Pupil absence rates at schools in England have climbed to their highest level so far this calendar year, new figures show.

Some 8.4% of pupils were absent across the week ending March 31, up from 7.0% the previous week.

It is the highest level since the last week of the autumn term in December 2022, when the rate stood at 14.3% amid a surge in cases of both flu and Covid-19.

An estimated 3.2% of pupils were away from school for unauthorised reasons in the latest week – again, the highest since the end of December.

The figures, which have been published by the Department for Education, also show the rate of persistent absence so far this academic year is 22.6%.

This is the proportion of pupils who have missed 10% or more of their possible school sessions, defined as half a day.

Figures for persistent absence have remained around 23% since the data was first published in February.

The rate of persistent absence is higher in special schools (39.8%) and secondary schools (27.2%) than in primary schools (18.5%).

Separate figures published on Thursday show there were 200,800 suspensions in schools in England in the 2021/22 spring term, the equivalent of 2.4 per 100 pupils and the highest for any term since current data began in 2016/17.

There were 2,175 permanent exclusions in spring 2021/22, or 0.03 per 100 pupils – the highest since before the Covid-19 pandemic.

North-east England had the highest rate of permanent exclusions, at 0.05 per 100 pupils, while inner London and south-east England had the lowest, at 0.01 per 100.