Data set from Pupil absence in schools in England

Absence rates by geographic level

Not the latest data

Published 26 March 2026

Last updated 26 March 2026

Absence information for full academic years for all enrolments in state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools including information on overall absence, persistent absence and reason for absence for pupils aged 5-15.

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Data set details

• Theme: Pupils and schools
• Publication: Pupil absence in schools in England
• Release: Academic year 2024/25
• Number of rows: 11,567
• Geographic levels: Local authority, National, Regional
• Indicators:
  • Overall absence rate
  • Percentage of persistent absentees (10% or more missed)
  • Number of schools
  • Number of pupil enrolments
  • Number of sessions possible
  • Number of overall absence sessions
  • Number of authorised absence sessions
  • Number of unauthorised absence sessions
  • Authorised absence rate
  • Unauthorised absence rate
  • Number of persistent absentees (10% or more missed)
  • Overall absence rate (persistent absentees only)
  • Authorised absence rate (persistent absentees only)
  • Unauthorised absence rate (persistent absentees only)
  • Number of sessions possible (persistent absentees only)
  • Number of overall absence sessions (persistent absentees only)
  • Number of authorised absence sessions (persistent absentees only)
  • Number of unauthorised absence sessions (persistent absentees only)
  • Number of severe absentees (50% or more missed)
  • Percentage of severe absentees (50% or more missed)
  • Number of authorised holiday sessions
  • Number of authorised other sessions
  • Number of authorised reasons sessions
  • Number of excluded sessions
  • Number of extended authorised holiday sessions
  • Number of illness sessions
  • Number of interview sessions
  • Number of late sessions
  • Number of medical appointments sessions
  • Number of regulated performance sessions
  • Number of religious observance sessions
  • Number of study leave sessions
  • Number of temporary reduced timetable sessions
  • Number of traveller sessions
  • Number of unauthorised holiday sessions
  • Number of unauthorised other sessions
  • Number of unauthorised reasons sessions
  • Number of no reason yet sessions
  • Number of overall reasons sessions
  • Authorised holiday rate
  • Authorised other rate
  • Authorised reasons rate
  • Excluded rate
  • Extended authorised holiday rate
  • Illness rate
  • Interview rate
  • Late rate
  • Medical appointments rate
  • Regulated performance rate
  • Religious observance rate
  • Study leave rate
  • Temporary reduced timetable rate
  • Traveller rate
  • Unauthorised holiday rate
  • Unauthorised other rate
  • Unauthorised reasons rate
  • No reason yet rate
  • Overall reasons rate
  • Number of sessions recorded as exceptional circumstances
  • Number of sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances
  • Number of sessions recorded as unable to attend because of access arrangements
  • Rate of sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances
• Filters:
  • School type
• Time period: 2006/07 to 2024/25

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Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data

time_period	time_identifier	year_breakdown	geographic_level	country_code	country_name	region_code	region_name	old_la_code	new_la_code	la_name	education_phase	num_schools	enrolments	sess_possible	sess_overall	sess_authorised	sess_unauthorised	sess_overall_percent	sess_authorised_percent	sess_unauthorised_percent	enrolments_pa_10_exact	enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent	sess_possible_pa_10_exact	sess_overall_pa_10_exact	sess_authorised_pa_10_exact	sess_unauthorised_pa_10_exact	sess_overall_percent_pa_10_exact	sess_authorised_percent_pa_10_exact	sess_unauthorised_percent_pa_10_exact	enrolments_pa_50_exact	enrolments_pa_50_exact_percent	sess_auth_illness	sess_auth_appointments	sess_auth_religious	sess_auth_study	sess_auth_traveller	sess_auth_holiday	sess_auth_ext_holiday	sess_auth_excluded	sess_auth_interview	sess_auth_reg_performance	sess_auth_temp_reduced_timetable	sess_auth_other	sess_auth_totalreasons	sess_unauth_holiday	sess_unauth_late	sess_unauth_other	sess_unauth_noyet	sess_unauth_totalreasons	sess_overall_totalreasons	sess_x_covid	sess_y_exceptional	sess_q_la_arrangements	sess_auth_illness_rate	sess_auth_appointments_rate	sess_auth_religious_rate	sess_auth_study_rate	sess_auth_traveller_rate	sess_auth_holiday_rate	sess_auth_ext_holiday_rate	sess_auth_excluded_rate	sess_auth_interview_rate	sess_auth_reg_performance_rate	sess_auth_temp_reduced_timetable_rate	sess_auth_other_rate	sess_auth_totalreasons_rate	sess_unauth_holiday_rate	sess_unauth_late_rate	sess_unauth_other_rate	sess_unauth_noyet_rate	sess_unauth_totalreasons_rate	sess_overall_totalreasons_rate	sess_x_covid_rate
200910	Academic year	Five half terms	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000005	West Midlands	334	E08000029	Solihull	State-funded primary	64	15103	4481933	222305	200430	21875	4.96003	4.47195	0.48807	1917	12.69284	536584	80437	67490	12947	14.99057	12.57771	2.41286	36	0.23836	140793	10529	1814	0	92	24649	232	720	z	z	z	21601	200430	4319	3441	13227	888	21875	222305	z	z	z	3.141345486	0.234920959	0.040473608	0	0.002052686	0.549963598	0.005176338	0.016064497	z	z	z	0.481957227	4.4719544	0.096364671	0.076774909	0.2951182	0.01981288	0.488070661	4.960025061	z
200910	Academic year	Five half terms	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000005	West Midlands	334	E08000029	Solihull	State-funded secondary	14	15713	4746468	326299	274915	51384	6.87456	5.79199	1.08257	3279	20.86807	964598	181298	138925	42373	18.79519	14.40237	4.39281	148	0.9419	189870	20748	1722	9075	207	13237	1056	10545	z	z	z	28455	274915	3724	2740	41965	2955	51384	326299	z	z	z	4.00023765	0.437125037	0.036279608	0.1911948	0.004361138	0.278881054	0.022248122	0.222165197	z	z	z	0.599498406	5.791991013	0.07845834	0.057727135	0.884131105	0.062256819	1.0825734	6.874564413	z
200910	Academic year	Five half terms	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000005	West Midlands	335	E08000030	Walsall	State-funded secondary	19	17835	5305298	381806	304753	77053	7.19669	5.74431	1.45238	4072	22.83151	1181421	220230	161110	59120	18.64111	13.63697	5.00414	175	0.98122	210219	25142	3327	3034	327	10411	459	12738	z	z	z	39096	304753	9096	1783	62958	3216	77053	381806	z	z	z	3.962435286	0.473903634	0.062710898	0.057188116	0.00616365	0.196237799	0.008651729	0.240099614	z	z	z	0.736923732	5.744314457	0.171451255	0.033607914	1.18670054	0.06061865	1.452378358	7.196692815	z
200910	Academic year	Five half terms	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000005	West Midlands	336	E08000031	Wolverhampton	State-funded primary	76	17052	5009402	304961	259730	45231	6.08777	5.18485	0.90292	3418	20.04457	955859	147262	117029	30233	15.40625	12.24333	3.16291	59	0.346	179706	10296	2258	2	705	37326	2082	506	z	z	z	26849	259730	3615	1903	29753	9960	45231	304961	z	z	z	3.587374301	0.205533515	0.045075241	3.99249E-05	0.014073536	0.745118878	0.041561847	0.010101006	z	z	z	0.535972158	5.184850407	0.072164302	0.037988566	0.593943149	0.198826127	0.902922145	6.087772552	z
200910	Academic year	Five half terms	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000005	West Midlands	860	E10000028	Staffordshire	State-funded primary	295	50022	14912021	752885	708855	44030	5.04885	4.75358	0.29527	6528	13.05026	1850556	276118	247149	28969	14.92081	13.35539	1.56542	87	0.17392	486612	34051	3273	10	2497	127476	2501	2452	z	z	z	49981	708853	6329	5032	28425	4244	44030	752883	z	z	z	3.263219653	0.228345977	0.021948735	6.706E-05	0.01674488	0.854853946	0.016771704	0.01644311	z	z	z	0.335172543	4.753567608	0.042442269	0.033744588	0.190618026	0.02846026	0.295265142	5.04883275	z

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Variables in this data set

Table showing all 63 variables

Variable name	Variable description
education_phase	School type - Filter by school type - Total includes primary, secondary and special
enrolments	Number of pupil enrolments
enrolments_pa_10_exact	Number of persistent absentees (10% or more missed)
enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent	Percentage of persistent absentees (10% or more missed)
enrolments_pa_50_exact	Number of severe absentees (50% or more missed)
enrolments_pa_50_exact_percent	Percentage of severe absentees (50% or more missed)
num_schools	Number of schools
sess_auth_appointments	Number of medical appointments sessions
sess_auth_appointments_rate	Medical appointments rate
sess_auth_excluded	Number of excluded sessions
sess_auth_excluded_rate	Excluded rate
sess_auth_ext_holiday	Number of extended authorised holiday sessions
sess_auth_ext_holiday_rate	Extended authorised holiday rate
sess_auth_holiday	Number of authorised holiday sessions
sess_auth_holiday_rate	Authorised holiday rate
sess_auth_illness	Number of illness sessions
sess_auth_illness_rate	Illness rate
sess_auth_interview	Number of interview sessions
sess_auth_interview_rate	Interview rate
sess_auth_other	Number of authorised other sessions
sess_auth_other_rate	Authorised other rate
sess_auth_reg_performance	Number of regulated performance sessions
sess_auth_reg_performance_rate	Regulated performance rate
sess_auth_religious	Number of religious observance sessions
sess_auth_religious_rate	Religious observance rate
sess_auth_study	Number of study leave sessions
sess_auth_study_rate	Study leave rate
sess_auth_temp_reduced_timetable	Number of temporary reduced timetable sessions
sess_auth_temp_reduced_timetable_rate	Temporary reduced timetable rate
sess_auth_totalreasons	Number of authorised reasons sessions
sess_auth_totalreasons_rate	Authorised reasons rate
sess_auth_traveller	Number of traveller sessions
sess_auth_traveller_rate	Traveller rate
sess_authorised	Number of authorised absence sessions
sess_authorised_pa_10_exact	Number of authorised absence sessions (persistent absentees only)
sess_authorised_percent	Authorised absence rate
sess_authorised_percent_pa_10_exact	Authorised absence rate (persistent absentees only)
sess_overall	Number of overall absence sessions
sess_overall_pa_10_exact	Number of overall absence sessions (persistent absentees only)
sess_overall_percent	Overall absence rate
sess_overall_percent_pa_10_exact	Overall absence rate (persistent absentees only)
sess_overall_totalreasons	Number of overall reasons sessions
sess_overall_totalreasons_rate	Overall reasons rate
sess_possible	Number of sessions possible
sess_possible_pa_10_exact	Number of sessions possible (persistent absentees only)
sess_q_la_arrangements	Number of sessions recorded as unable to attend because of access arrangements
sess_unauth_holiday	Number of unauthorised holiday sessions
sess_unauth_holiday_rate	Unauthorised holiday rate
sess_unauth_late	Number of late sessions
sess_unauth_late_rate	Late rate
sess_unauth_noyet	Number of no reason yet sessions
sess_unauth_noyet_rate	No reason yet rate
sess_unauth_other	Number of unauthorised other sessions
sess_unauth_other_rate	Unauthorised other rate
sess_unauth_totalreasons	Number of unauthorised reasons sessions
sess_unauth_totalreasons_rate	Unauthorised reasons rate
sess_unauthorised	Number of unauthorised absence sessions
sess_unauthorised_pa_10_exact	Number of unauthorised absence sessions (persistent absentees only)
sess_unauthorised_percent	Unauthorised absence rate
sess_unauthorised_percent_pa_10_exact	Unauthorised absence rate (persistent absentees only)
sess_x_covid	Number of sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances
sess_x_covid_rate	Rate of sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances
sess_y_exceptional	Number of sessions recorded as exceptional circumstances

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Footnotes

1. Total includes state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools.
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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read.csv("https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/data-set/d37f27c4-cca2-4274-97e9-1cdcb4ecad18/csv")

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Absence rates by geographic level 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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