Children in overcrowded and damp homes miss more school, UK study finds

Children who lived in overcrowded or damp homes missed three weeks more school than other pupils over the course of their education, a study has found.

Pupils living in poor quality homes tend to be more likely to experience health problems and therefore are more likely to miss school, researchers from University College London (UCL) and City St George’s, University of London said.

Pupils in houses of lower quality from a cohort of 7,000 also did worse in their English and maths exams.

Lead author Dr Gergo Baranyi, of the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies, said poor quality housing affects educational outcomes as well as health.

“Children living in overcrowded and damp homes tend to experience more health problems so are likely to miss more school and may find it difficult to catch up on their studies,” he said.

“In more overcrowded households, kids have less space to study, for example, or there might be more disturbances at home, so they might have reduced concentration,” Dr Baranyi told the Press Association.

“Or for example, they may not be able to sleep that much because they have to share the room with other siblings. So all of these might come together to lower their focus and concentration on preparing for exams and school.”

On average, after controlling for factors like parental education and income, children who lived in poorer quality housing at age seven missed 15.5 more days of school than their peers from years 1 to 11, the study found.

They also scored 2-5% lower than their peers in both primary and secondary tests.

Researchers looked at data for 7,000 children born between 2000-2002 who were taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study.

When they were seven, their parents were asked about their housing.

Children were classified as being in lower quality housing if they experienced at least two conditions of poorer accommodation, including damp, overcrowding, or lack of central heating.

Of the children in the study, one in seven (15%) lived in homes with damp, and one in eight (12%) lived in overcrowded homes.

Around 16% lived in lower quality housing overall.

Damp and overcrowded conditions had the strongest association with higher absence from school.

Meanwhile, cold and overcrowded homes were more associated with lower results – particularly at GCSE.

Dr Baranyi and co-author Dr Sierra Clark, from City St George’s, University of London, said improving housing conditions will have significant benefits for children’s health and education, and could help to narrow health and educational inequalities, benefiting disadvantaged children’s chances at school.

Sarah Sleet, chief executive at Asthma and Lung UK, said: “Living in damp, cold and mouldy homes puts children with asthma – the most common chronic childhood disease – at higher risk of life-threatening asthma attacks.

“This means they are more likely to need emergency care, which can have a huge impact on their school attendance.”

Schools have been facing an absence crisis since the pandemic, with persistent absence – which means missing 10% or more of classes – still above pre-pandemic levels at 17.6% in the latest figures.

Pupils classified as severely absent – missing half or more of their sessions – are still increasing, according to Department for Education figures, reaching 2.3% in 2024/25.

Pupils from less advantaged backgrounds are still far more likely to be absent – nearly a third (31%) of pupils who receive free school meals were persistently absent in autumn and spring 2024/25.