Attendance guidance: Social workers and other practitioners
DfE Guidance March 2026
Improving the Attendance of Children with a Social Worker
Purpose
Key expectations from Department for Education (DfE) guidance on improving school attendance for children with a social worker, and to highlight implications for practice across attendance services, social care, and partner agencies.
Key context
The DfE guidance reinforces that attendance is both an educational and safeguarding priority, requiring coordinated multi-agency action.
Regular school attendance is identified as a protective factor, supporting:
- Educational attainment
- Emotional wellbeing
- Social development
- Reduced exposure to risk and exploitation
Core messages from the guidance
- Attendance is a safeguarding priority
- Attendance must be treated as a core safeguarding concern, not solely an education issue.
- Social workers are expected to:
- Promote the value of education
- Challenge absence appropriately
- Ensure attendance is considered in all safeguarding assessments
- Role of Social Workers and Practitioners
Social workers and practitioners have a key strategic and operational role in improving attendance:
They should:
- Identify and address underlying barriers to attendance
- Work collaboratively with:
- Schools
- Statutory Attendance Support Team
- Other LA Teams such as SEND
- Other professionals
- Advocate for the child’s needs and experiences
Social Workers and practitioners are uniquely positioned to bring the child’s voice into attendance planning, ensuring interventions reflect lived experience.
- Understanding Barriers to Attendance
The guidance emphasises a holistic, relational approach. Practitioners should consider:
- The child’s:
- Sense of belonging in school
- Perception of safety
- Relationships with staff and peers
- Emotional and contextual factors influencing non-attendance
These factors are often more significant than procedural or behavioural explanations.
- Monitoring and Analysis Expectations
Practitioners are expected to maintain robust oversight of attendance patterns, including:
- Attendance percentages
- Persistent absence
- Lateness
- Suspensions
- Reduced timetables
There is also an expectation to monitor:
- Lesson-by-lesson attendance
- Engagement in learning, not just presence on roll
- The Role of Education in Reducing Risk
Education provides:
- Access to trusted adults
- A safe and structured environment
- Opportunities to build resilience and key life skills
Strong attendance reduces vulnerability to:
- Exploitation
- Social isolation
- Long-term disadvantage
- Multi-Agency Working
The DfE highlights the importance of integrated working across services:
Key expectations include:
- Strong partnership between:
- Schools
- Social care
- Attendance services
- Other professionals
- Shared responsibility for improving attendance outcomes
- Recognition of parental responsibility alongside professional support
Additional emphasis is placed on:
- Meeting the needs of children with SEND
- Aligning attendance planning with wider safeguarding and care planning
Implications for Local Practice
For Attendance Services
- Strengthen links with social care teams
- Ensure children with a social worker are prioritised for early intervention
- Move beyond enforcement to contextual, relationship-based approaches
For Social Care
- Embed attendance in:
- Assessments
- Plans (Child in Need, Child Protection, LAC)
- Routinely review attendance data alongside safeguarding indicators
- Actively challenge reduced timetables and exclusions
For schools
- Develop inclusive environments that:
- Promote belonging
- Build strong relationships
- Share timely and detailed attendance data with partners
- Work collaboratively to address barriers
Key takeaways
- Attendance is a shared safeguarding responsibility
- Improving attendance requires understanding the child’s experience, not just enforcing compliance
- Strong attendance practice is:
- Multi-agency
- Data-informed
- Relationship-led
Following DfE Guidance – Improving the attendance of children with a social worker – dated March 2026, the Statutory Attendance Support Team has placed the ‘Checklist for Support’ into the following document to help social workers, practitioners understand DfE expectations when supporting a pupil where there are school attendance concerns.