Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) teachers and (b) other school staff have been absent from working in schools in each month since January 2020.

The daily education setting (EdSet) survey asks schools and colleges to report data such as on-site attendance and COVID-19 absence.

From 12 October 2020, the survey of educational settings asked schools and colleges for information on the absence of teachers and school leaders, and teaching assistants and other staff, who were unable to work on-site. This data is not available prior to 12 October 2020.

Data is available from 12 October 2020 to 21 October 2021, see table 1d (excluding holidays) and table 1a (schools not on holiday during half term and Easter) in https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/2021-week-44.

Information on the number and rates of teacher sickness absence are published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

To reduce burdens on schools during the COVID-19 outbreak, the return of absence data for the 2019/20 academic year was not required in the ongoing 2020 School Workforce Census. Schools will not be asked to submit 2020 census absence data retrospectively in future censuses.