Councils are 鈥渦nlikely to have capacity鈥 to meet tougher school absence duties as new figures show attendance staff numbers have been 鈥渄ecimated鈥 by a third in a decade. Under reforms to crack down on school absence, town halls will have to provide a minimum attendance support offer to pupils, and their families and schools. Last autumn, 23.5 per cent of pupils missed more than 10 per cent of sessions, up from 13.1 per cent in pre-pandemic 2019. Dame Rachel de Souza, the children鈥檚 commissioner, has also warned of between 80,000 and 100,000 pupils dropping off school rolls. The government has hired 13 new attendance advisers to help councils drive through its reforms. But an investigation by Schools Week has found nearly 50 times as many advisers in charge of school attendance at councils have been cut over the past 10 years. Attendance support has ‘disappeared’ Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL school leaders鈥 union, said: 鈥淎 huge amount of support has disappeared”. “The government maintains that improved attendance is a priority, while failing to provide the necessary investment to help schools achieve this aim.鈥 Freedom of information data from just over a third of local authorities found the number of staff monitoring and encouraging school attendance dropped from 672 in 2011 to 445 in 2021, a drop of 34 per cent. Barton Extrapolated to cover the whole country, this would mean a drop in staff numbers from 1,816 to 1,202. The decreases come in the wake of austerity-driven cuts to local authority budgets since 2010, including the 拢600 million education support grant that was scrapped in 2015. Councils have also reduced education staff as more schools have become academies. But will require councils to track local attendance data and devise a 鈥渟trategic approach to attendance鈥, and regularly 鈥渂ring schools together鈥 to communicate messages. They must also hold 鈥渢argeted support meetings鈥 about pupils at risk of poor attendance and provide 鈥渕ulti-disciplinary support鈥 for families. A Local Government Association spokesperson said: 鈥淲ith councils having fewer attendance staff, they鈥檙e unlikely to have the capacity to take on greater responsibilities.鈥 鈥楳eeting reforms will be huge burden鈥 In the London borough of Hackney, the number of full-time-equivalent staff working on school attendance fell from 18 in 2011 to 5.6 in 2021 – although 75 per cent of its schools are still local authority-maintained. Anntoinette Bramble, the borough鈥檚 deputy mayor, said that meeting the additional responsibilities would put a huge burden on already stretched funding and capacity. Bramble In Sheffield, the number of staff directly supporting schools on attendance fell from 55.49 to 22.46. However, the council now only maintains about 38 per cent of the area鈥檚 schools. Most of the reduction came between 2011 and 2012, when its wider education welfare service was disbanded. In Wigan, attendance staff numbers more than halved from 20 in 2021 to 9.4 last year. Catherine Pealing, the council鈥檚 assistant director for education, said responsibility for attendance 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 all sit with the local authority, it sits with families, the school and our early intervention services鈥. 鈥淥ur allocation of attendance officers is not the sum of support to meet this new duty, but will be supported by a multi-agency response.鈥 Numbers in the south London Borough of Sutton have dropped from 9.96 to 2.33. A spokesperson said it was a 鈥渃hallenge鈥 that the new responsibilities did not come with extra funding 鈥渂ut we aim to fulfil our statutory responsibilities within the financial restraints of the initiative鈥. Some councils, however, have increased attendance staff numbers. In Bedford, numbers increased from three to 10.6, and in Greenwich, south London, they increased from 6.3 to 10.24. Cheshire East鈥檚 team has grownfrom 10.24 to 19.21. A spokesperson said it would give the council 鈥渁 strong foundation鈥 to meet its responsibilities under the new guidance. 鈥楻eforms can be achieved by better use of resources鈥 The department said in its 鈥渂urdens assessment鈥 for the reforms earlier this year that they could be delivered through 鈥渂etter use of existing resource鈥. It even claimed only 1,276 staff nationally would be needed to enact the changes, and that councils could save as much as 拢285,000 a year by 2025 from a reduction in 鈥渃ostly鈥 legal interventions. But the LGA said the analysis did not 鈥渁dequately capture the additional workload鈥. A DfE spokesperson said attendance was a 鈥渟hared responsibility鈥, adding that the school sector had 鈥渃hanged significantly over the past 10 years and multi-academy trusts play a leading role in encouraging school attendance鈥.