Companies should be made to give work experience to children as young as primary school age to help tackle the “absence epidemic” in schools, the head of the UK’s biggest airport group has said.

Ken O’Toole, the chief executive of Manchester Airport Group, said firms had a “moral obligation” to offer opportunities to young people long before they turn 15, the age most UK schoolchildren complete a two-week work placement.

He said the government’s crackdown on school absence would only go so far and businesses should be made to go much further to “join the fight against this epidemic”.

O’Toole said: “The government should make it mandatory for businesses to provide real workplace experiences to youngsters of all ages – from primary school through to working age.

“Amid an absence epidemic, waiting until they are in their teens could be too late to create a spark. If only a handful of employers want to engage, young people will only see a fraction of the opportunities that are out there.”

A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) published earlier this year said nearly two in five (37%) pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are “persistently absent”, meaning they miss at least one day of school per fortnight, on average.

The IFS reported that school absences had increased by almost two-thirds since 2019, with pupils now missing an average of 14 days of school a year, up from less than nine days in 2019.

Among less disadvantaged children, the share of persistently absent pupils has doubled from 8% to 16% in the same period.

Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has promised to crack down on what she called the “absence epidemic” by fining parents and bringing in free breakfast clubs in primary schools in England.

She said too many families believe truancy is acceptable in pursuit of “cheaper holidays”, to avoid “unpopular subjects” or for “birthday treats or even a runny nose”.

O’Toole, whose firm owns and operates Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports, said: “The secretary of state is right to call this an emergency.

“As a business well plugged in to the communities surrounding it, we hear those alarm bells loud and clear. In Wythenshawe, on the doorstep of Manchester airport, there are some schools that have among the highest truancy rates in the country.”

O’Toole said companies should be forced to offer opportunities to local children before they “slip into a cycle of absenteeism”.

The proposal would mean children as young as four would be taken on educational visits to nearby businesses, linked to the national curriculum.

O’Toole said: “Businesses are part of the fabric of the communities they serve – that means when there is an emergency like the absenteeism epidemic the education secretary describes, we all have a role to play in tackling it.”