2,430 children in West Sussex set to miss half their lessons by 2026, says Crawley Labour candidate

Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has unveiled a new long-term plan to tackle the “generational challenge” of persistent absence of children from school, after new data from the party exposed the scale of the problem in West Sussex.

Labour’s plan to get a grip on children missing school is part their vision to deliver high and rising standards across all of England’s schools. Labour’s analysis shows over 200,000 children are set to miss half their time at school, including 2,430 in West Sussex by 2026 if rates of children skipping school continue.

Between 2016 and 2022, the number of children missing half their lessons trebled across England with an increase of 169% in West Sussex, and is set to continue rising unless urgent action is taken.

A child is deemed persistently absent if they miss 10 per cent of lessons or more, and severely absent if they miss 50 per cent of lessons or more. Over the course of a year missing ten per cent of lessons would equate to four weeks’ worth of schooling, while missing half is the equivalent of missing four months of school.

Labour’s plan includes the creation of a new Register of Home-Schooled Pupils to keep track of those not in mainstream schooling as part of a new package of measures to get to grips with persistent non-attendance and restore flagging public trust. Other measures will include:

• Empowering Ofsted to review absence as part of annual safeguarding spot-checks.
• Using AI to spot trends in absence - joining up existing records for children to improve coordination between education, social care and the wider services that support families, while busting bureaucracy for parents.
• Equipping every school with funding to deliver evidence-based early language interventions to ensure every child develops the strong foundation in speech and language development that sets them up to achieve.
• Increasing mental health support through dedicated counsellors in every secondary school and putting mental health hubs in every community.
• Reforming the curriculum to deliver a better foundation in reading, writing and maths, while ensuring that children do not miss out on music, sport, art and drama.
• Universal free breakfast clubs for every primary school pupil in England.

Commenting on the proposals, Peter Lamb, Labour candidate for Crawley, said: “Labour is determined to give every child in West Sussex the best possible chance to do well and get on. That’s why the next Labour Government will focus on breaking down the barriers to opportunity at every stage – including a serious plan to tackle severe absence from school.

“Conservatives have let the persistent absence crisis in school attendance get out of control and have no plan to get children back to school. Far too many children are missing far too much of their education – that has to stop.

“Families in Crawley have had enough of a government that feels like it has given up. We’re hugely ambitious for our children, and it’s about time we had a government that matches that ambition.”