The proportion of students missing at least half of their time in school has reached a record high, annual national data shows.

Statistics published by the Department for Education indicate that overall and persistent absence in schools are improving, but severe absence is increasing.

Severe absence is defined as missing 50 per cent or more of possible sessions. In 2024-25 the proportion of severely absent students was 2.39 per cent - up from 2.30 per cent the previous year.

Sharp rise in severe absence since Covid

In 2024-25 a total of 176,361 students missed at least half of their sessions, an increase from 171,269 in 2023-24 and 150,256 in 2022-23.

In 2018-19, the final full school year before the Covid pandemic, the severe absence rate was 0.85 per cent, equating to 60,247 students.

While severe absence is rising, the rate of increase is slowing. It grew by 0.09 percentage points in 2024-25, compared with rises of 0.26 and 0.38 in the previous two years.

The DfE said the increase is mainly driven by pupils with education, health and care plans (EHCPs).

The number of pupils without special educational needs and disabilities who were severely absent fell by 6,000 from 2023-24 to 2024-25. And some 40 local authorities decreased their severe absence level, up from just 12 in the previous academic year.

Overall absence in schools has improved, falling to 6.78 per cent in 2024-25 from 7.15 per cent in 2023-24. The DfE said this is the biggest improvement in attendance since 2013-14.

Overall absence also decreased across all school types, most notably in secondary schools, where it dropped by 0.45 percentage points.

Persistent absence - defined as missing at least 10 per cent of sessions in school - fell against the previous year, but remains above pre‑pandemic levels.

In 2024-25 some 18.14 per cent of students were persistently absent, a reduction from 19.95 per cent in 2023-24 and 21.22 per cent in 2022-23.

There were over 1.3 million persistent absentees in 2024-25. Before the pandemic in 2018-19, the figure was just over 771,000.

‘More to do for children with SEND’

A DfE spokesperson said: “We have made real progress - absence is down and persistent absence has plummeted, with over 225,000 more children attending school almost every day.

“But we know there’s more to do, particularly for children with SEND. We have launched the biggest reform to the SEND system in a generation, with work already underway, ensuring children get the right support earlier, in a school near them.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said the figures “broadly show small but encouraging steps” but warned that there is still “some way to go” if absence is to return closer to pre-pandemic levels.

He added: “The small increases in absence among children with SEND support plans, pupils in alternative provision and those who are severely absent - fuelled by reduced attendance among young people with additional needs - demonstrate how important it is that the government’s proposals to reform the SEND system prove workable.

“Schools alone are not equipped to address the often deep-rooted causes of absence, which can include everything from illness and mental health challenges to unmet SEND, social issues and the impact of poverty.”

Susannah Hardyman, chief executive at the charity Impetus, said it was “encouraging” to see the overall absence rates fall, but warned that pupils “cannot afford to wait another five years for rates to return to pre-pandemic levels”.

“Low school attendance has become a key driver behind some of England’s most pernicious challenges, from stagnating attainment to high rates of young people not in education, employment or training,” she said. “As always, these challenges hit young people from disadvantaged backgrounds hardest.”

Daniel Lilley, head of youth at the Centre for Social Justice, said that ministers must “take on the root causes of this disaster of missed learning”.

In February the government stated in its schools White Paper that it was aiming to return the rate of attendance to 94 per cent or above from 2028-29. The 2024-25 figure was 93.1 per cent.

This week ministers were urged to be more ambitious on this, with experts telling Tes that they should aim to return to pre-pandemic levels of attendance - regularly above 95 per cent.