Priced out of school: how lack of money prevents young people from attending school

In recent years, improving school attendance has been a top priority for policymakers in every nation of the UK. The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated a rise in the number of children and young people missing school on a regular basis, and although the latest data shows that average attendance levels are beginning to improve, progress is slow, and some groups still remain below pre-pandemic levels. Persistent absence – defined as missing 10 per cent or more of school sessions each term – is more common among children eligible for free school meals, and rates increase as children grow older, with the highest absence rates among children attending secondary school.

We wanted to hear directly from young people aged 11-18 about the extent to which lack of money plays a role in attendance at school. This new research shows that lack of money itself prevents children from attending school. It also shows that children in lower-income households are more likely to face sanctions, such as being sent home from school, for not having what they need, which further impacts on the amount of time they spend learning.  

We wanted to hear directly from young people aged 11-18 about the extent to which lack of money plays a role in attendance at school. We have found that:

• 16 per cent of all 11–18-year-olds in the UK say that they have missed school at least once because they didn’t have something they needed to attend.
• This number increases significantly among children who qualify for means-tested free school meals, with more than one-in-four (26 per cent) saying this has been the case.
• Almost half (47 per cent) of all young people who missed school because they didn’t have what they needed said they did so because they did not have the correct uniform or kit. Across all secondary school pupils, those in receipt of free school meals were more than three times as likely to give this reason for missing school than their peers.
• 23 per cent who didn’t have what they needed said they didn’t attend school because they didn’t have the money to pay for school meals, while 20 per cent said difficulty affording a packed lunch had kept them off.
• Children in receipt of free school meals are also sometimes lending their free school meal allowances to friends who need food.
• Children in low-income households were also more likely to report needing time off school for mental health challenges compared to their peers.
• Over a quarter of all young people (26 per cent) who missed school because they didn’t have what they needed said this was because they couldn’t afford transport to get to school, and more than a quarter (27 per cent) said a lack of money for going on trips meant they sometimes didn’t attend school.
• Subject costs also presented challenges, with 16 per cent of all pupils reporting that costs or worries about the cost of some subjects prevented them from choosing a subject to study.
• Children in receipt of free school meals were also twice as likely to report being sent home from school for not having the right uniform or kit compared to those not eligible for free school meals.