Children who miss school are at a significantly increased risk of mental ill health, research from the ONS and the University of Loughborough shows.
In fact, missing one day of school per week puts children at double the risk of mental ill health – from 2% to 4%.
Data also suggests that experiencing mental ill health is likely to increase a child’s likelihood of being absent from school in a ‘chicken and egg’ style two-way cycle.
The more a child misses school, the more likely they are to experience mental ill health.
Absence is becoming normalised
Missing one day per week might sound like a lot of absence, but it’s becoming the norm for a growing number of students.
Charlotte O’Regan, Senior Schools Engagement Manager at the Sutton Trust, the UK’s leading social mobility charity, says this isn’t surprising.
She explained that the findings reflect what many schools and families are already experiencing.
She said: “Poor mental health and school absence appear to be closely linked, especially for children facing additional disadvantage, such as those with SEND or growing up in poverty.
“Mental ill health can make school feel overwhelming, forcing families to choose between the protective factors it offers, such as routine, peer support and the risk of overwhelm causing further harm.
“This is happening at a time when need is rising, but too many children are still waiting too long for mental health and SEND support, especially those in the most deprived areas and from the poorest families.”
Some students are missing even more class time
The phrase ‘severe absenteeism’ refers to children who are present just half of the time or less, and this group is growing.
Although the good news is that ‘persistent absence’ (10% or more) is decreasing, and overall English school absence has seen a slight reduction in recent years, for ‘persistent absentees’ (those absent 50% or more), the picture is worsening.
For the ‘severe absentees’, a rise in mental ill health is significantly more likely, with ONS data predicting that one in ten will experience issues.
Impetus, a non profit organisation that aims to transform the education and employment outcomes of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, also says this problem is no longer unusual.
A report by the organisation: ‘Listening to, and learning from, young people in the attendance crisis’, released in September, was created by speaking to year 10 pupils and found that not attending school is the ‘new norm’ for children.
Reasons for this are reported to be exhaustion, seeing school as a means to an end, structured days leading to a ‘reduced sense of agency’, pupils feeling disengaged and weighing up other priorities such as their emotional well being when deciding whether or not to attend school each day.
Being part of the online world was also reported to be a draw away from attending school.
Susannah Hardyman MBE, Chief Executive of Impetus, said: “This report makes sobering reading.
“Young people, right at the point where education matters most, have told us that going to school is now a choice – decided each morning, shaped by mood, circumstances, or competing priorities.
“Not because they don’t want to succeed, but because school, too often, feels rigid, pressured, and exam-driven, and the constant pull of life online means school is no longer the only way to interact with friends.”
Hardyman added for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, these findings are particularly acute.
They are already 40% less likely to pass GCSE English and maths and are missing school at a higher rate than their better off peers.
She said: “We urgently need to rethink what is driving absence and how it is managed. That means more connection and more choice in a school environment that works for young people, not just on them.”
London’s high attendance levels show signs of slipping
Overall, attendance in London remains slightly better than the rest of England.
However, students’ presence in class has begun to fall, and London is the only region in England where there has been a decrease in overall attendance figures in the year to 2025.
In all other regions, attendance is improving, albeit that the national absence average is now 6.6% compared to 4.7% pre-COVID.
It seems the severe absentees, those missing 50% or more of their time at school have negatively impacted on London’s total attendance level.
What can be done to improve attendance?
Impetus has come up with a series of recommendations including getting schools to prioritise social time to foster relationships, promoting enrichment activities, and separating school from sanctions in order to build trust between students and teachers.
Their report also recommends that schools ‘listen to their specific communities’ challenges and act on what they hear’.
It is suggested that the Government must support schools and parents to develop clear social norms around technology use in and out of school, that the Government must undertake evaluation to understand whether fines are helping or harming, and it must also enable and incentivise innovation on attendance in schools, with robust evaluation.
Finally, Impetus recommends that the Government and schools must take pupils’ emotional wellbeing seriously, and invest in the support they need.
The Sutton Trust also has ideas about improvement.
O’Regan says mental health support must be properly funded and embedded in all schools, with a strong focus on prevention and early intervention.
She says that ring-fenced funding is essential to ensure consistent provision, alongside specialist and targeted support for groups at higher risk, presumably those in the ‘severe absentee’ category.
She says that reducing waiting times and ensuring young people receive help when problems first emerge is critical to preventing disengagement from education.
O’Regan said: “For children with SEND, policymakers must recognise the double disadvantage faced by those who are also eligible for free school meals and address the strong link between socio-economic background and SEND.
“Simplifying access to support, improving consistency in identification, investing in early years provision and increasing capacity in mainstream schools would all help ensure that absence is addressed at its root.”
The Department of Education was contacted for comment.
More information about the Sutton Trust and their work, can be found here, and you can read about Impetus here.
Join the discussion