Responding to the new education committee report on persistent absence from school, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“Attendance at school is crucial for children’s education and social development. While the pandemic has undoubtedly had a lasting impact on school attendance, challenges in children’s lives like mental ill-health and child poverty were already growing in the years before Covid and they have been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis. There is no doubt that there has also been a shift in parental attitudes towards attendance in some cases too.

“We have seen a perfect storm in which more families need support at a time when the government has failed to invest anything like the amount needed in community services like CAMHS and children’s social care.

“Schools are seeing the impact of this not only through pupil absence, but also in the issues they identify among children who are in school – yet they alone are not equipped to tackle the often deep-rooted causes, and are constrained by staffing pressures and the impact of years of funding cuts.

“This report has some welcome recommendations, but ministers must implement a coordinated strategy across society to ensure families get the help they need on the ground, supported by significant new government investment.

“This must mean not only the expansion of schemes to improve pupil attendance like mentoring, but also expanded provision for schools to support pupils with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) and broader early help for families from local authorities and the health service.”

Commenting specifically on the recommendation that parents should be fined only as a last resort, and that there needed to be a more consistent approach across the country to issuing fines, Mr Whiteman added:

“Fines have always been too blunt an instrument when it comes to tackling persistent absenteeism. The use of fines is controversial, and it is becoming clear that they are ineffective in addressing overall absence. It is right that there should be a consistent approach to how fines are used. Unless more is done to find out the reasons behind continual periods of absence and tackle the root causes behind persistent absenteeism, fining families is unlikely to solve the underlying issues, or reduce the impact absence has on pupils’ education."