Truancy 'six times worse than official figures show'

Around 800,000 children play truant each year - six times the Government's official figure, according to a survey released yesterday.

Of these, 80,000 hardly go to school at all, says the trade union Unison, whose members include education welfare officers. These children spend their days on the streets and are likely to turn to petty crime, drugs and alcohol. They are also in danger of sex abuse.

Truancy figures compiled by the Government are due to be released next month. Last year they showed that 130,000 children played truant.

John Findlay, Unison's national officer, said the figures had been compiled from education welfare officers' caseloads: "This is a neglected scandal with shocking implications for schools and the individuals concerned," he said.

The union suggests that government figures which give truancy as a percentage of half- days lost through unauthorised absence are "falsely reassuring".

Schools are under pressure to reduce their figures because they want to avoid bad publicity in league tables. They tend to mark children's absence as authorised at first. Those who are absent for more than four weeks may be taken off the register and persistent truants may be expelled. Some children may be marked up as present at registration, but truant later in the day.

Even on the Government's figures, Mr Findlay, said, 20 million half-days a year are being lost through truancy.

Truants are also getting younger. Although most truants are between 13 and 15, growing numbers of primary school children are playing truant including some as young as six.

Rosanna O'Connor, of the drugs charity Turning Point, said: "Our experience is that once a child is outside the ordinary range of activities they are more likely to turn to drugs or petty crime."

There are 2,600 educational welfare officers, a reduction of 300 in the last four years despite a pounds 14m initiative to tackle truancy announced by John Patten, the former Secretary of State for Education, in 1993. Each officer has a caseload of 300 children. The union wants their number doubled.

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Employment said it was up to local authorities to decide what priority they gave to truancy and how many education welfare officers they employed. The Government had provided support for education welfare officers' posts and schemes to tackle truancy. "We extrapolate our truancy figures in a different way," he said.