This release provides information on the levels of overall, authorised and unauthorised absence in:

• state-funded primary schools
• state-funded secondary schools
• special schools
• pupil referral units

It includes information on:

• reasons for absence
• persistent absence
• pupil characteristics

The information is based on pupil level absence data collected via the school census.

It updates and supplements information published in the October 2017 release ‘Pupil absence in schools in England, autumn 2016 and spring 2017’.

A guide on how we produce pupil absence statistics is also available.