Poor housing a growing barrier to school attendance in England, charity reveals

Exclusive: School-Home Support finds proportion of children citing such concerns has risen 73% year on year

Insecure, unsuitable and poor quality housing is increasingly a barrier to children going to school, according to an education charity that works with persistently absent pupils and their families to improve school attendance in England.

School-Home Support (SHS), which tries to address the root causes of high absence rates through whole-family support, says that 19% of the pupils it works with cite where they live as a major barrier to school attendance.