Darren Millar Calls Welsh School Attendance ‘Appalling’ 2026

Key Points

• The school attendance statistics in Wales have been described by Welsh Conservative Party leader Darren Millar as “appalling”, and the situation is that the nation is faced with a huge attendance challenge.
• Millar brought up the matter while posing questions to Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language Anna Brychan regarding efforts to improve education outcomes across Wales.
• According to Ella Groves, ICNN Senedd Reporter, for Nation.Cymru, Millar made the statements in the Senedd on 20 October 2026.
• The latest statistics by the Welsh government reveal that average attendance rate in maintained schools between 2025/26 to 24 April was 91.0%, the same level as for the same period last year.
• Average attendance among pupils who are entitled to receive free school meals stood at 84.9%, which has fallen by 0.3 percentage point compared to the same period last year.
• 18.9% of all pupils met the persistent absence threshold for missing 10% or more of lessons, and among free school meals pupils, it was 38.6%.
• 2.6% of all pupils attended less than half of the school sessions, while among free school meals, it is 6.1%.

Wales (Wales Times) October 21, 2026 — The leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Darren Millar, has said Wales has a “huge” school attendance problem and described current attendance figures as “appalling”, during questions to education minister Anna Brychan in the Senedd.

As reported by Ella Groves, ICNN Senedd reporter, for Nation.Cymru, Mr Millar questioned Ms Brychan on what action she was taking to improve educational outcomes across Wales. He said the attendance data showed a serious and continuing challenge for Welsh schools.

Why Has Darren Millar Called Attendance Figures ‘Appalling’?

As reported by Ms Groves of Nation.Cymru, Mr Millar said Wales had a “huge” school attendance problem. He described the figures as “appalling” while pressing the education minister on the Welsh Government’s response.

The criticism came amid official statistics showing that attendance in Wales has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. According to the Welsh Government’s attendance release covering 2 September 2025 to 24 April 2026, average attendance for pupils aged five to 15 was 91.0%, the same as during the equivalent period of 2024/25.

That figure remains well below the 94.3% average attendance recorded in 2018/19, before the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted schooling. It is also below the Welsh Government’s stated benchmark of 95% for “good attendance”.

What Do the Latest Welsh Attendance Statistics Show?

The Welsh Government’s latest published data shows that absence remains uneven across different groups of pupils. Average attendance for pupils eligible for free school meals was 84.9% in the period to 24 April 2026, down from 85.2% in the same period of the previous academic year.

Persistent absence also remains a significant concern. The Welsh Government defines persistent absence as missing 10% or more of school sessions. By 24 April 2026, 18.9% of pupils had reached that threshold, marginally lower than 19.1% at the same point in 2024/25.

Among pupils eligible for free school meals, however, 38.6% were persistently absent, up from 38.4% over the equivalent period a year earlier.

The data also shows that 2.6% of pupils had missed half or more of their school sessions by that point in the academic year. The proportion was much higher among pupils eligible for free school meals, at 6.1%, compared with 1.5% among pupils not eligible for free school meals.

Illness remained the most common reason for absence, accounting for 3.9% of sessions in the period covered by the statistics.

What Action Is Anna Brychan Taking on Attendance?

Ms Brychan, the Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, was questioned by Mr Millar about the action being taken to improve educational outcomes. Nation.Cymru reported that Mr Millar used the exchange to highlight attendance as a central part of that wider concern.

The Welsh Government has previously announced a £200,000 programme intended to tackle behavioural problems and improve attendance. As reported by Nation.Cymru staff in August 2026, the funding will support Community Focused Schools Plus pilots, which will examine how schools and specialist services can work together to provide earlier support for children, young people and their families.

At the time, Ms Brychan said factors outside the classroom could have a significant impact on a learner’s ability to attend, engage and achieve. As reported by Nation.Cymru, she said: “We know that factors outside the classroom can have a significant impact on a learner’s ability to attend, engage and achieve.”

She added that the cost of living, concerns around mental health and wellbeing, family pressures and increasingly complex support needs meant schools were often responding to challenges affecting many aspects of a child’s experience and development.

How Does Wales’s Attendance Compare With Before the Pandemic?

Official figures show a clear gap between current attendance and pre-pandemic levels. In 2024/25, attendance across all state-funded schools in Wales was 91.1%, compared with 94.3% in 2018/19, according to Senedd Research.

The Senedd Research article, published in May 2026, said attendance declined sharply after the pandemic and had been slow to recover. It also noted that persistent absence was higher than before the pandemic and that the trends were most pronounced in secondary schools.

In 2024/25, 27.0% of pupils missed 10% or more of school sessions, compared with 14.7% in 2018/19.

The disparity between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is also substantial. Senedd Research reported that, in 2024/25, attendance among secondary school learners eligible for free school meals was 81.2%, compared with 91.1% for those not eligible — a gap of just under 10 percentage points.

What Have Welsh Conservatives Said Previously?

Mr Millar’s latest comments follow earlier warnings from Welsh Conservatives about school absence. In January 2026, the Welsh Conservatives said latest Welsh Government figures showed overall attendance remained below pre-pandemic levels.

The party cited figures showing that more than half of pupils eligible for free school meals were persistently absent in 2024/25, up from 30.4% in 2018/19. It also highlighted that Year 11 pupils recorded the lowest attendance, at 86.8% in 2024/25.

Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education Natasha Asghar MS said at the time that the statistics were “deeply concerning”. As quoted by the Welsh Conservatives, she said Year 11 being the worst-attended year group highlighted a worrying trend for pupils at a crucial stage of their studies.

Ms Asghar also said the Welsh Conservatives had a plan to restore discipline and respect in order to boost attendance.

Mr Millar has previously raised concerns about absence in his Clwyd West constituency area. In July 2025, he wrote to the chief executives of Conwy and Denbighshire councils calling for urgent action after local data indicated increases in pupils missing school since 2018/19.

As reported on his own website, Mr Millar said at the time:

“Too many young people are missing out on large parts of their education, and I am particularly concerned about the long-term impact this will have on their futures.”

What Is the Wider Education Context in Wales?

The attendance debate forms part of a broader discussion about education standards in Wales. In September 2026, the Welsh Government announced new reading, maths and attendance targets intended to boost school standards.

As reported by the BBC, the plan includes a national target to increase attendance by 0.5% year on year, while reducing the attendance gap between the most disadvantaged pupils and their classmates. It also includes a target to reduce persistent absence by 2% a year.

The BBC reported that provisional attendance data for the last academic year was 90.7%, slightly below the previous year and significantly below the 94% seen before the pandemic.

Mr Millar responded to those targets by saying the results were evidence that Wales had “the worst education system in the whole of the United Kingdom”, according to the BBC.

Separately, the education inspectorate Estyn published a report in October 2026 finding that attendance among post-16 learners remained below providers’ expectations. It said attendance across school sixth forms and further education colleges averaged around 80% of timetabled sessions over the previous three years.

Estyn also found there was no consistent national approach to measuring or reporting post-16 attendance, making reliable national comparison difficult.

Background of the Development

School attendance in Wales has been under sustained scrutiny since the Covid-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, average attendance in Welsh maintained schools was 94.3% in 2018/19; by 2024/25, it had fallen to 91.1%.

Persistent absence has risen sharply over the same period. The proportion of pupils missing 10% or more of sessions increased from 14.7% in 2018/19 to 27.0% in 2024/25, according to Senedd Research.

The Welsh Government has identified a range of factors affecting attendance, including illness, mental health and wellbeing concerns, family pressures, cost-of-living issues, transport difficulties and complex support needs.

Its recent policy response has included attendance targets, a focus on literacy and numeracy, and the Community Focused Schools Plus pilot programme funded with £200,000.

Prediction: How Could This Affect Welsh Pupils and Parents?

If attendance does not improve, pupils who miss substantial amounts of school may face greater difficulty keeping pace with learning, particularly in key qualification years. The figures already show that pupils eligible for free school meals are more likely to be persistently absent and more likely to miss half or more of their sessions.

For parents, the development is likely to keep attendance, wellbeing and support services at the centre of education policy discussions. The Welsh Government’s pilot programme suggests a continued emphasis on earlier intervention through schools working with specialist services, rather than treating absence solely as a classroom issue.

For schools and local authorities, the latest criticism is likely to increase pressure to demonstrate measurable progress against the Welsh Government’s targets of raising attendance by 0.5% annually and reducing persistent absence by 2% a year.

For Welsh Conservatives, the attendance data provides a continuing basis for opposition criticism of the Welsh Government’s education record. For the Welsh Government, the immediate challenge will be to show that its existing pilots and national targets can narrow the gap between overall attendance and the pre-pandemic level.