PARENTS who work from home have been blamed for continued poor pupil attendance at Welsh schools, by a councillor who used to hold the county education portfolio.

Councillor Martyn Groucutt (Labour, Lansdown Abergavenny) claimed that home-worker parents have been telling schools they see no reason why their children shouldn’t do the same.

The Welsh Government classifies its definition of “persistent absence” as a child missing more than 20 per cent of half day school sessions, or 10 full school days.

Councillor Groucutt, who resigned as Monmouthshire Council Cabinet member for education in May, said school attendance hasn’t recovered since the pandemic, when lockdown meant most pupils stayed at home and followed online learning.

Speaking at a county council scrutiny meeting, discussing a well-being plan, he claimed: “There is an elephant in the room. Since the pandemic too many families have stopped sending their children to school regularly.

“Attendance has still not caught up to attendance we were used to over time. Parents are contacting schools and saying ‘I work from home three days a week, why can’t my children do the same?’ It doesn’t work like that.”

The retired former headteacher and education officer, who has recently been appointed chair of governors at Cross Ash Primary, said friends of his have home educated their children, and while there was a place for it in some situations, attending school was the most suitable form of education for most children.

“The vast, vast majority of children need to be with their friends, peers and community learning,” he said.

The annual report from Monmouthshire Council’s director of education, for 2024/25, stated “overall attendance of pupils in Monmouthshire schools, post-pandemic, has improved” with primary school attendance “moving rapidly towards pre-pandemic levels” but described attendance in secondary schools as “slower to recover”.

Figures show overall attendance in Monmouthshire increased to 90 per cent in 2023/24.