From Highlands to Glasgow: How Absences and Reduced Timetables Impact Education

London, United Kingdom Jul 12, 2026 ALN: A concerning trend around severe school absences emerges from rural Highland and island communities to towns and cities around Glasgow.

Highland Council has the highest proportion of children missing at least half of the school year – known as a ‘severe absence’ – with reduced or part-time timetables becoming part of the normal school week.

Analysis of freedom of information requests from local authorities across the country shows that 3.4% of children in the Highlands missed 50% or more of the school term in 2025-26, up to June this year.

The Herald analysed the figures proportionately, based on the numbers of pupils in each local authority area.

Glasgow, West Lothian and Midlothian follow the Highlands with 3.2% of pupils severely absent.

East Renfrewshire has the lowest number of pupils who are considered to be severely absent from school, with 0.7% or 122 pupils missing the school year out of a school roll of around 17,821.

While it may seem a low percentage of school roll, the reality is more than 12,000 children are losing out on access to a full education.

In the most recent school year, 4,440 pupils in the Highlands missed 20% or more of school, a 48.7% increase on 2020-21 levels, when 2,986 pupils were marked as having a “persistent” school absence.

Highland Council has previously blamed the legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and pupils’ health and wellbeing for the drop in school attendance.

Angus MacDonald, the Liberal Democrat MP for Inverness, said: “It is very concerning that the Highlands have some of the highest absence rates in the country.

“Getting children properly engaged at school and making sure they attend is critical to helping them realise their potential and succeed in life.”

Mr. MacDonald urged the Scottish Government to take action to address the root causes of persistent school absences.

He said: “The Scottish Government needs to do more to tackle the harms that have persisted following the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly around social isolation.

“I’d also like to see Highland Council working more with families and communities to address absences.

“The cost-of-living crisis may also be influencing these absence rates, so we need to make sure that families who are struggling to make ends meet are properly supported.”

Unlike the school system in England, parents north of the border are not issued with fixed-penalty fines for their child repeatedly missing school.

Instead, Scottish councils have a legal obligation to work with families to determine the barriers preventing a child from attending school.

Councils can, however, take legal action in extreme cases through attendance orders in the Sheriff Court.

It is becoming increasingly common for children to be placed on temporary, reduced or part-time timetables.

These tailor the school day around the child, and often mean they only attend school for certain days of the week or half of the school day.

Just 20 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities agreed to release information to The Herald.

There were 7,692 pupils across these council areas on part-time or reduced timetables in the 2025-26 school year up to early June 2026.

The Highlands had the most, with 1,371 pupils on a specialised timetable, followed by 977 children in Perth and Kinross Council.

There were 749 pupils on a reduced timetable in Dumfries and Galloway.

The number of pupils on a reduced timetable in Dumfries and Galloway has skyrocketed this year compared to 2020-21, when just 81 children required one.

That is an increase of 824.7% across the local authority. In the Highlands, 413 needed a reduced timetable in 2020-21, meaning there has been a 232% increase.

While Glasgow had one of the highest proportions of severe absences, just 597 children required a bespoke schedule. But that represents a 261.8% rise compared to 2020-21, when 165 city pupils required a temporary timetable.

In the Scottish Borders, it is a 310% increase, rising from 117 pupils on a temporary timetable to 480 in the most recent school year. The increase in Perth and Kinross was 356%, up from 214 in 2020-21.

For persistent school absences – missing 20% or more of the school year – Glasgow City topped the list with 11,097 pupils absent – representing 15.5% of the total school population in the city. It is also a 62.5% increase from 2020-21, where 6,830 were persistently absent.

North Lanarkshire was second on the list for persistent absences, with 4,664 pupils – 9.7% of all pupils in the local authority area and a 34.7% increase from six years ago.

Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, City of Edinburgh, Clackmannanshire, East Renfrewshire and Fife councils did not provide figures for persistent absences.

Highland Council did not respond to The Herald’s request for comment.

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said there was a “national challenge” around school attendance following the pandemic.

She said: “We have a range of both targeted and universal early intervention and support measures in place to help children and young people who are experiencing difficulties attending school, working closely with families and partner agencies to provide the right support at the right time.

“Alongside this, we have established a strategic attendance group and will host an attendance symposium next year to drive further collaboration and action on this important issue.

“Last year, we also launched our citywide ‘Attendance Matters Every Day’ campaign to reinforce the importance of regular school attendance and the positive impact it has on learning, wellbeing, and outcomes. The campaign will return in the new school year.”

A spokeswoman for Midlothian Council said: “Midlothian has had a continued focus on promoting positive attendance at school. We have strengthened our data, policy/procedures and partnerships over recent years but we recognise that there is further work to do in relation to long term absence. Each case is unique and complex but partners are working with families to bring about a change.”

The Scottish Government said parents have “legal obligations,” set out in the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, to ensure their children attend school regularly.

But it accepted that there were “complex” underlying issues which drive poor attendance.

In 2024-25, the overall school attendance rate was 91%, an increase from 90.3% in the previous year. However, it is below the pre-pandemic level of 93%.

The rate of persistent absence across the country that year was 28.5%, with analysis of those statistics showing that pupils living in the 20% most deprived areas have a lower attendance rate of 87.6% compared to their more affluent counterparts on 94.1%.

East Renfrewshire recorded the highest local authority attendance rate at 93.6%, while East Ayrshire recorded the lowest at 89.1%, according to official government data.