Responsing to this morning’s new stats showing local authorities reported nearly 150,000 children as 'missing education' at some point during 2023/24 - a 28% increase on the previous year, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“The worrying numbers of children missing in education demonstrate the importance of the government’s planned register of children not in school, including those who are home-educated, coming into effect as soon as possible.

“NAHT has long called for councils to be required to maintain an official register, because there is currently a danger of children becoming lost outside the system, with neither school nor local authority knowing where they are or what has happened to them.

“Where a child is not receiving a suitable education this not only creates concern for their learning but can also put children at increased risk of harm or exploitation.

“It’s also vital that families receive more support to address issues in their lives and help ensure children can engage in education – and that means far more investment in vital services underfunded under previous governments, like social care, mental health and special education needs."

NB: The dataset says: As this is a relatively new data collection, which first became mandatory in autumn 2024, increases are likely to be in part due to improvements in data quality and recording practices, for example use of more consistent working definitions and improved familiarity with the collection. Please see the Data Quality section for further information.