Attainment at age 16

Data on the percentage of pupils getting a pass (grade 5 or above) in GCSE English and Maths, by socio-economic background.

  1. Summary main findings
  2. By disadvantage status over time
  3. By year
  4. By area
  5. By sex
  6. By ethnicity
  7. About the data
  8. Download the data

Summary main findings

In the 2021 to 2022 school year:

  • 50% of all pupils got a pass (grade 5 or above) in both GCSE English and maths
  • 30% of disadvantaged pupils and 57% of all other pupils got a pass (grade 5 or above)
  • the ‘disadvantage gap index’ – which measures the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and all other pupils – was at its widest since the 2011 to 2012 school year
  • girls were more likely than boys to get a pass (grade 5 or above), regardless of their disadvantage status – for non-disadvantaged pupils, 60% of girls and 54% of boys got a pass (grade 5 or above), and for disadvantaged pupils, 32% of girls and 27% for boys got a pass (grade 5 or above)
  • there were large variations between pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) in different ethnic groups – for example, 70% of FSM-eligible pupils from the Chinese ethnic group got a pass (grade 5 or above), compared with 6% of Gypsy or Roma pupils
  • disadvantaged pupils in London, the West Midlands, and Surrey and Sussex were the most likely to get a pass (grade 5 or above) – pupils in rural areas of England, such as Cornwall and Cumbria, were less likely to

By disadvantage status over time

Visualisation for by disadvantage status over time

Percentage of pupils getting a pass (grade 5 or above) in GCSE English and maths, by disadvantage status over time (England, September 2018 to July 2022)

Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility

Data for by disadvantage status over time

Percentage of pupils getting a pass (grade 5 or above) in GCSE English and maths, by disadvantage status over time (England, September 2018 to July 2022)
School year Disadvantaged (%) Not known to be disadvantaged (%)
2021/22 29.6 57.0
2020/21 31.7 59.2
2019/20 30.4 56.8
2018/19 24.7 49.9

Download for by disadvantage status over time

For the full download file, see Download the data.

By year

Visualisation for by year

Disadvantage attainment gap index over time (England, September 2010 to July 2022)

Data for by year

Disadvantage attainment gap index over time (England, September 2010 to July 2022)
School year Disadvantage attainment gap index
2021/22 3.84
2020/21 3.79
2019/20 3.66
2018/19 3.70
2017/18 3.68
2016/17 3.66
2015/16 3.78
2014/15 3.80
2013/14 3.74
2012/13 3.81
2011/12 3.89
2010/11 4.07

Download for by year

For the full download file, see Download the data.

By area

Visualisation for by area

Percentage of students achieving a pass (grade 5 or above) in both GCSE English and maths by the end of key stage 4, by region and eligibility for free school meals (FSM) (England, September 2012 to July 2022)

41 regions in the UK are ranked from the lowest to highest percentages. They are then divided into 5 equally-sized groups (‘quintiles’), from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).

The regional estimates have a large margin of error – do not rank or compare specific regions.

The lines either side of the dots represent confidence intervals – the range of values that the 'true' value for each region is highly likely to be within. In many cases the confidence intervals overlap. This suggests differences between specific regions may not be statistically significant.

See the composite indices for more precise estimates and to understand overall regional patterns.

Use the radio buttons to choose a dataset to view

Q1 - Lowest 20%
Q5 - Highest 20%

Data for by area

Percentage of students achieving a pass (grade 5 or above) in both GCSE English and maths by the end of key stage 4, by region and eligibility for free school meals (FSM) (England, September 2012 to July 2022)
Region FSM eligible (%) Not FSM eligible (%)
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 28.1 49.1
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 28.1 61.8
Cheshire 21.9 56.4
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 22.4 47.7
Cumbria 22.9 50.4
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 23.2 49.2
Devon 22.8 54.7
Dorset and Somerset 29.1 57.1
East Anglia 22.2 48.7
East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire 24.9 48.0
Essex 27.5 60.6
Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area 24.2 54.4
Greater Manchester 28.9 53.8
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 23.1 48.0
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 24.4 49.5
Inner London - East 43.8 60.1
Inner London - West 49.5 68.9
Kent 24.2 52.8
Lancashire 24.1 48.3
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 26.4 50.6
Lincolnshire 24.5 52.4
Merseyside 22.4 51.9
North Yorkshire 23.8 60.5
Northumberland, and Tyne and Wear 23.8 53.8
Outer London - East and North East 36.5 58.9
Outer London - South 36.5 65.5
Outer London - West and North West 42.5 65.5
Shropshire and Staffordshire 21.4 47.6
South Yorkshire 24.9 53.0
Surrey, East and West Sussex 29.2 62.5
Tees Valley and Durham 25.5 53.5
West Midlands 31.8 54.4
West Yorkshire 27.4 55.2

Download for by area

For the full download file, see Download the data.

By sex

Visualisation for by sex

Percentage of pupils getting a pass (grade 5 or above) in GCSE English and maths, by disadvantage status and sex (England, academic year 2021 to 2022)

Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility

Data for by sex

Percentage of pupils getting a pass (grade 5 or above) in GCSE English and maths, by disadvantage status and sex (England, academic year 2021 to 2022)
Disadvantaged status Boys (%) Girls (%)
Disadvantaged 27.4 31.9
Not known to be disadvantaged 54 60.1

Download for by sex

For the full download file, see Download the data.

By ethnicity

Visualisation for by ethnicity

Percentage of FSM-eligible pupils getting a pass (grade 5 or above) in GCSE English and maths, by ethnicity (England, academic year 2021 to 2022)

Data for by ethnicity

Percentage of FSM-eligible pupils getting a pass (grade 5 or above) in GCSE English and maths, by ethnicity (England, academic year 2021 to 2022)
Ethnicity FSM eligible (%) Not known to be FSM eligible (%)
Asian - Bangladeshi 52.7 66.6
Asian - Chinese 69.8 80.9
Asian - Indian 53.4 74.9
Asian - Pakistani 40.6 54.8
Asian - Any other Asian 49.8 70.9
Black - Black African 45.1 58.7
Black - Black Caribbean 26.1 39.4
Black - Any other Black background 36.2 49.8
Mixed - White and Asian 35.7 67.3
Mixed - White and Black African 35.3 54.3
Mixed - White and Black Caribbean 23.0 44.1
Mixed - Any other Mixed background 34.7 59.3
White - White British 21.8 53.7
White - Irish 32.1 66.6
White - Gypsy/Roma 5.7 11.6
White - Traveller of Irish heritage 7.8 22.4
White - Any other White background 35.2 55.1
Any other ethnic group 41.0 58.0

Download for by ethnicity

For the full download file, see Download the data.

About the data

Data source

Department for Education, National curriculum assessments at key stage 4 in England, 2022

Time period

September 2010 to July 2022

Geographic area

England

What the data measures

The data shows the percentage of children who got a pass (grade 5 or above) in both English and maths GCSEs by the end of key stage 4, when pupils are usually 16 years old.

Disadvantaged pupils are those who:

  • were registered as eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last 6 years
  • are looked after by a local authority in England and Wales, or who left local authority care through adoption,
  • a special guardianship order, a residence order or a child arrangements order

The ‘disadvantage gap index’ summarises the relative attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and all other pupils. It is based on the grades they got in GCSE English and maths. A disadvantage gap score of 0 means there was no difference in achievement. A score of +10 means that every non-disadvantaged pupil did better than every disadvantaged pupil.

Things you need to know

Figures for the school years ending in July 2020 and July 2022 are based on revised data. Figures for the school year ending in July 2019 are based on final data.

Summer exams were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, pupils’ grades were based on teacher assessments and centre assessments.

Eligibility for FSM is used as an indicator of deprivation by the Department for Education. Children are eligible for FSM if their parents receive certain benefits.

Type of data

Administrative data

Full report

Read more in State of the Nation 2023 on GOV.UK.

Download the data

Download full dataset (CSV, 25KB)

This file contains the following variables:

  • Indicator code
  • Indicator name
  • Area type
  • Area code
  • Area name
  • Time period
  • Socio-economic background
  • Age
  • Sex
  • Category type
  • Category
  • Value
  • Lower confidence interval
  • Upper confidence interval
  • Standard error
  • Unit
  • Value note

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