Start with the child's immediate safety and the attendance source, then choose the route that matches the facts. A registered pupil's absence remains attendance work, although it may also require a safeguarding response. A child missing education, or CME, is of compulsory school age, is not registered at a school and is not receiving suitable education elsewhere. One situation can move between routes, but a percentage or code cannot make that decision.
This decision walk-through is for DSLs, deputy DSLs, attendance and pastoral leaders, headteachers and SENCos in England. It reflects statutory guidance checked on 16 September 2026. It doesn't replace the school's child protection policy, local CME procedure, professional consultation or an urgent safeguarding response.
Run three checks before choosing a route
- Is anyone unsafe now? If the available information suggests immediate danger or risk of harm, use the school's safeguarding process and the appropriate local or emergency route at once. Don't wait for a complete attendance history, a meeting or a CME decision.
- What does the source record show? Check admission status, possible sessions, register marks, amendments, unexplained gaps and the child's last known education arrangement. Record disputed or missing information instead of filling it with an assumption.
- Which professional owns the next decision? Attendance staff can correct and follow up the register. The DSL retains lead responsibility for safeguarding, while a trained deputy may carry out delegated activities. The school and local authority follow their agreed CME responsibilities and notification route. Record the owner, rationale, action and next review point.
Route one: the pupil is registered and attendance needs follow-up
Poor, irregular or unexplained attendance does not make a registered pupil a child missing education. The Department for Education's CME guidance states this explicitly, including for pupils who are persistently or severely absent. Schools still need accurate daily registers, prompt enquiries for unexpected or unexplained absence, support that responds to the child's circumstances, and the required attendance returns to the local authority.
The attendance route can include a conversation with the child and family, correction of a register error, removal of a barrier, an agreed support action or a review of whether the existing plan is working. National persistent and severe absence measures describe a pattern. They don't diagnose its cause, decide a sanction or determine a safeguarding threshold.
Route two: absence also needs a DSL-led safeguarding enquiry
Keeping children safe in education 2026 is now in force. It treats repeated or prolonged absence from education, and unexplained or persistent absence, as possible warning signs that require staff to follow the school's safeguarding arrangements. The wording supports professional curiosity. It does not establish abuse, neglect, exploitation or parental responsibility.
Bring the factual attendance evidence to the DSL or deputy when another authorised record, contact outcome, observed change or information from the child alters the safeguarding question. Keep the detailed concern narrative in the restricted safeguarding record. A shared action view needs only the minimum information required for its purpose, including source, owner, review state and next action.
The DSL applies the child protection policy and local arrangements, decides what further information is necessary, and records the rationale for the chosen route. An urgent response must not be delayed while staff seek a tidier data set.
Route three: the statutory CME definition may apply
CME has a specific statutory meaning in England. It covers children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school. It can include a child awaiting a place, a child offered a future place who has not started, or a child whose home education has been assessed as unsuitable. It does not include every pupil whose whereabouts are temporarily unknown.
If a registered pupil is unexpectedly absent, the school should make immediate enquiries to establish their whereabouts. If those enquiries give the school reasonable grounds to believe the child will no longer attend, and the parent has not given the required notice of another school or education otherwise than at school, the 2025 CME guidance says the school should refer to the child's home local authority CME team as soon as possible. The school continues its part in reasonable enquiries until it and the local authority agree those enquiries have concluded or the school has no further action it can take.
Follow the local authority's current notification route and the exact admission-register rules. Do not remove a name from the admission register simply because contact has failed or absence has continued. Some deletion grounds require joint reasonable enquiries first, and schools must make statutory returns when names are added or removed outside standard transition points.
Walk one invented record through the decision
The details in this example are made up and combined for explanation. They describe no pupil, family, school or customer.
An attendance officer sees that a pupil who usually attends consistently has missed several morning sessions. Two marks are unexplained and the usual contact route no longer works. The first check finds no information suggesting immediate danger, but the change needs prompt enquiries.
A register review shows that one session was miscoded after an appointment. The pupil remains registered, so this is not yet CME. The DSL reviews authorised chronology metadata and sees a recent attributed note about changed collection arrangements. A planned pastoral check-in was not recorded as completed, and the child has not yet had an accessible opportunity to speak. None of this proves harm or explains the absence. It does make the safeguarding route relevant alongside attendance work.
Further enquiries later indicate that the family may have moved and that the pupil is unlikely to return. There is still no confirmed new school or suitable education arrangement. The attendance lead keeps the register evidence accurate, the DSL retains the safeguarding decision in the restricted record, and the school uses the home local authority's CME route. Both organisations agree who will make which reasonable enquiry and when they will review the position. The route changes because the verified facts change.
Record what the evidence cannot establish
Attendance, contact and enrolment records cannot diagnose illness or unmet SEND, establish harm, test a disclosure's credibility, assign blame, predict future absence or decide a section 17 or section 47 outcome. A gap can mean information is missing, held elsewhere or not yet created. State which one is known, and leave the rest open for enquiry.
The Department for Education updated its information-sharing publication on 10 September 2026 and now labels it statutory guidance. It says the section 16LA information-sharing duty comes into force on 30 September 2026. Schools should already share safeguarding information lawfully when it is necessary and proportionate, keep it relevant, adequate and accurate, protect it in transit, and record the decision to share or not share. The new duty's start date does not justify delaying a necessary safeguarding response now.
Where Student Radar fits
Where enabled, Attendance Analytics lets authorised staff filter a date window and cohort, review trends and session breakdowns, and drill into the pupil records behind a pattern. Coverage and denominator states remain visible, but the analysis cannot explain why the pattern occurred. Student Radar Safeguarding Chronology keeps concerns, decisions and actions with their source and record state in the controlled safeguarding record. For authorised DSL users, the DSL Action Board can keep case owner, priority, review and ageing visible while supporting human-recorded assignment, notes and status changes.
These tools cannot decide whether a child is missing education, identify abuse, choose a safeguarding threshold or make a referral. Authorised practitioners read the source records, follow local procedures and remain accountable for the decision and review.
For the attendance-only stage, use the attendance change-card guide. The attendance and safeguarding planning guide covers support across a school break, while the family-contact check helps teams verify communication routes.
Sources and further reading
- Department for Education, Keeping children safe in education 2026, statutory guidance for schools and colleges in force from 1 September 2026; publication page last updated 1 September 2026.
- Department for Education, Working together to improve school attendance, statutory guidance for England last updated 9 July 2026.
- Department for Education, Children missing education: statutory guidance for local authorities and schools, England guidance updated 8 September 2025.
- Department for Education, Working together to safeguard children 2026, statutory guidance for England published 18 March 2026.
- Department for Education, Information sharing to safeguard children and young people, statutory guidance published 10 September 2026; the section 16LA duty comes into force on 30 September 2026.
To review how attendance evidence can reach an authorised safeguarding workflow without automating the decision, request a safeguarding-focused walkthrough.