update 25 february: this article originally reported that children's commissioner dame rachel de souza told bbc woman's hour that between 80,000 and 100,000 children were not on any school rolls at all. the office of the children's commissioner for england subsequently confirmed that dame rachel misspoke and that this figure actually relates to the number of children who were persistently absent from school in autumn 2020, following the first covid-19 lockdown. they also confirmed that the number of children not on school rolls is unknown and so we have updated our article.
covid in schools: inquiry launched to find 100,000 pupils absent in england