New data reveals that 39,200 children were missing from school at the census date in the recent Autumn term in England, a 19% increase from the previous year.
This comes as the new UK government faces pressures to better prepare disadvantaged children for school. Figures have increased continually over the past three years, with 24,700 children missing school in 2022 and 33,000 in 2023. The most recent student population figure in England is over 9 million.
Following the previous figures, children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza described her shock and concern, telling Sky News:
“These statistics are an absolute scandal and we must do something about it before they get even more out of control”.
The data describes absent children as ‘Children Missing Education’ (CME) which, according to the Department for Education, means “children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school”.
The Department for Education implemented a new National Framework for penalty notices this August, aiming to make national standards fairer and prevent children from missing education.