Hundreds of kids have missed education across Shropshire in the last year, figures have shown

A Freedom of Information request obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service shows that 445 children under Shropshire Council’s jurisdiction were classified as missing education due to not attending school and their families being unreachable. The figures were from May 16, 2024 to May 15, 2025.

The council has also explained the interventions that have been attempted to address the issue.

For families who move out of the area, the education welfare officers will complete a home visit to the last known Shropshire address to ascertain that the child no longer resides there, For families who move into the area, meanwhile, the inclusion support officers will do door-stepping and call parents.

The education access service administrator will also complete the following checks to check and locate children missing education:

• Contact parents

• Contact new school (if details known – UK or abroad)

• Contact forwarding local authority to make further enquiries

• Contact Child Health

• Liaise with local authority colleagues – school admissions, gypsy roma traveller liaison officer, social worker and early help support worker, and Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC)

• Request a council tax check

• Access other systems which are available – school admissions portal, EHM and LCS

• Access DfE site – Get information about pupils (GIAP)

• Border Force checks

Government figures show that during the autumn term of 2024/25, local authorities reported 39,200 children missing education (CME) – an increase from an estimated 33,000 from the previous year.

Reasons given include believed to have moved out of the country, school application awaiting outcome, believed to have moved to another local authority, and unsuitable elective home education.

In Shropshire, the number of CME was 80 (0.2% of the population). In comparison, Telford & Wrekin was 280 (0.9%) – one of the highest in the West Midlands.