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How the attendance service works#
The attendance service works with students who are enrolled in school but have not been attending, as well as non-enrolled students. Schools can contact the service for help with managing attendance and reducing unjustified absence.
We contract providers across the country to deliver this service.
Changes to attendance services from January 2026#
New attendance services were put in place in January 2026. The new attendance services model will support up to around 80,000 students per year. The new model includes:
- a comprehensive attendance service for chronically absent and non-enrolled students, with 1 provider in each of 84 catchments
- funding for 170 schools to provide extra support to some of their chronically absent students – this is called in-school provision.
Map of attendance service providers from 1 January 2026#
See below for a map of all the catchments in the new attendance service and their providers.
Attendance services – Google maps
When schools should request support from an attendance service provider#
This guidance provides direction for schools when deciding to request support from an attendance service provider for ākonga who are chronically absent. It gives useful information to support your judgement and decision making.
How to request support from an attendance service provider#
You will be able to request support from attendance service providers through a new attendance service case management system. The system has been designed to make it easier for you to request support for students.
The new attendance service case management system for schools goes live on Monday 16 February 2026.
In preparation for the Attendance Service Case Management System going live:
- Your delegated authoriser will need to assign users roles within the new case management system. Roles are available to be assigned now in advance of the attendance service case management system going live for schools on 16 February 2026. Guidance on what the roles are, what they can do within the system (for example, Attendance Lead) and how to assign access can be found here.
- An online module hosted on the Training Education website is available to help schools learn about key tasks they can perform in the system. Access to the module requires an Education Sector Logon. After you are logged in, open the Attendance Service for Schools tile, and complete the Online Attendance Service for Schools module.
The online module is available to complete now in advance of the attendance service case management system going live for schools on 16 February 2026.
How to get support#
Webinars for schools to learn more about the reformed attendance service will be held on 17 and 18 February. Details and how to register for these can be found here.
