Commenting as children’s charity Action for Children release new research revealing that school refusal and anxiety has become the number one issue for parents and carers seeking advice via their Parent Talk service, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“School refusal can be an incredibly difficult and stressful situations for parents to face and it can take a real toll on families. The causes are usually complex and require a high level of professional support.

“What is needed is specialist teams and resources to work directly with pupils who frequently miss school to get underneath the reasons and to solve them. Where mental health is a barrier, for example, timely support when referred to mental health teams is required.

“Unfortunately, a decade of cuts has seen the teams that used to support schools with attendance decimated, and large parts of the country do not benefit from either the government’s attendance hubs, or its pilot mentoring programme for those pupils absent most often.

“This is not an issue schools can tackle alone, and clearly parents are in need of support too. The government really does need to redouble its efforts and commit the necessary resources to tackle this issue.”