Data set from Pupil absence in schools in England

absence by school location - IDACI and urban or rurality

Not the latest data

Published 20 March 2025

Last updated 7 April 2025

Absence information by the school location including the level of depravation and rurality. Includes where a school location may differ from administrative authority responsible for the school

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Data set details

• Theme: Pupils and schools
• Publication: Pupil absence in schools in England
• Release: Academic year 2023/24
• Number of rows: 41,800
• Geographic levels: Local authority, Local authority district, National, Regional
• Indicators:
  • Authorised absence rate
  • Number of authorised absence sessions
  • Number of overall absence sessions
  • Number of persistent absentees
  • Number of pupil enrolments
  • Number of sessions possible
  • Number of unauthorised absence sessions
  • Overall absence rate
  • Percentage of persistent absentees
  • Unauthorised absence rate
• Filters:
  • IDACI band of school location
  • Rurality band of school location
  • School type
• Time period: 2018/19 to 2023/24

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Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data

time_identifier	absence_terms	time_period	geographic_level	country_name	country_code	region_code	region_name	lad_code	lad_name	old_la_code	new_la_code	la_name	education_phase	sch_rurality	sch_idaci	enrolments	sess_possible	sess_overall	sess_overall_percent	sess_authorised	sess_authorised_percent	sess_unauthorised	sess_unauthorised_percent	enrolments_pa_10_exact	enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent
Academic year	Six half terms	202324	National	England	E92000001								Total	Total	Total	7453730	2620428796	187334908	7.14902	122518525	4.67551	64816383	2.4735	1487022	19.95004
Academic year	Six half terms	202324	National	England	E92000001								Total	Total	0 - 10 % most deprived	721932	249511982	20039502	8.03148	11072391	4.43762	8967111	3.59386	174923	24.22984
Academic year	Six half terms	202324	National	England	E92000001								Total	Total	10 - 20 %	764099	266411662	20240521	7.59746	12066825	4.52939	8173696	3.06807	172555	22.58281
Academic year	Six half terms	202324	National	England	E92000001								Total	Total	20 - 30 %	770246	267855360	20504228	7.65496	12425530	4.6389	8078698	3.01607	171312	22.24121
Academic year	Six half terms	202324	National	England	E92000001								Total	Total	30 - 40 %	780014	271871832	20050364	7.37493	12730028	4.68236	7320336	2.69257	164730	21.11885

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Variables in this data set

Table showing all 13 variables

Variable name	Variable description
education_phase	School type - Filter by school type
enrolments	Number of pupil enrolments
enrolments_pa_10_exact	Number of persistent absentees
enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent	Percentage of persistent absentees
sch_idaci	IDACI band of school location - Filter by IDACI band of school location
sch_rurality	Rurality band of school location - Filter by rurality band of school location
sess_authorised	Number of authorised absence sessions
sess_authorised_percent	Authorised absence rate
sess_overall	Number of overall absence sessions
sess_overall_percent	Overall absence rate
sess_possible	Number of sessions possible
sess_unauthorised	Number of unauthorised absence sessions
sess_unauthorised_percent	Unauthorised absence rate

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Footnotes

1. Total includes state-funded primary, secondary and special schools. Data for special schools is available from 2016/17 to present.
2. Sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances are included as possible sessions in 2020/21 and 2021/22 only, but not as an absence within absence rates.

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Using this data

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Download this data using code

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Example code

Python

import pandas as pd

pd.read_csv("https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/data-set/353b5ea9-33ce-4537-a884-98d1668d3840/csv")

R

read.csv("https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/data-set/353b5ea9-33ce-4537-a884-98d1668d3840/csv")

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about absence by school location - IDACI and urban or rurality statistics and data:

Attendance and exclusions statistics team

Email: schools.statistics@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Attendance and exclusions statistics team

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