Executive summary
In 2024/25, 7.5% of EHC-plan enrolments were severely absent, versus 1.2% with no identified SEN: a 6.29-point gap and 6.2× rate ratio. SEN-support enrolments were at 4.5%, 3.7× the no-SEN rate.
Severe absence means at least 50% of possible sessions missed. Persistent absence means at least 10% of possible sessions missed.
The EHC severe-absence gap widened by 3.42 percentage points from 2018/19. The SEN-support gap widened by 2.17 points over the same available-year comparison.
These are enrolment-record associations. They do not show why absence occurred, measure support quality or predict what will happen to an individual pupil.
National trend
Across available years, the published EHC severe-absence rate rose from 3.3% in 2018/19 to 7.5% in 2024/25. The SEN-support rate rose from 1.6% to 4.5%.
The no-identified-SEN rate rose from 0.5% to 1.2%. Comparisons use the integer counts and enrolment denominators, not subtraction of the rounded display percentages.
The 2019/20 full-year release was cancelled, so there is no full-year point for that year. The 2020/21 and 2021/22 years are marked as COVID-affected and should not be read as ordinary trend years.
| Academic year | Context | EHC plan | SEN support | No identified SEN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018/19 | Published year | 3.33% (7,312 / 219,900) | 1.55% (13,646 / 878,135) | 0.45% (27,064 / 5,954,160) |
| 2019/20 | Full-year release cancelled | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| 2020/21 | COVID-affected | 4.52% (11,928 / 263,673) | 1.72% (15,750 / 913,089) | 0.59% (35,256 / 5,990,014) |
| 2021/22 | COVID-affected | 5.16% (14,806 / 286,702) | 2.99% (28,345 / 948,254) | 0.98% (58,740 / 6,006,464) |
| 2022/23 | Published year | 5.94% (18,639 / 313,718) | 3.84% (37,814 / 984,202) | 1.19% (71,693 / 6,031,809) |
| 2023/24 | Published year | 6.85% (23,758 / 346,999) | 4.39% (45,004 / 1,026,152) | 1.28% (76,731 / 6,007,847) |
| 2024/25 | Published year | 7.50% (29,154 / 388,613) | 4.48% (47,640 / 1,064,420) | 1.21% (70,822 / 5,859,842) |
2024/25 phase comparison
The count-derived EHC severe-absence gap was 4.25 percentage points in primary and 10.51 points in secondary. The phase view compares Total, Primary and Secondary on the same zero baseline.
Special-school rows remain in the downloadable data. The no-identified-SEN special row has only 120 enrolments, so its 66.7% rate is volatile and is not used as a headline comparison.
| Phase | EHC plan | SEN support | No identified SEN | Unclassified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 7.50% (29,154 / 388,613) | 4.48% (47,640 / 1,064,420) | 1.21% (70,822 / 5,859,842) | 38.19% (28,745 / 75,275) |
| Primary | 4.55% (6,161 / 135,492) | 1.48% (8,740 / 592,201) | 0.29% (9,187 / 3,123,118) | 30.39% (12,147 / 39,970) |
| Secondary | 12.76% (13,657 / 107,063) | 8.16% (38,437 / 470,773) | 2.25% (61,555 / 2,736,604) | 46.99% (16,224 / 34,529) |
| Special | 6.39% (9,336 / 146,058) | 32.02% (463 / 1,446) | 66.67% (80 / 120) | 48.20% (374 / 776) |
The table includes Special and Unclassified rows for disclosure. They are not added to the chart: the special no-SEN denominator is 120, and Unclassified is a recording category rather than a SEN provision category.
How the gaps changed
In 2018/19, the EHC severe-absence gap was 2.87 percentage points and the SEN-support gap was 1.10 points. By 2024/25, those gaps were 6.29 and 3.27 points.
Persistent absence shows a wider 2024/25 separation: EHC-plan enrolments were 19.54 percentage points above the no-SEN group, and SEN support was 13.09 points above.
Local-authority distribution
For the 150 local authorities with at least 500 EHC-plan enrolments, the unweighted median EHC-minus-no-SEN severe-absence gap was 5.78 percentage points.
The middle half ran from 4.07 to 7.47 points; the range was 1.75 to 11.30. These values describe spread, not a league table or a judgement about local-authority performance.
We use 500 as a transparent denominator-stability rule: one EHC-plan enrolment represents at most 0.2 percentage points of that denominator. This retains 150 of 153 local authorities (98.0%); the 0 and 200 thresholds below show how the result changes when the rule changes.
With no threshold, 153 authorities had a 5.75-point median. At 200 EHC enrolments, 151 had a 5.81-point median. The main view excludes Rutland, City of London and Isles of Scilly.
| Minimum EHC enrolments | Local authorities | Lower quartile | Median | Upper quartile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 153 | 4.04 percentage points | 5.75 percentage points | 7.48 percentage points |
| 200 | 151 | 4.07 percentage points | 5.81 percentage points | 7.49 percentage points |
| 500 | 150 | 4.07 percentage points | 5.78 percentage points | 7.47 percentage points |
What schools can monitor
Use this national pattern as a question for local review, not as a score for pupils or staff. School-level rates need their own denominators, context and human interpretation.
- Review severe and persistent absence by recorded provision, phase and year, alongside cohort size and movement.
- Check session and reason coding, late changes, dual registration and whether the same pupil creates more than one enrolment.
- Examine access barriers, agreed support and follow-up evidence with the pupil, family, SENCO and attendance lead.
- Record missing context and disagreement. Do not automate labels, referrals, sanctions or support decisions from a group comparison.
Methodology and data quality
We filtered the official full-year characteristics file to England, SEN provision and the stated education phases. National trend rows use the published Total phase for each available year.
The downloadable CSV retains the published DfE percentages. Human-facing tables round rates to two decimal places. Every comparison, gap and ratio is calculated from integer counts divided by enrolments, then rounded only for the page.
The local-authority metric is each authority’s EHC severe rate minus its no-SEN severe rate. Percentiles use sorted linear interpolation at (n − 1) × p and are not enrolment weighted.
All 153 authorities had the three core provision rows. An Unclassified row was present for 152, so we do not claim four-way completeness.
The source links characteristics using the earliest available term. The file 6_Absence_3term_Characteristics.csv has 250,190 data rows, 122,266,464 bytes and SHA-256 35ca50c119bdc3be3144c85dddfe8ff91579b3840f6a7fcbecf12e7d828ee864.
Limitations
- Enrolments are not unique pupils. School moves and dual registration can create more than one enrolment for a pupil.
- This is a descriptive association, not causation. It cannot identify an individual need, barrier or effective response.
- The source does not cover all children, independent schools or alternative provision, so it is not a population prevalence estimate.
- Source recording, linkage and duplicate enrolments can affect counts. Absence reason quality also varies between records.
- The source is not suppressed. Small cells can be highly volatile and should not support rankings or performance claims.
- In 2024/25, 75,275 unclassified enrolments had a 38.2% severe-absence rate. Unclassified is not a SEN category; it is a recording category that needs separate disclosure.
- Do not combine these absence enrolment denominators with January SEN pupil counts. They measure different records, populations and periods.
Sources, licence and corrections
- Official source CSV — published 26 March 2026; retrieved 9 August 2026.
- Pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 release — release updated 21 May 2026.
- DfE pupil absence statistics methodology.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Student Radar created the analysis. The Department for Education has not endorsed this analysis.
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