Persistent and severe absence is a growing problem for many secondary schools
Recent data on severe absence (students who miss at least 50% of school sessions) shows that 2.1% of students are severely absent, equating to 158,000 young people. This figure is up from 0.8% in 2018/19. At secondary level, 3.5% of students are severely absent, an increase from 1.2% in 2018/19 (DfE, 2024).
And figures on persistent absence (students who miss at least 10%) show that in the autumn term 2024, 22.7% of secondary students were categorised as such – this being a marginal improvement on autumn 2023 but still very concerning (DfE, 2025).
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