Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 12
12
Accepted in Part
Increased pupil absence is primarily driven by illness, especially persistent absence, not unauthorised reasons.
Conclusion
The Department told us that illness, rather than unauthorised absence, was the biggest driver of the increase in absence, particularly persistent absence. It noted that this year’s figures were for the autumn term only, when there had been quite a lot of illness. A pupil would only need to have missed seven days during the term to be classed as persistently absent, and quite a lot of people who got flu would have been off for seven days.23 The Department said that the data showed that attendance was lower on Fridays than on other days of the week, and a little lower on Mondays, but did not indicate why. It also noted that anecdotally this pattern had also existed before the pandemic.24
Government Response Summary
While the committee's item is a conclusion on the drivers and patterns of pupil absence, the government's response commits to developing a better understanding of absence rates among disadvantaged pupils by July 2024. It also states existing comprehensive measures and targeted programmes are already in place for reducing absence.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: July 2024 2.2 Over the academic year 2023-24, the department will build on existing absence analysis and use available data to develop a better understanding of why disadvantaged pupils have higher rates of absence than others, including in identifying any new post-pandemic trends. 2.3 The government disagrees with the Committee's recommendation. 2.4 The department is strongly committed to reducing absence among disadvantaged pupils. The current approach includes comprehensive measures and a system-wide strategy that is already supplemented by targeted action to address the underlying causes of absence rates among disadvantaged pupils. New guidance places an expectation on schools to use data to identify at-risk pupils, then work with families to support absent students, while local authorities are required to establish an attendance support team and hold termly meetings with every school to plan interventions for children at risk of persistent or severe absence. 2.5 These expectations provide a framework for identifying children who need additional support. They are supplemented via targeted programmes that will particularly benefit disadvantaged pupils. These include the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme (£200 million annually), the National School Breakfast Programme (£30 million) and - to address wider multiple challenges - the Supporting Families programme (an additional £200 million). The government has also committed to investing £2.6 billion via the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) improvement plan, and £2.9 billion annually in pupil premium funding, the latter of which can be used to address non-academic barriers such as attendance difficulties.