Concerns Grow Over Poor School Attendance Across Wales 2026

Key Points

• The Welsh Conservative leader, Darren Millar, called school attendance in Wales “appalling” during Senedd questions on Wednesday, 21 October 2026.
• According to Mr Millar, Wales was facing “a huge attendance problem”, where over 100,000 children annually miss more than 10% of their classes in the latest year for which data has been made available.
• Mr Millar cited provisional figures which put average attendance across Wales at less than 91% in 2025/26.
• Education Minister Anna Brychan conceded that there had been “a slight reduction on the latest figures” and that the Welsh Government was doing something about it.
• The Welsh Government’s plan for foundational literacy and numeracy sets an attendance target of 0.5% year-on-year improvement.
• A national framework, addressing behaviour, attendance, and well-being issues is being developed, alongside new guidance for schools’ absence recording practices.
• Data from the Welsh Government showed that attendance at secondary schools in Flintshire declined from 90.3% in 2024/25 to 89.6% in 2025/26, but Wales-wide secondary attendance saw slight improvements from 89% to 89.1%.
• The highest increase in unauthorised absence in north Wales councils was seen in Flintshire, rising from 3.1% to 4% of sessions.

Wales (Wales Times) October 22, 2026 — Concerns over school attendance in Wales have been raised in the Senedd after the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Darren Millar, described national attendance figures as “appalling” and said the country faced a “huge” problem with pupils missing lessons.

As reported by uk/local/wrexham/">Wrexham.com, Mr Millar questioned Anna Brychan, the Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, during proceedings on Wednesday, 21 October 2026. He said more than 100,000 pupils each year had missed at least 10 per cent of their lessons in the latest year for which figures were available.

“We know we’ve got a huge attendance problem in Wales, with over 100,000 pupils every year missing at least 10 per cent of their lessons in the last year for which we have figures,” Mr Millar said, according to Wrexham.com.

He referred to provisional figures which put average attendance across Wales at just under 91 per cent for 2025/26, describing the level as “appalling”.

What did Anna Brychan say about attendance?

Ms Brychan acknowledged the recent reduction in attendance and said the Welsh Government was taking several measures to address it. As reported by Wrexham.com, she said: “There has been, you’re quite right, a slight reduction on the latest figures, and there are a number of actions we are taking to tackle that.”

She said the Welsh Government’s foundational literacy and numeracy plan included targets on attendance. “You will see a 0.5 per cent increase year on year to bring that level up,” she said.

Ms Brychan also said a national framework on behaviour, attendance and well-being was being brought together. In addition, new guidance on how schools record absence had been published.

“Because I agree with you: you need to be at school to benefit from the education system. It is very much a focus for us,” Ms Brychan said, according to Wrexham.com.

How do the latest Welsh attendance figures compare?

The Senedd exchange followed the publication of Welsh Government school attendance data on 29 September. The figures cover the school year up to the late May bank holiday.

As reported by Deeside.com, secondary-age pupils in Flintshire attended 89.6 per cent of school sessions in 2025/26, down from 90.3 per cent the year before. Across Wales, secondary attendance edged up from 89 per cent to 89.1 per cent over the same period.

The data showed that all of Flintshire’s decline came from unauthorised absence, where pupils miss school without permission. This rose from 3.1 per cent of sessions to 4 per cent. Authorised absence, where a school has given permission, fell slightly from 6.5 per cent to 6.4 per cent.

Deeside.com reported that no other council in north Wales recorded a bigger rise in unauthorised absence. Despite the fall, Flintshire still had the highest secondary attendance in north Wales, ahead of Gwynedd on 89 per cent and Wrexham on 88.9 per cent.

Where does Flintshire rank in Wales?

Flintshire ranked seventh among Wales’ 22 councils for secondary attendance. Cardiff recorded the highest figure at 90.2 per cent, while Carmarthenshire had the lowest at 87.6 per cent.

The gap between Flintshire and the Welsh average narrowed from 1.3 percentage points to 0.5 percentage points. Before the pandemic, however, Flintshire had been below the Welsh average, with secondary attendance of 93.3 per cent in 2018/19 compared with 93.8 per cent nationally.

What targets has the Welsh Government set?

The Welsh Government’s foundational literacy and numeracy plan, published in September, includes a national target to increase school attendance by 0.5 per cent year on year. It also aims to reduce the attendance gap between the most disadvantaged pupils and their classmates.

As reported by the BBC, the plan also includes a target to reduce persistent absence—defined as missing more than 10 per cent of school—by 2 per cent a year.

The BBC reported that provisional attendance data for the last academic year stood at 90.7 per cent, slightly below the previous year and significantly below the 94 per cent recorded before the pandemic.

What other action is under way?

In August, Nation.Cymru reported that the Welsh Government announced a £200,000 programme of Community Focused Schools Plus pilots aimed at tackling behavioural problems and improving attendance. The pilots are intended to explore how schools and specialist services can work together to provide earlier support for children, young people and families.

Nation.Cymru reported that average attendance at maintained schools was around 91 per cent, compared with 94.3 per cent in 2018/19. It also reported that pupils eligible for free school meals had an average attendance rate of around 85 per cent, compared with more than 92 per cent among pupils not eligible.

Ms Brychan said at the time that factors outside the classroom could affect a learner’s ability to attend, engage and achieve. She cited the cost of living, concerns around mental health and well-being, family pressures and increasingly complex support needs.

“By bringing specialist expertise closer to schools, we can provide earlier support and prevent challenges from becoming barriers to learning, wellbeing and achievement,” Ms Brychan said, as reported by Nation.Cymru.

What research says about persistent absence

Research co-carried out by Swansea University, reported by Will Hayward in his Wales briefing, found that persistent absence disproportionately affects disadvantaged children. The research also identified a significant evidence gap around the impact of absenteeism on mental health and well-being.

Professor Ann John, of Swansea University, the Population Mental Health Consortium and senior author of the review, said persistent absence affected children’s life chances. She said improving attendance required approaches that responded to the complex causes of school absence rather than relying on a single solution.

The research found that better engagement with parents and improved communication between schools and families—including sending parents information about absences by text, email or letter had shown the most consistent improvements.

Background of the development

School attendance has remained a major education policy issue in Wales since the Covid-19 pandemic. Welsh Government figures and reporting by the BBC indicate that attendance has not fully returned to pre-pandemic levels, with persistent absence remaining higher than before 2020.

A Welsh Government publication produced with Parentkind stated that 29 per cent of pupils were absent for at least 10 per cent of sessions in 2023/24, using the government’s revised threshold for persistent absence.

The issue has also been raised at local level. In 2025, Darren Millar wrote to the chief executives of Conwy and Denbighshire councils about rising school absence rates, saying unauthorised absences in Welsh secondary schools had nearly doubled compared with five years earlier.

The latest Senedd exchange adds to ongoing scrutiny of Welsh education standards. In September, the BBC reported that the Welsh Government published new national benchmarks for reading and maths alongside attendance commitments, shortly after international Pisa results showed Welsh teenagers performing below peers in other comparable countries.

Prediction: How could this affect pupils and families in Wales?

For pupils and families in Wales, the development is likely to mean closer attention from schools to absence patterns, attendance records and the reasons behind missed lessons. The Welsh Government’s new absence-recording guidance and planned national framework could lead to more consistent monitoring across local authorities.

Parents and carers may see more communication from schools about absences, as research highlighted by Swansea University found that clearer engagement and communication with families had shown consistent improvements in attendance.

For pupils who are persistently absent, the Welsh Government’s attendance target and Community Focused Schools Plus pilots could increase the availability of earlier support, particularly where mental health, family pressures or additional learning needs are involved.

However, the effect will depend on how quickly the 0.5 per cent annual attendance target is delivered and whether the new framework reaches schools facing the greatest attendance challenges. The figures discussed in the Senedd suggest that secondary schools, including those in north Wales, remain a key area of focus.