The hidden cost of the flu season to England’s education system

The winter flu season always creates incredibly tough conditions in hospitals. An overstretched health system facing a myriad of pressures from an increasingly older and sicker population reaches crisis point. This year has been no different. 

The flu season started unusually early this year which saw a surge in hospitalisations over December. A new variant of influenza – compounded by low vaccine uptake among eligible demographics – created a perfect storm for the flu to spread across the population.

The headlines have (rightly) been dominated by the situation on hospital wards up and down the country. But an underexplored and overlooked aspect of the winter flu season is its impact in schools, namely – the sharp rise in school absences.

Flu-driven absence and educational attainment

Our exclusive analysis of Department for Education data revealed that the rate of children absent from school due to illness in England increased from 3% across October to an average of 4.5% during the peak of flu season – a 50% increase in the number of classes missed. This means that around a million extra ‘sessions’ of education have been missed each week this winter.

In total 2.5 million days of school have been missed this winter with flu being a major contributing factor. Absence from school has a major impact on attainment, with pupils who are repeatedly off school less likely to meet attainment targets than their peers.

Research from the Department for Education shows that primary school children that attend nearly every day in Year 6 (95–100% attendance) have a 30% better chance of reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. Year 11 pupils with near-perfect attendance are almost twice as likely to achieve grade 5 in English and Maths GCSE.

School absence also impacts on other children, as teachers have to devote time to ensuring students who have missed sessions are properly caught up.

The consequences go beyond the school gates. Parents and carers are often forced to take time off work to look after their children. This can have a negative impact on household finances as well as the overall productivity of the workforce.

Vaccine uptake and school children

The flu vaccine remains the single most effective way of protecting the public. Children aged 2 to 18 are eligible for a flu vaccine. Despite the broad eligibility, NHS England reports only that 4.09 million have been given to school age children. This equates to roughly 45% of children in England. 

The flu can have serious health impacts on people of all ages. While other more clinically at risks may be more likely to seriously ill, the health risks for children should not be minimised. 

Low vaccine uptake among school aged children also has a knock-on effect for flu transmission. Children can spread flu to adults who may be more vulnerable. This can be particularly acute in households where multiple generations live under the same roof.

Boosting vaccine uptake for school children – what can we do about it?

Learning the lessons from the 25/26 flu season will be pivotal to changing the rate in the right direction next year. We are calling on the Government to take several steps:

• Firstly, rolling out the flu vaccine to all schools before October half term.
• Secondly, working with the pharmacy sector and local government to increase the availability of juvenile flu vaccines outside of school throughout the Autumn.   

Schools also have a key part to play in boosting vaccine uptake. They can do this by providing multiple opportunities for vaccination, emphasising to students that the nasal spray is needle-free, and communicating with parents well in advance to ensure that consent is obtained.

A whole system approach to the flu vaccine – seeing the bigger picture

Keeping our children in school, where they are able to learn and develop, should be a top priority for policymakers. The flu vaccine is one of the most effective tools we have at our disposal for doing this.

We know that children and young people value vaccines. In the first study of its kind in 2024, we asked a nationally representative group of children and young people about their views on vaccinations. We found that:

• 92% of children and young people think vaccines are important to their health
• 82% trust vaccines
• 71% would feel encouraged to have a vaccine if they were given information by someone they trusted

We now must rise to that challenge. Fail to do so and we will continue to see more of the same later this year in our schools, hospitals and workplaces.