Persistent Absence Thresholds

Persistent absence thresholds have now changed following the Secretary of State's decision to lower the threshold at which a pupil is deemed to be a persistent absentee.

The Secretary of State has said that "Some schools tend to take action to intervene when pupils near the persistently absent threshold, but nearing 20 per cent was too late. It is hoped that lowering the threshold will help ensure that schools take action sooner to deal with absence".

The table below shows the new thresholds against which absence statistics will be published in future, although initially statistics will be published for both 20 per cent and 15 per cent thresholds.