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Despite the threat of financial penalties, many parents appear willing to accept these consequences, with two in five saying they have taken a child out of school in term-time, and they would again–prompting wider discussion around the effectiveness of current attendance policies and the impact these absences have on schools.
To assess the true impact of unauthorised absences due to holidays, Access Education has released new findings on pupil absenteeism, forming the first part of its upcoming ‘School Performance Crisis Report’. Using data from the Department for Education, this in-depth report analysed pupil attendance figures across regions in England to uncover which area has the highest number of unauthorised absences due to holidays.
While there are many reasons pupils may be marked as having an ‘unauthorised absence’, such as truancy or illness without a note, this report focuses specially on term-time holidays, which account for just over 10% of all unauthorised absences nationwide.
It also explores how education software can support both teachers and parents through to the end of term and how school absence fines have changed in recent years, possibly affecting the number of pupils taken out of school during term-time.
Pupil absenteeism: Unauthorised holiday absences in England’s schools
Reviewing over 3,000 state-funded secondary schools across the country, the report has identified surprising trends in the number of unauthorised absences due to holiday between the academic years 2023/2024 and 2024/2025.
Out of 35.6 million total unauthorised absences nationwide in 2023/2024, more than 3.7 million (just over 10%) were due to unauthorised holidays.
In August 2024, school absence fines were raised from £60 to £80 per child, per adult–the first increase in 11 years–in an effort to curb unauthorised absences. While this change has led to a modest decline in absence rates, a considerable number of pupils continue to miss school across the country.
This raises an important question: has the increase in fines been sufficient to deter parents, or are stricter measures needed to address the ongoing pupil absenteeism crisis effectively?
During the 2024/2025 period, the total number of absences unexpectedly increased in almost all regions, even with higher penalty costs introduced last year. Despite this, the data has shown almost 100,000 more unauthorised holiday absences nationally than the previous year, indicating a rising trend in term-time holiday taking.
When inspected by term, the absences in the run up to Christmas showed the largest increase, with absences surging by 24% year on year. This suggests that families opted to extend the break perhaps in response to rising holiday costs during peak periods.
However, during the Summer term - when unauthorised holiday absences would be expected to surge - the number instead decreased across all regions, with the decline most notable in the North East, where holiday absences fell by 20.2%.
This possibly reflects concerns on the impact that attendance could have on the pupil’s studies. Research has shown that secondary school pupils in Year 11 with near-perfect attendance are nearly twice as likely to achieve a grade 5 in English and Maths GCSE, whereas missing as few as 10 days in a year can halve their chances of reaching this benchmark.
This comes as the impact of reduced attendance can affect pupils in the long term too. Research from the UK Department for Education further shows that persistently absent pupils in secondary schools could earn £10,000 less at age 28 compared to pupils with near-perfect attendance.
Unauthorised holidays across the regions
Analysis of regional data shows clear differences in how unauthorised holidays are impacting schools across England. The data reveals that the total number of overall absences nationally has surprisingly continued to increase year-on-year by 2.8%, apart from in two regions where it decreased.
London saw the largest increase in overall unauthorised absences at 13.3%, rising from 4,097,259 in the academic year 2023/2024 to 4,642,507 holiday absences in 2024/2025.
The North West recorded the highest total number of unauthorised holiday absences both in 2023/2024 at 666,230 and in 2024/2025 at 678,932.
Meanwhile, the South West saw the biggest decrease in unauthorised absences at 4.6%, dropping from 3,344,245 to 3,190,411.
Analysis of penalty notices also revealed that in the 2023/24 academic year alone, nearly 443,000 school absence fines were issued nationwide for unauthorised holidays, with Yorkshire and the North West regions receiving the highest number of notices, reflecting their elevated rates of unauthorised absences.
Unauthorised holidays across different terms
The report further explores how the number of unauthorised holiday absences varies by term. It found that absences in the Summer term were at their peak in the 2023/2024 academic year, with 1,926,968 nationally. However, this figure has since fallen by 14% in 2024/2025, down to 1,656,419.
By comparison, the Autumn term, which runs from September to December, recorded the second-highest total at 1,127,689 unauthorised absences in 2023/2024, which rose to 1,397,978 in 2024/2025.
Across both years, the Spring term saw the lowest number of absences, which could be due to the financial strain the Christmas period may put on families, as well as the long bank holidays around Easter time.
These increases are unsurprising, as many parents choose to take their children out of school ahead of the peak holiday costs during the Christmas and summer periods.
In the academic year 2024/2025, the trends follow a similar pattern, with the Autumn term recording a total of 1,397,978 unauthorised absences due to holiday nationally. Across both years, the spring term saw the lowest number of absences, which could be due to the financial strain the Christmas period may put on families, as well as the long bank holidays around Easter time.
However, looking at this trajectory, it can be predicted that by the end of the academic year 2024/2025, the total number of unauthorised absences due to holiday will be at its highest in the summer term.
Tackling the pupil absenteeism crisis
As it has been shown, the introduction and increase in school absence fines have so far had an impact on the number of unauthorised absences in schools across England; however, there is still a long way to go. Not only is it important to schools that the rules they enforce are recognised by parents, but it is also a way to set examples and expectations for pupils for the future.
While the final weeks of term often slow down with learning, they are critical for rounding off the curriculum, setting the pupils up for the next school year and resolving any issues that students have, especially those at critical phases such as going into a GCSE year.
As schools and local authorities continue to tackle these challenges, solution-led tools such as Access Education's Freedom Bundle offer the opportunity to keep everyone in the loop with areas such as curriculum plans, financial and learning management, and attendance reporting.
Parental engagement - Why regular attendance is key
School leaders have limited authority in maintaining high levels of pupil attendance and possess little to no control over unauthorised absences. It is therefore essential to clearly communicate the significance of student attendance and to actively engage parents in collaborative efforts with the school.
Our all-in-one parental engagement software offers a vital solution for addressing the pupil absenteeism crisis directly by providing comprehensive tools to strengthen connections between schools, parents, and students. These include access to timetables, academic progress, and streamlined payment systems for trips and activities helping schools reduce absenteeism and limit the issuance of parental fines.
As highlighted, attendance levels can have an impact on future educational outcomes and careers, so it is vital that parents become advocates for students staying in school until the term ends.
Teachers - How they can work with parents to re-engage pupils
Reducing the number of unauthorised absences in schools also requires a collaborative effort both within and beyond the classroom. While parents have access to engagement software, it is equally the responsibility of teachers to maintain pupil engagement throughout the academic year.
Educational software enables parents and teachers to work in partnership by monitoring student progress, identifying areas where support is needed, and staying informed about key topics being taught through to the end of term and into the next phase of learning. Parents can be provided with bitesized content to help through the holidays and to ensure pupils don’t face study fatigue but encourage them to continue building their knowledge.
Intermittent pupil absence can significantly disrupt the learning environment. It may interrupt the continuity of lessons, lead to missed assessments, and reduce access to valuable learning resources–all of which can hinder academic progress and increase the need for additional support upon return to ensure students are brought up to speed.
Teachers already don’t have the resources to give additional support to students who require it, as highlighted in our School Budget Crisis Report, let alone to students who need to be caught up due to term-time holidays.
This is where schools can lean on educational software like Access GCSEPod to bridge the gap when teachers are stretched, while using guides like the Marginal Gains Playbook to learn how to make manageable and realistic changes which improve how a school runs on a day-to-day basis.
Although pupil absenteeism cannot be eliminated instantly, current trends indicate a gradual decline. By fostering strong collaboration between schools, parents, students, and local authorities, there is significant potential to substantially reduce unauthorised holiday-related absences in the coming academic years.
This, in turn, could lead to a decrease in penalty fines while creating positive outcomes for schools and families alike.
Methodology
Using the Department of Education’s available data for the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 academic years, Access Education analysed the total number of unauthorised pupil absences due to holiday at state-funded secondary schools across the East Midlands, East of England, London, North East, North West, South East, South West, West Midlands and Yorkshire.
Numbers were based on the amount of schools who are actively reporting on their attendance figures and taking into consideration the change in the number of schools and the total number of pupil enrolments.
Access Education further examined government data on parental responsibility measures to provide further context on the financial impact of unauthorised absences on families and schools.
