Attendance: national, LA and school data

Compare your school's attendance data to others locally and nationally, using our summary of the data and templates. Learn how the data is collected and how to make your own data tables using the DfE website.

Last reviewed on 3 July 2025See updates
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 7329
Contents
  1. National data
  2. Create your own data tables from the DfE website
  3. Find your school's data
  4. Use our templates to compare your absence data with LA and national rates
  5. How and when data is collected

National data

The figures express the amount of missed half-day sessions as a percentage of all possible half-day sessions. 

Primary schools2020/212021/22 2022/23 2023/24 all terms2023/24 autumn2023/24 spring2023/24 summer
Overall absence 3.66.35.9 5.5 5.3 5.65.8
Unauthorised absence0.91.51.6 1.6 1.5 1.32.1
Secondary schools2020/21 2021/222022/23 2023/24 all terms 2023/24 autumn2022/23 spring2023/24 summer
Overall absence5.59.09.0 8.9 8.1 8.99.7
Unauthorised absence1.62.83.4 3.5 3.0 3.44.1
Special schools2020/212021/22 2022/23 2023/24 all terms 2023/24 autumn2023/24 spring2023/24 summer
Overall absence15.213.213.0 13.0 12.7 13.313.1
Unauthorised absence2.1

2.9

3.1

 3.3 3.1 3.23.7
All schools2020/21 2021/222022/23 2023/24 all terms 2023/24 autumn2023/24 spring2023/24 summer
Overall absence4.67.67.4 7.16.77.27.6
Unauthorised absence1.32.12.4 2.52.22.33.0

Some of this data is affected by COVID-19