This study is the first of its kind to concentrate upon the views of secondary staff towards attendance issues within two distinct, but similarly-sized, authorities in England. The fieldwork was sponsored by the two authorities in accordance with their specific needs and conducted in 2003. As part of this fieldwork, 40 headteachers, deputy heads, middle managers and form tutors (n = 160) each were interviewed from the same schools in groups on different occasions. The findings from these interviews are then presented and discussed, and conclusions drawn. It is suggested that these data may provide significant insights into attendance issues for other Local Education Authorities (LEAs) and secondary staff as well as for all those with an interest in improving school attendance such as education welfare officers, attendance officers, learning mentors, home-school liaison officers, advisers, school improvement staff as well as interested parents, researchers and policy makers.