Labour urged to ‘focus’ on pupil absence as report finds up to 300,000 children missing from school last year
A Tory frontbencher is urging the government to “focus” on pupil absence after a report found as many as 300,000 children were missing from education in England last year.
Figures from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) – which compare GP registrations with school enrolment data – mark a 40% increase in unaccounted absences since 2017.
More than 50,000 students were also found to have left the state education system by Year 11, with no clear records explaining their exits.
Reacting to this, shadow education secretary Laura Trott has urged the government to shift its focus to pupil absence.
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She told Sky News: “Pupil absence is the most important thing for the Department for Education (DfE) to focus on at the moment – not cancelling new schools, diluting the academic curriculum and spending acres of civil service time on a VAT rise that will add pressure to state schools.
“We must get children back to the classroom.”
The DfE pointed to plans to “introduce children not in school registers”.
These will be introduced alongside “new protections for children being home educated when they are subject to a children’s social care investigation, and a single child identifier so children can get the right support from education, health and care services”.
Shadow education secretary Laura Trott in the Commons. Pic: PA
A source also questioned the 300,000 estimate given by the EPI, claiming it is “not adjusted for the known limitations in data quality”.
They said there is a known discrepancy between the “estimated size of the England population and the number of people registered at GP practices”.
Data published by the DfE suggests that 117,000 children were missing education at any time in the 2023 to 2024 academic year. This ran from September 2023 to July 2024.
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A DfE spokesperson said: “Our mission is to break down the barriers to opportunity that are holding young people back, making sure they have the support and education they deserve, and to tackle the pattern of children falling through the cracks.”
Associate director at EPI Whitney Crenna-Jennings said: “Many thousands of children are missing or go missing from education in England – this is a critical issue that demands our attention.”
The data shows that dropouts peak in Year 10, just before students take their GCSEs, making up about a fifth of all exits.
The report also states that vulnerable groups, particularly teenagers, are disproportionately affected.
The EPI says schools should document reasons for de-registering students to improve oversight and prevent illegal exclusions.
It also recommends that there is a mandatory register by integrating data from education, health and other administrative data sources.
An amber warning has been issued for snow in a part of the UK, likely to cause travel delays and “stranding some vehicles and passengers”.
The warning, which covers south west England, also warns some rural communities could become cut off and is in place until 2pm this evening.
Pic: Met Office
There is also a yellow weather warning for snow covering the southern counties of England until midnight on Wednesday.
The warning stretches from Kent to Cornwall and up to south London and the Met Office said between 2cm and 5cm of snow could accumulate fairly widely, with as much as 10cm over higher ground.
This week is expected to see the coldest nights of the year, with temperatures potentially reaching -14C on Wednesday night and -16C on Thursday night, both in the North East of England and Scotland, the Met Office said.
Weather warnings issued on Tuesday for snow and ice covering the parts of Wales, the North West of England, west and northern parts of Scotland as well as Northern Ireland will remain in place until midnight tomorrow.
The forecaster said some roads and railways are likely to be affected and there could be icy patches on untreated roads.
Pics: AP
Meanwhile the Environment Agency has said at least 300 properties have flooded across England since New Year’s Eve. It estimates more than 41,000 properties have been protected.
Heavy rainfall over the New Year caused significant river and surface water flooding across the North West of England and Yorkshire and snowmelt has brought further disruption to parts of England, particularly the Midlands, the agency said.
Read more from Sky News:
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Man says flooding ‘came out of nowhere’
Floods minister Emma Hardy said: “My sympathies go out to the people, businesses and communities impacted by the recent flooding across the country.
“I want to express my heartfelt thanks for the vital work that the Environment Agency and emergency services are doing to keep people safe. People must continue to follow their advice and sign up for flood warnings.”
Flood warnings
Some 100 flood warnings were in force across England on Wednesday, with people urged to remain vigilant over the coming days.
A danger-to-life warning was issued on Tuesday morning for the River Soar near Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, but was later removed.
People living in caravan parks in the area were urged by the Environment Agency to act, with a large-scale evacuation needed to save lives.
Firefighters have rescued dozens of people across Leicestershire since Monday, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service said.
Hundreds of schools were closed across the UK, with road and rail links blocked, as Manchester, Bristol and Liverpool John Lennon airports suspended flights because of the conditions.
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