New school attendance rule for pupils who miss 19 days a year under Andy Burnham governmentEvery mainstream state school in England will be given its own target to improve pupil attendance from SeptemberView Image Persistent absence figures have doubled following the Covid-19 pandemic. (Image: 10'000 Hours via Getty Images)Andy Burnham's Government has confirmed that every mainstream state school in England will be assigned individual targets to boost pupil attendance from September. ‌Persistent absence figures have doubled following the coronavirus pandemic. A pupil is classified as persistently absent if they miss at least 10 per cent of school sessions. Schools will be granted access to enhanced data tools in the forthcoming year to assist them in examining individual pupils' attendance patterns, Waugh explained, enabling them to spot issues sooner and "intervening more quickly when pupils begin to drift away from regular attendance".