Children missing education
Autumn term 2025/26

Coverage

The release provides information on the number of children missing education (CME) in England at census date in each term, plus the number of children missing education at any time in the previous academic year. The methodology document should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality as well as explaining methodology used in producing the data.

File formats and conventions

Local authority and regional data has been rounded to the nearest 10, national figures are rounded to the nearest 100.

The following convention is used throughout the underlying data.

x - unavailable

z - not applicable

low - denotes figures based on count that rounds to 0, but is not 0. Figures may not sum to breakdowns due to rounding.

Data files

Children missing education at census date

Filename: cme_census.csv
Geographic levels: Local authority; National; Regional
Time period: 2022/23 Autumn term to 2025/26 Autumn term
Content summary: The number of children missing education in England at the census date in each term, by sex, year group and length of time missing education.

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name  |  Variable description
-------------  |  ---------------------------------------
breakdown      |  CME on census date by characteristics
child_count    |  Number of CME on census date
child_percent  |  Percentage of CME on census date
rate_per_100   |  Rate of CME on census day by population

Footnotes:

1. Local authority response rates to the data collection vary by census date. To account for non-response, where required national and regional figures have been uprated based on local authority pupil populations.
2. CME counts will vary depending on the population within the local authority, which may change over time. Increased identification of CME may also result from improved recording and support practices within local authorities. High or low counts of CME do not necessarily reflect ‘good’ or ‘bad’ practice.
3. A figure that rounds to 0, but is not 0 is denoted by 'low', 'x' represents not available and 'z' is not applicable.


Children missing education at any point in the academic year

Filename: cme_academic_year.csv
Geographic levels: Local authority; National; Regional
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: The number of children missing education in England at any point in the academic year (where a child has multiple episodes missing education they are counted only once).

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name  |  Variable description
-----------  |  --------------------------------
child_count  |  CME at any time in academic year

Footnotes:

1. Local authority response rates to the data collection vary by census date. To account for non-response, where required national and regional figures have been uprated based on local authority pupil populations.
2. CME counts will vary depending on the population within the local authority, which may change over time. Increased identification of CME may also result from improved recording and support practices within local authorities. High or low counts of CME do not necessarily reflect ‘good’ or ‘bad’ practice.
3. A figure that rounds to 0, but is not 0 is denoted by 'low', 'x' represents not available and 'z' is not applicable.
