MPs Call for Register of Children Missing School Amid High Absence Rates

Students in a lesson at a school in the UK on Sept. 12, 2018. Ben Birchall/PA

A cross-party group of MPs has called on the government to create a register of children not in school, amid high absence rates after the pandemic.

The Education Select Committee has reviewed the statistics of school absences in England before and after the pandemic.

In its report, the committee said there was an overall absence rate of 7.6 percent for the 2021/2022 academic year, compared to the 4-5 percent before the pandemic.

The number of students who missed 10 percent or more of school sessions in that year was 22.5 percent, around double the pre-pandemic rate.

Many in the sector are “dismayed that things aren’t returning to a greater degree of normality,” said the committee chair Robin Walker.

“The government must come good on the long-awaited register of children not in school. There is significant support across the sector and within Parliament to bring this forward. The upcoming King’s Speech must deliver on this,” he said in a statement.

King Charles will give his first King’s Speech on Nov. 7 and will set out the government’s programme of legislation for the next session of Parliament.

Currently, the bill, which proposes that local authorities maintain a register of children not in school, is in its second reading stage at the House of Commons. The bill was brought in by Conservative MP Flick Drummond, who is also a member of the Education Committee.

She argued that as the number of home-educated children increases, the “children not in school” are needed more than ever.  She called on the government to implement the register without delay.

This echoed the committee chair’s call on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to take quick action in order to “turn the tide on absence.”

Mental Health and Special Needs

The report also revealed that 1.7 percent of all pupils were severely absent, which means they missed more than half of sessions. This is compared to less than 1 percent pre-pandemic. In the autumn term 2022/2023, persistent absence had risen to 24.2 percent of pupils.

The MPs attributed the rise in absences to a number of factors, including mental health-related problems, lack of support for children with special educational needs and disability (SEND), physical illness and cost-of-living pressures on families.

A mental health absence code should be introduced by the Department for Education (DfE), the committee said. Used only in serious cases, the code will remove the need for carers to repeatedly provide medical evidence in cases of known mental health issues.

The committee also heard that failure to meet the needs of children with SEND was the main cause of their absence. There are over 1.5 million pupils in England who have special educational needs.

The MPs said that Whitehall should prioritise SEND care resources to remove “a very significant barrier to attendance.”

To tackle the post-pandemic absence rates, the government announced in May an expansion of programmes, meant to improve attendance, into four new areas in England.

“A key part of this includes ensuring children get the right support with Send and mental health including through our Send and AP (alternative provision) Improvement Plan and by increasing number of Mental Health Support Teams,” a DfE spokesperson said.

Costs and Coughs

The cost-of-living crisis represents another challenge for households and a barrier to attendance, the MPs said. Families from disadvantaged backgrounds can’t always afford to buy uniforms and pay for transport.

The committee recommended a review of DfE’s framework for supporting low-income families with school costs.

Families are also more likely to keep children at home for minor illnesses, such as coughs and colds, than before the pandemic, the MPs said.

The government should address this post-pandemic “cultural shift” and launch a campaign to guide parents, the committee recommended.

MPs also called for a national framework for fines and prosecution for families, where children miss school days, but use it “as a last resort only.”

Commenting on this recommendation, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT Paul Whiteman said the use of fines was “controversial” and “ineffective.”

“Fining families is unlikely to solve the underlying issues, or reduce the impact absence has on pupils’ education,” Mr. Whiteman said.

Speaking about school absenteeism in June, Mr. Sunak acknowledged it was “incredibly damaging for educational outcomes.”

“Which is why during the pandemic and afterwards we invested £5 billion to help children catch up with lost learning,” the prime minister told the Commons.

He vowed to continue working with the sector to have more children attending school more often.