1 6.3
Halton 8.1 6.1 4.8 3.8 7.5 8.2 5.7
Hammersmith and Fulham 6.9 6.5 6.4 3.6 7.5 6.9 6.9
Hampshire 7.2 6.0 4.6 3.7 7.0 7.3 6.7
Haringey 6.9 7.1 5.8 3.0 7.1 7.1 7.4
Harrow 6.2 5.6 6.5 3.6 7.1 6.8 7.4
Hartlepool 7.9 6.0 4.4 2.1 5.8 8.1 6.4
Havering 6.7 6.2 4.4 3.5 7.1 7.2 6.2
Herefordshire, County of 7.7 6.4 5.5 5.3 7.2 7.8 7.5
Hertfordshire 7.2 6.6 5.0 4.0 7.4 7.4 6.8
Hillingdon 6.9 6.1 5.8 3.9 6.9 8.1 6.3
Hounslow 6.9 6.4 5.7 3.8 7.7 7.6 6.5
Isle of Wight 7.7 6.3 6.6 3.5 8.1 7.7 5.1
Isles of Scilly 6.4 NA NA NA 6.5 6.4 NA
Islington 7.3 7.6 6.0 3.8 7.7 8.0 5.9
Kensington and Chelsea 7.0 6.9 5.8 4.7 7.5 7.3 6.9
Kent 7.9 5.9 4.1 3.6 7.2 8.3 6.6
Kingston upon Hull, City of 8.0 6.6 3.8 3.8 6.9 8.2 5.8
Kingston upon Thames 6.5 6.3 6.0 4.1 6.5 6.7 6.2
Kirklees 7.4 7.4 5.0 3.1 8.5 7.4 6.8
Knowsley 8.8 5.6 3.9 2.8 8.7 9.0 5.9
Lambeth 6.6 6.7 6.2 4.0 7.6 6.4 6.7
Lancashire 7.1 6.8 4.3 3.2 7.4 7.2 7.3
Leeds 7.5 7.4 4.0 3.2 8.0 7.9 6.4
Leicester 7.0 5.7 4.9 4.5 8.3 9.1 6.1
Leicestershire 7.2 5.6 4.5 3.1 7.3 7.4 6.7
Lewisham 6.1 5.8 5.3 3.1 6.8 6.7 5.9
Lincolnshire 8.0 6.2 4.9 3.4 7.8 8.1 7.2
Liverpool 8.1 5.7 4.5 2.9 8.1 8.7 6.5
Luton 7.6 7.6 5.1 3.6 8.2 8.2 6.9
Manchester 7.1 6.8 4.1 3.2 8.0 8.9 6.1
Medway 7.7 6.3 3.8 4.0 7.6 8.3 6.4
Merton 6.6 6.2 5.6 4.0 7.5 7.0 5.4
Middlesbrough 8.8 6.9 4.4 3.5 8.4 9.3 7.0
Milton Keynes 7.4 7.0 4.6 4.4 7.5 8.2 6.7
Newcastle upon Tyne 8.7 7.0 4.1 3.1 6.9 9.7 6.7
Newham 6.6 6.4 5.0 2.9 7.9 8.4 5.9
Norfolk 8.4 6.8 5.3 3.8 8.3 8.4 7.2
North East Lincolnshire 7.9 7.5 4.2 2.7 6.6 8.0 6.7
North Lincolnshire 8.0 6.8 5.3 3.3 7.8 8.1 9.6
North Northamptonshire 7.9 6.2 4.6 3.7 8.1 8.1 7.2
North Somerset 8.0 7.6 6.6 4.4 8.4 8.0 8.6
North Tyneside 7.1 6.5 4.4 3.2 6.9 7.2 6.0
North Yorkshire 7.7 7.6 4.9 4.2 7.6 7.7 7.3
Northumberland 7.9 6.7 5.2 4.4 8.4 7.9 6.4
Nottingham 7.6 6.7 4.4 3.1 8.1 8.7 6.0
Nottinghamshire 7.4 6.1 4.6 3.4 7.4 7.5 6.8
Oldham 7.7 7.3 3.5 2.2 8.6 8.3 7.7
Oxfordshire 7.8 7.5 5.4 4.2 8.2 7.8 6.8
Peterborough 7.9 7.7 4.5 3.5 7.8 8.2 5.6
Plymouth 8.8 6.7 5.1 3.7 8.2 8.9 7.4
Portsmouth 8.3 6.3 3.8 3.5 7.4 8.8 6.3
Reading 7.6 7.3 5.3 4.0 8.7 8.0 7.2
Redbridge 6.5 6.4 5.5 4.0 6.9 6.9 6.1
Redcar and Cleveland 7.9 7.0 3.4 1.4 7.7 7.9 6.0
Richmond upon Thames 6.7 6.6 7.2 4.0 7.1 6.6 6.8
Rochdale 7.9 7.5 3.7 2.7 8.0 8.5 7.0
Rotherham 8.2 7.5 4.3 3.1 8.6 8.3 6.8
Rutland 6.5 3.9 5.4 3.5 5.8 6.6 8.0
Salford 8.3 6.4 3.9 3.9 6.6 9.1 6.3
Sandwell 7.4 6.1 5.3 3.1 8.4 8.6 6.4
Sefton 8.0 5.6 4.2 3.1 7.8 8.1 8.4
Sheffield 7.9 7.4 4.9 3.1 8.9 8.3 7.1
Shropshire 7.9 6.7 6.6 3.8 8.6 7.9 5.9
Slough 7.3 6.9 5.6 4.6 7.4 8.8 6.5
Solihull 7.9 6.9 5.7 3.8 8.8 8.1 6.7
Somerset 8.3 7.0 4.9 4.5 8.4 8.3 9.2
South Gloucestershire 7.4 6.8 5.3 4.6 7.9 7.5 7.8
South Tyneside 7.5 6.7 4.4 3.2 6.6 7.6 6.3
Southampton 8.1 6.3 4.2 3.5 7.7 8.7 6.6
Southend-on-Sea 7.2 6.2 4.2 3.0 7.1 7.6 6.7
Southwark 6.3 7.0 4.9 3.5 7.6 7.5 6.2
St. Helens 8.4 5.4 5.9 4.4 7.0 8.5 6.7
Staffordshire 7.6 7.3 5.6 3.7 8.1 7.6 7.0
Stockport 7.2 7.1 5.2 3.6 7.4 7.2 6.8
Stockton-on-Tees 7.7 7.1 3.5 3.8 8.1 7.8 7.2
Stoke-on-Trent 8.2 7.4 4.6 3.1 9.1 8.6 7.7
Suffolk 8.1 6.8 5.7 4.3 7.7 8.1 6.3
Sunderland 8.4 7.1 3.8 3.7 7.8 8.5 6.3
Surrey 7.1 6.8 5.2 4.1 6.9 7.2 6.7
Sutton 6.9 6.2 5.4 3.8 7.1 7.6 6.3
Swindon 7.6 6.3 4.8 4.4 8.3 7.9 7.0
Tameside 7.2 6.0 3.6 2.6 7.2 7.6 6.3
Telford and Wrekin 7.8 6.8 3.6 3.7 7.8 8.1 6.7
Thurrock 6.9 6.5 3.7 3.2 6.7 7.7 5.4
Torbay 9.2 6.5 7.1 5.2 9.2 9.2 6.6
Tower Hamlets 6.2 5.8 4.9 3.7 7.7 8.2 5.4
Trafford 6.4 6.9 4.8 3.6 6.6 6.5 6.6
Wakefield 7.8 7.6 4.7 3.0 7.8 7.9 5.8
Walsall 7.9 6.7 4.8 3.7 8.5 8.6 8.2
Waltham Forest 6.8 6.9 6.0 2.5 7.1 7.0 6.1
Wandsworth 6.5 6.1 6.2 3.0 7.5 6.4 6.8
Warrington 7.1 6.6 4.2 4.0 7.1 7.2 6.9
Warwickshire 8.1 6.2 5.3 4.0 8.3 8.3 7.1
West Berkshire 7.1 6.7 5.1 3.6 7.2 7.2 6.7
West Northamptonshire 7.3 6.8 4.5 3.6 7.6 7.5 6.6
West Sussex 7.3 6.5 5.3 3.6 7.4 7.4 7.2
Westminster 7.3 7.3 6.5 4.0 8.1 7.3 7.8
Wigan 7.7 6.7 4.2 2.7 7.1 7.8 7.5
Wiltshire 7.5 6.2 4.8 4.5 7.7 7.6 6.8
Windsor and Maidenhead 7.3 7.2 5.6 4.1 7.0 7.4 7.0
Wirral 8.2 6.9 6.2 3.7 7.4 8.3 7.5
Wokingham 6.9 7.2 4.9 3.9 7.0 7.0 7.6
Wolverhampton 7.0 5.6 4.5 3.0 8.3 8.1 6.3
Worcestershire 8.1 7.5 5.5 4.4 8.1 8.2 6.6
York 7.6 5.7 4.2 3.2 7.2 7.7 7.0

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area (overall absence)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area (overall absence)’ (CSV)

Summary of Absence from school By ethnicity and area (overall absence) Summary

The data shows that, out of all local authorities where data was available:

  • Bradford had the highest overall absence rate for pupils of mixed ethnicity (10.0%) and Asian pupils (8.6%)
  • Cornwall had the highest rate for black pupils (7.8%) and pupils from the Chinese ethnic group (5.4%)
  • Newcastle upon Tyne had the highest rate for white pupils (9.7%)

5. By ethnicity and type of school (overall absence)

Overall absence rate and number of sessions missed, by ethnicity and type of school
State-funded primary State-funded secondary Special Total
Ethnicity State-funded primary % State-funded primary Sessions State-funded secondary % State-funded secondary Sessions Special % Special Sessions Total % Total Sessions
All 6.3 88,884,850 9.0 99,561,186 13.2 5,783,161 7.6 194,229,197
Asian 6.4 10,334,950 6.9 8,718,900 13.8 602,600 6.7 19,656,450
Bangladeshi 6.6 1,563,129 6.8 1,315,018 14.1 107,418 6.8 2,985,565
Indian 5.7 2,773,162 5.6 1,999,511 11.5 97,290 5.7 4,869,963
Pakistani 7.3 4,467,703 8.3 4,143,259 15.5 293,495 7.9 8,904,457
Asian Other 5.6 1,530,956 5.9 1,261,112 12.2 104,397 5.8 2,896,465
Black 4.5 3,382,861 5.5 3,613,702 10.4 312,386 5.1 7,308,949
Black African 3.9 2,065,714 4.7 2,092,619 9.9 197,810 4.4 4,356,143
Black Caribbean 6.4 783,466 8.2 989,421 12.6 64,341 7.4 1,837,228
Black Other 4.9 533,681 6.3 531,662 10.5 50,235 5.7 1,115,578
Chinese 3.6 320,147 3.6 201,509 8.1 12,596 3.6 534,252
Mixed 6.5 6,169,946 9.2 6,373,382 13.5 398,990 7.7 12,942,318
Mixed White and Asian 5.9 1,385,300 8.2 1,360,615 12.5 66,902 6.9 2,812,817
Mixed White and Black African 5.9 776,055 8.8 857,257 12.3 53,441 7.2 1,686,753
Mixed White and Black Caribbean 7.6 1,719,278 11.5 1,995,295 15.3 131,709 9.4 3,846,282
Mixed Other 6.3 2,289,313 8.4 2,160,215 13.0 146,938 7.3 4,596,466
White 6.4 65,395,790 9.6 76,542,289 13.3 4,215,968 7.9 146,154,047
White British 6.3 57,514,050 9.7 69,750,356 13.2 3,912,919 7.9 131,177,325
White Irish 7.5 249,133 10.0 294,284 17.5 19,024 8.8 562,441
Gypsy, Roma 15.7 855,271 21.3 623,123 21.9 34,597 17.8 1,512,991
Irish Traveller 22.2 339,596 21.3 101,695 28.8 12,826 22.1 454,117
White Other 6.3 6,437,740 8.1 5,772,831 12.5 236,602 7.1 12,447,173
Other 6.1 1,853,014 7.3 1,656,194 12.6 102,024 6.7 3,611,232

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and type of school (overall absence)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and type of school (overall absence)’ (CSV)

Summary of Absence from school By ethnicity and type of school (overall absence) Summary

The data shows that:

  • in most ethnic groups, the overall absence rate was highest in special schools and lowest in primary schools
  • for pupils in the Chinese ethnic group, primary schools and secondary schools had the same overall absence rate (3.6%)
  • for pupils in the Traveller of Irish heritage ethnic groups, the overall absence rate was higher in primary schools (22.2%) than in secondary schools (21.3%)

6. By ethnicity (persistent absence)

Persistent absence rate and number of pupil enrolments, by ethnicity
Ethnicity % Pupil enrolments
All 22.5 1,643,876
Asian 21.0 174,708
Bangladeshi 21.4 26,542
Indian 15.7 38,067
Pakistani 27.1 87,152
Asian Other 16.1 22,947
Black 13.5 56,382
Black African 10.4 29,988
Black Caribbean 23.9 17,191
Black Other 16.2 9,203
Chinese 6.2 2,672
Mixed 23.9 114,241
Mixed White and Asian 20.1 22,974
Mixed White and Black African 21.8 14,492
Mixed White and Black Caribbean 31.4 36,714
Mixed Other 22.1 40,061
White 23.4 1,217,765
White British 23.3 1,084,267
White Irish 26.9 4,874
Gypsy, Roma 64.9 16,895
Irish Traveller 71.7 4,676
White Other 21.4 107,053
Other 20.0 31,828

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (persistent absence)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (persistent absence)’ (CSV)

Summary of Absence from school By ethnicity (persistent absence) Summary

The data shows that:

  • in the 2021 to 2022 school year, 22.5% of pupils were 'persistently absent' – they missed 10% or more of their school sessions
  • 6.2% of pupils in the Chinese ethnic group were persistently absent – the lowest percentage out of all ethnic groups
  • 71.7% of pupils from the Traveller of Irish heritage ethnic group were persistently absent – the highest percentage
  • 23.3% of white British pupils were persistently absent

7. By ethnicity and area (persistent absence)

Percentage of pupil enrolments classed as persistently absent, by ethnicity and local authority
Local Authority All Asian Black Chinese Mixed White Other
% % % % % % %
All - England 22.5 21.0 13.5 6.2 23.9 23.4 20.0
Barking and Dagenham 20.7 19.8 9.8 1.4 24.2 28.0 21.9
Barnet 18.4 16.7 16.8 7.8 20.8 18.2 21.0
Barnsley 24.6 28.6 12.2 0.0 21.7 24.8 26.2
Bath and North East Somerset 21.5 20.0 18.8 4.5 27.4 20.8 30.5
Bedford 22.4 25.1 12.1 5.4 26.7 21.7 25.2
Bexley 20.1 14.4 8.6 7.3 21.3 24.6 19.3
Birmingham 24.9 25.4 16.3 5.5 27.9 28.1 18.8
Blackburn with Darwen 23.6 19.9 7.6 9.5 28.3 26.8 22.8
Blackpool 25.6 16.0 13.0 3.4 24.2 25.9 25.2
Bolton 20.3 16.0 8.0 5.9 23.3 23.4 17.6
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 22.3 18.8 11.7 7.5 22.5 22.5 17.8
Bracknell Forest 18.8 16.8 9.2 4.1 18.5 19.7 10.7
Bradford 28.6 29.3 13.9 7.6 31.5 27.9 25.2
Brent 18.4 15.5 18.1 5.3 19.5 20.6 18.7
Brighton and Hove 24.1 22.4 18.7 6.5 23.7 24.5 24.2
Bristol, City of 25.7 27.6 22.0 7.2 29.5 25.3 23.0
Bromley 19.1 17.6 14.5 5.8 21.4 19.7 18.4
Buckinghamshire 22.9 25.5 17.7 10.5 25.2 21.9 23.2
Bury 20.8 23.7 10.8 2.9 25.0 20.3 17.9
Calderdale 22.3 26.0 19.1 6.2 24.5 21.3 23.0
Cambridgeshire 21.2 20.3 15.9 5.6 20.5 21.5 16.8
Camden 24.1 30.1 20.0 10.7 26.9 23.1 18.9
Central Bedfordshire 22.0 21.0 14.7 8.8 25.6 21.9 21.1
Cheshire East 21.1 22.2 18.8 8.7 21.2 20.9 26.7
Cheshire West and Chester 23.0 21.9 10.0 7.3 22.4 23.1 18.3
City of London 10.0 12.4 14.3 0.0 4.2 7.7 13.6
Cornwall 26.0 30.0 25.6 10.6 26.1 26.0 27.9
County Durham 25.7 19.9 13.0 5.2 22.0 26.0 21.9
Coventry 23.5 18.5 8.7 6.2 25.9 28.7 17.8
Croydon 21.2 20.4 16.2 6.4 25.0 23.2 23.1
Cumbria 22.9 18.9 13.1 8.0 22.7 22.7 23.3
Darlington 24.5 21.1 6.8 3.2 19.5 24.9 16.8
Derby 23.7 19.7 10.2 7.0 27.9 25.5 17.0
Derbyshire 22.1 18.5 13.0 5.9 23.8 22.0 25.5
Devon 24.1 19.9 13.3 5.1 24.6 24.1 20.3
Doncaster 26.1 23.0 10.7 3.6 23.3 26.6 25.3
Dorset 24.1 13.7 13.8 10.2 22.5 24.0 27.5
Dudley 26.0 26.3 13.7 3.4 30.8 25.9 21.3
Ealing 18.9 18.0 18.5 5.7 21.5 18.9 19.1
East Riding of Yorkshire 22.1 23.7 12.9 20.7 22.3 22.0 20.5
East Sussex 23.0 17.3 13.8 7.8 23.0 23.1 23.6
Enfield 21.0 18.1 14.8 4.5 22.7 23.7 19.6
Essex 22.7 18.8 10.1 7.2 23.3 23.4 16.3
Gateshead 24.3 22.7 5.5 5.5 18.0 24.8 25.5
Gloucestershire 21.4 18.8 12.8 5.1 24.8 21.5 28.3
Greenwich 18.9 15.1 10.1 5.6 22.5 25.4 15.4
Hackney 18.6 20.2 14.6 2.1 22.8 20.4 18.2
Halton 25.8 18.6 13.6 0.0 25.7 25.9 21.6
Hammersmith and Fulham 20.0 18.7 18.2 5.8 24.4 18.8 20.7
Hampshire 20.0 17.2 10.0 6.2 19.4 20.3 19.1
Haringey 20.8 21.7 17.1 3.8 21.5 21.2 23.0
Harrow 17.8 14.9 20.3 4.9 21.6 19.4 24.7
Hartlepool 23.9 17.6 10.5 1.9 15.6 24.3 16.5
Havering 19.7 18.2 10.8 4.3 22.4 21.0 17.8
Herefordshire, County of 22.6 17.4 16.5 7.7 20.4 22.7 22.8
Hertfordshire 20.8 19.5 12.9 7.0 22.5 21.3 19.1
Hillingdon 20.4 16.8 16.5 7.1 21.0 24.5 17.9
Hounslow 20.5 18.8 15.3 5.4 24.8 23.4 17.8
Isle of Wight 23.4 23.0 18.3 6.7 23.0 23.4 14.5
Isles Of Scilly 12.2 NA NA NA 14.3 11.9 NA
Islington 22.2 23.0 17.1 6.6 24.7 24.8 16.7
Kensington and Chelsea 21.0 20.4 16.6 9.2 23.4 20.8 21.7
Kent 24.1 16.8 9.3 5.2 21.1 25.4 19.5
Kingston upon Hull, City of 25.6 22.6 8.9 9.3 22.0 26.4 15.8
Kingston upon Thames 17.8 18.1 19.6 8.1 17.8 17.7 17.5
Kirklees 22.4 24.8 12.9 3.5 27.3 21.1 19.7
Knowsley 28.7 15.7 10.8 4.7 28.4 29.2 17.6
Lambeth 19.6 21.8 18.6 7.2 24.0 17.4 19.6
Lancashire 21.2 21.5 9.9 6.6 22.4 20.9 23.8
Leeds 21.8 23.6 9.7 4.6 24.4 22.6 18.4
Leicester 20.5 15.6 12.4 5.7 26.3 28.8 17.3
Leicestershire 19.6 14.3 10.3 4.0 20.9 20.2 17.6
Lewisham 17.4 16.7 14.5 4.8 20.7 18.8 16.4
Lincolnshire 24.5 18.2 13.6 2.6 25.0 24.6 21.8
Liverpool 24.6 16.8 11.3 4.3 25.1 26.6 19.5
Luton 24.7 25.9 12.5 5.4 27.0 26.1 20.0
Manchester 21.7 21.3 9.8 5.2 25.5 27.7 18.2
Medway 24.2 18.7 8.8 8.5 23.5 26.7 18.1
Merton 19.5 18.2 16.1 6.9 24.4 20.2 14.5
Middlesbrough 28.8 23.5 11.5 4.8 27.1 30.6 22.9
Milton Keynes 21.9 21.3 10.9 7.2 22.9 24.4 20.8
Newcastle upon Tyne 26.0 22.3 9.6 4.4 20.1 29.2 19.3
Newham 20.4 19.9 14.0 5.6 24.9 27.2 16.8
Norfolk 25.5 20.0 12.7 7.5 26.0 25.6 22.3
North East Lincolnshire 24.9 29.9 14.9 2.7 19.3 24.9 22.5
North Lincolnshire 25.0 19.8 13.2 6.4 26.3 24.9 35.1
North Northamptonshire 23.7 17.4 10.7 7.4 25.4 24.4 22.3
North Somerset 23.8 26.3 20.6 9.1 27.2 23.5 31.5
North Tyneside 20.5 20.1 8.5 4.5 19.1 20.8 20.1
North Yorkshire 22.2 25.0 12.5 10.5 23.0 22.0 23.1
Northumberland 23.6 22.3 19.0 9.2 25.0 23.6 17.8
Nottingham 23.7 21.6 11.4 2.9 26.1 27.5 18.0
Nottinghamshire 21.3 17.0 11.6 5.4 21.8 21.5 20.3
Oldham 24.1 24.3 7.9 3.5 27.9 24.9 24.8
Oxfordshire 22.1 25.2 14.0 7.9 24.6 22.0 20.9
Peterborough 24.8 26.6 10.1 4.0 23.5 25.5 16.3
Plymouth 28.1 21.2 14.5 6.7 26.6 28.4 25.4
Portsmouth 24.1 18.1 8.1 6.6 21.3 25.9 17.3
Reading 24.5 25.8 15.3 8.4 29.9 24.9 24.1
Redbridge 19.4 19.4 16.3 5.2 20.7 20.1 18.7
Redcar and Cleveland 23.5 26.0 4.7 0.0 22.9 23.4 17.2
Richmond upon Thames 18.1 20.2 20.0 7.7 21.5 17.1 18.9
Rochdale 25.4 25.0 9.8 8.5 25.9 26.9 23.1
Rotherham 25.8 25.2 9.8 8.6 30.6 26.0 23.2
Rutland 17.2 6.8 22.7 0.0 13.3 17.1 32.0
Salford 26.0 21.1 9.0 6.5 20.0 28.9 19.8
Sandwell 23.3 18.1 14.7 4.8 28.2 27.8 18.8
Sefton 25.3 17.5 10.7 5.6 25.3 25.5 28.8
Sheffield 23.8 25.0 13.4 5.6 27.9 24.0 22.7
Shropshire 23.9 20.3 21.8 7.2 26.7 23.7 15.4
Slough 22.8 21.2 15.3 9.8 23.1 28.7 17.4
Solihull 23.5 21.2 16.3 6.7 28.2 23.8 20.1
Somerset 24.2 20.9 11.5 7.9 24.2 24.1 30.1
South Gloucestershire 21.2 23.0 13.7 7.6 24.5 21.1 23.9
South Tyneside 23.3 22.1 11.0 5.4 18.8 23.7 21.1
Southampton 24.1 17.6 9.5 9.4 24.0 26.3 22.4
Southend-on-Sea 21.6 18.5 8.9 4.9 21.9 22.9 23.1
Southwark 18.0 21.8 12.5 5.1 23.1 22.1 18.3
St. Helens 26.0 12.9 14.7 8.0 20.5 26.5 17.4
Staffordshire 22.4 23.8 17.0 6.5 26.4 22.2 21.0
Stockport 20.1 22.7 11.6 6.5 23.2 19.9 18.4
Stockton-on-Tees 23.4 23.0 6.8 8.3 27.1 23.6 19.7
Stoke-on-Trent 26.2 24.6 11.2 5.1 31.8 27.1 26.7
Suffolk 24.3 20.6 16.0 7.8 24.1 24.2 18.9
Sunderland 26.0 23.4 8.4 7.3 22.8 26.7 15.9
Surrey 19.6 20.9 13.8 7.4 19.2 19.6 19.9
Sutton 21.0 19.2 15.8 7.8 21.8 23.2 19.9
Swindon 22.2 18.6 11.5 7.6 26.1 23.0 23.5
Tameside 20.1 16.0 6.5 2.7 20.4 21.4 15.8
Telford and Wrekin 23.7 21.4 7.4 6.1 23.7 24.9 20.7
Thurrock 20.8 20.7 8.2 5.1 20.4 23.6 15.1
Torbay 28.8 17.5 25.0 11.8 32.0 28.9 22.5
Tower Hamlets 18.0 16.3 12.5 4.6 25.5 27.0 15.1
Trafford 17.6 21.2 12.9 6.2 20.1 17.2 19.5
Wakefield 23.8 26.1 11.2 3.7 24.8 23.9 15.8
Walsall 24.9 21.1 11.9 6.6 28.2 27.4 26.3
Waltham Forest 20.4 22.3 17.6 4.6 21.5 20.3 17.4
Wandsworth 18.2 17.9 17.3 4.4 23.7 16.6 18.6
Warrington 20.0 20.3 9.9 7.1 21.0 20.3 23.2
Warwickshire 23.7 17.6 15.2 6.4 26.0 24.1 22.8
West Berkshire 19.7 22.2 12.5 9.7 21.7 19.5 22.1
West Northamptonshire 20.6 20.7 10.1 2.7 22.5 21.2 19.2
West Sussex 21.1 19.1 13.9 3.8 22.4 21.2 23.9
Westminster 23.1 23.0 19.9 8.8 25.0 21.9 25.5
Wigan 22.9 22.2 9.0 3.6 23.0 23.2 22.1
Wiltshire 22.1 18.8 11.3 13.1 23.7 22.3 19.4
Windsor and Maidenhead 20.8 22.1 15.5 8.0 20.3 20.6 20.2
Wirral 24.4 19.5 18.3 6.9 20.7 24.8 27.1
Wokingham 18.8 22.8 12.7 6.4 19.7 18.2 25.2
Wolverhampton 21.3 15.6 11.3 5.7 26.2 25.7 19.9
Worcestershire 24.7 24.8 16.6 7.7 25.0 24.7 19.2
York 20.4 14.4 6.1 5.2 20.0 20.6 25.4

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area (persistent absence)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area (persistent absence)’ (CSV)

Summary of Absence from school By ethnicity and area (persistent absence) Summary

The data shows that, out of all local authorities where data was available:

  • Camden had the highest persistent absence rates for Asian pupils (30.1%)
  • Cornwall had the highest rate for black pupils (25.6%)
  • East Riding of Yorkshire had the highest rate for pupils in the Chinese ethnic group (20.7%)
  • Torbay had the highest rate for pupils with mixed ethnicity (32.0%)
  • Middlesbrough had the highest rate for white pupils (30.6%)

8. By ethnicity and type of school (persistent absence)

Persistent absence rate, and number of pupil enrolments, by ethnicity and type of school
State-funded primary State-funded secondary Special Total
Ethnicity State-funded primary % State-funded primary Pupil enrolments State-funded secondary % State-funded secondary Pupil enrolments Special % Special Pupil enrolments Total % Total Pupil enrolments
All 17.7 699,877 27.7 893,492 40.4 50,507 22.5 1,643,876
Asian 19.9 90,365 21.5 78,730 45.8 5,613 21.0 174,708
Bangladeshi 21.0 13,918 20.8 11,591 48.2 1,033 21.4 26,542
Indian 15.9 21,933 14.8 15,253 37.0 881 15.7 38,067
Pakistani 25.0 42,811 28.7 41,617 51.0 2,724 27.1 87,152
Asian Other 14.9 11,703 16.6 10,269 40.5 975 16.1 22,947
Black 11.0 23,879 15.5 29,760 32.2 2,743 13.5 56,382
Black African 8.5 12,840 11.8 15,430 30.3 1,718 10.4 29,988
Black Caribbean 20.1 6,960 26.8 9,649 39.3 582 23.9 17,191
Black Other 13.3 4,079 19.0 4,681 32.6 443 16.2 9,203
Chinese 5.6 1,446 6.8 1,134 21.1 92 6.2 2,672
Mixed 19.3 51,654 29.1 59,072 41.7 3,515 23.9 114,241
Mixed White and Asian 16.2 10,462 24.9 11,925 39.0 587 20.1 22,974
Mixed White and Black African 16.8 6,151 27.5 7,860 39.2 481 21.8 14,492
Mixed White and Black Caribbean 25.3 16,013 38.4 19,555 46.2 1,146 31.4 36,714
Mixed Other 18.6 19,028 26.1 19,732 40.6 1,301 22.1 40,061
White 17.7 498,879 29.7 682,578 40.1 36,308 23.4 1,217,765
White British 17.2 431,465 29.9 619,171 39.9 33,631 23.3 1,084,267
White Irish 22.6 2,095 30.6 2,615 53.2 164 26.9 4,874
Gypsy, Roma 62.2 10,132 69.6 6,469 63.5 294 64.9 16,895
Irish Traveller 73.8 3,603 64.7 975 74.8 98 71.7 4,676
White Other 18.0 51,584 25.7 53,348 39.5 2,121 21.4 107,053
Other 17.6 15,640 22.4 15,248 41.4 940 20.0 31,828

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and type of school (persistent absence)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and type of school (persistent absence)’ (CSV)

Summary of Absence from school By ethnicity and type of school (persistent absence) Summary

The data shows that:

  • in most ethnic groups, the persistent absence rate was highest in special schools and lowest in primary schools
  • the persistent absence rate for all pupils ranged from 17.7% in primary schools to 40.4% in special schools

9. Data sources

Source

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Education

Publication frequency

Yearly

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

Absences national 2021/22 - Spreadsheet (csv) 26 KB

This file contains the following: measure, time, time_type, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, geography, geography_type, type_of_school, value, value_type, numerator, denominator

Absences local authority 2021/22 - Spreadsheet (csv) 272 KB

This file contains the following: measure, time, time_type, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, geography, geography_type, value, value_type, numerator, denominator