Parents are being more cautious about sending their children to school since the pandemic, with class absences soaring across the country.
Some children are "struggling to leave home" with many more reporting anxiety and mental health issues, according to councils in England.
Evidence presented to MPs on the Commons education select committee claims parents are more cautious about sending their children to school with minor ailments such as coughs and colds.
It is reported that parents actions are a result of public health messaging during the pandemic.
The latest attendance data from the Department for Education shows that absences in the spring term this year were 50% higher than before the pandemic.
In 2021-22 more than one in five secondary pupils were “persistently absent” which means they were missing 10% or more of sessions.
In its evidence to the committee, which is holding an investigation into school absence, an Essex council spokeswoman said: “Anxiety and mental health concerns are one of the most significant drivers behind our recent increase in persistent/severe absence from school.
“We have noted a significant growth in the cohort of children and families who struggle to leave their home.
"Some of these families were experiencing anxiety prior to the pandemic but many of the current mental health and anxiety presentations appear to have developed during the pandemic/lockdown periods.”
The council said mental health support services were unable to cope with the growing number of cases.
The Local Government Association said schools had been forced to make cuts in pastoral support, making it harder to encourage vulnerable children to attend.
The DfE’s plans to reduce absences include local authorities making greater use of legal powers to enforce attendance.
Councils told MPs that while they supported the DfE’s aims, they lacked the resources to carry them out.
The Local Government Association said: “Many local attendance teams are already operating at stretched capacity.
"Councils have consistently fed back to us that they fundamentally lack the capacity and resources within their school attendance teams to fulfil the new duties given the increase in the number of schools they will be working with.
Essex Council added that the DfE’s plans would require it to have 40 attendance officers, compared with the eight it can afford to employ.
“We will not be able to achieve this level of staffing without additional ring-fenced funding,” the council added.
