What is severe absence in schools?
A pupil is classed as severely absent when they miss 50% or more of their possible school sessions — in other words, they have been absent at least as often as they have attended.
In short
Severe absence means that at least half of a pupil's possible school sessions have been missed.
It represents a far higher level of absence than the 10% threshold used to identify persistent absence.
Persistent absence and severe absence are not the same thing
| Measure | Definition |
|---|---|
| Persistent absence | 10% or more of possible sessions missed |
| Severe absence | 50% or more of possible sessions missed |
Every severely absent pupil is also persistently absent. Most persistently absent pupils are not severely absent: in autumn term 2025/26 the persistent-absence rate was about 9 times the severe-absence rate.
What is the latest severe-absence rate?
Although 2.12% looks small next to the persistent-absence rate, it represents 151,279 pupil enrolments missing an exceptionally high proportion of their schooling. The rate rose by 0.07 percentage points compared with the previous autumn term, and is close to three times its autumn 2018/19 level of 0.74%.
How does severe absence vary by school type?
| School type | Severe absence |
|---|---|
| State-funded primary | 1.02% |
| State-funded secondary | 3.16% |
| Special | 6.55% |
The rate therefore varies substantially between different parts of the school system.
Why might a pupil be severely absent?
There is no single explanation. Severe absence can be associated with complex and overlapping barriers involving health, SEND, family circumstances, safeguarding, anxiety, unmet needs or other difficulties.
It should not be interpreted simply as a behavioural choice. DfE statutory guidance, Working together to improve school attendance, says that pupils who are absent more than they are present are likely to require particularly intensive support, often involving schools working alongside families, local authorities and other services.
Is severe absence the same as being missing from education?
No. A pupil can be severely absent while still registered on the roll of a school.
“Children missing education” is a different term. It refers to children of compulsory school age who are not registered at a school and are not receiving suitable education elsewhere.
Why monitor severe absence separately?
Persistent absence identifies pupils missing a substantial amount of school. Severe absence identifies the much smaller group experiencing the very highest levels of absence.
Looking only at an average absence rate can hide those pupils entirely. In autumn term 2025/26 the overall absence rate was 6.47% — a figure that on its own says nothing about the 151,279 enrolments missing at least half of their sessions.
Where severe absence is highest
Severe absence is most concentrated among pupils with an education, health and care plan (7.37%), pupils receiving SEN support (3.71%) and pupils eligible for free school meals (3.62%), compared with 0.93% for pupils with no identified SEN.
Explore the data yourself
See how severe absence varies over time, by school phase, geography and pupil characteristics.
Explore severe absence →About this guidance
This page explains publicly available school attendance statistics and guidance for England. tutor2u uses Department for Education data and primary government guidance wherever possible. Every figure shown is calculated directly from the published DfE data files rather than transcribed by hand.
Attendance statistics describe patterns across pupils and schools. They should be interpreted with appropriate context and should not be used to make assumptions about the circumstances of an individual pupil.