Abstract
Asthma affects 300 million people across all age‐groups and ethnicities and is the most common chronic condition affecting children. In the UK, the health care costs associated with asthma are estimated at £1.1 billion, however this amount typically excludes some societal costs (e.g. absence from work to care for children). The total number of days missed from school in England in the 2017/18 academic year was 59.1 million of which 54.7% were due to illness although the reasons for those illness‐related absences are unknown.