Commenting as the Department for Education announces new ‘expert attendance advisors’ to start working to help reduce pupil absence, James Bowen, director of policy for school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“It’s important to recognise that the pandemic is still having an enormous impact when it comes to school attendance, and it remains the case that driving down infection rates is going to be key if we want to minimise the time pupils are missing in school.

“Beyond that we need to understand the different factors causing higher than usual levels of absence as they will determine how we can best support these pupils.

“When it comes to persistent absenteeism, every single school in the country will already have detailed procedures in place for working with families where pupils are persistently absent. The vast majority already use existing staff to work with families to try and improve attendance when an issue is identified – this is standard practice.

“The challenge is that tackling persistent absenteeism takes more than a quick conversation or a one-off visit, it involves hours of work to address the issue and a sustained commitment from all involved. The task has been made all the harder in recent years by budget cuts.

“Many schools simply can no longer afford a dedicated member of staff to carry out this crucial work. In addition, many local authorities have had to cut back the staff whose job it was to intervene when attendance became an issue.

“If the government really wants to tackle this issue it must be prepared to invest in the support services schools so desperately need.”