London has pulled further ahead of England's other regions in this year's GCSE results, with the gap between the capital and the North East reaching a record high of 10.9 percentage points for top grades, according to data published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) on Thursday.
Some 28.6% of GCSE entries in London received grade 7 or above this year, up from 28.4% in 2025 and the highest rate for any region in England. North East England had the lowest figure, with 17.7% of entries awarded at least a 7, down from 17.8% last year. The gap between these two regions now stands at 10.9 percentage points, up from 10.6 in 2025 and the largest since the start of available data in 2010.
Regional divides widen across England
In North West England, 18.9% of entries received grade 7 or above, up slightly from 18.8% in 2025. The gap between London and the North West has widened to 9.7 points from 9.6 in 2025, close to the recent record of 9.9 points in 2024. There has also been a widening of the gap between London and both the East and West Midlands, to the largest size since at least 2010.
In the East Midlands, 18.2% of entries received grade 7 or above, 10.4 points behind London (up from 10.3 points in 2025), while in the West Midlands it was 18.3% of entries, 10.3 points behind London (up from 9.9). The regional patterns are more varied for GCSE entries awarded grade 4 or above. London again has the highest rate at 71.7%, up from 71.6% in 2025, but here it is the West Midlands that has the lowest figure, at 62.4%, down from 62.9%.
South West England saw the largest percentage-point drop, falling from 69.1% to 68.3%. The gap has narrowed between the capital and North East England, from 6.7 points to 6.5, with the North East seeing a rise in entries awarded grade 4 or above from 64.9% to 65.2%.
National results and gender gap narrows
At a national level, 31.7% of entries in Northern Ireland received grade 7/A or higher, above the equivalent figure for England (21.8%) and Wales (19.6%). For entries awarded 4/C or higher, Northern Ireland was ahead at 83.6%, some way above England (67.0%) and Wales (62.3%). Overall, more than a fifth (22.0%) of UK entries were awarded the top grades this year, up by 0.1 percentage points on last year, when 21.9% achieved the top grades. This was higher than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic, when 20.8% of entries achieved the top grades.
The proportion of entries getting at least a 4 or a C grade has fallen from 67.4% in 2025 to 67.3% this year, a drop of 0.1 percentage points, and the same as in 2019. Boys have continued to close the gender gap. Overall, nearly a quarter (24.4%) of girls' GCSE entries were awarded at least a grade 7/A compared with almost a fifth of boys' entries (19.6%): a 4.8 percentage point gap, down from a difference of 5.1 last year. Meanwhile, 70.2% of girls' GCSE entries were awarded at least a grade 4/C compared with 64.4% of boys' entries, a 5.8 percentage point gap, a decrease from 6.2 last year. These are the narrowest leads enjoyed by girls since at least 2000, which is the earliest archive data available.
Education Secretary plans new stepping stone qualification
Education Secretary Lucy Powell said repeated resits lead to us “branding (students) as a failure” and affecting self-confidence. She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “That's why we're going to be looking at that, and I'm going to be bringing in a new stepping stone qualification, as we're calling it, a level one… in maths and in English, so that there is an additional qualification that young people can work towards. And I want to work with employers to make sure that that qualification is credible, is respected, and that employers see that as sufficient or more than sufficient for young people to go on to do things like an apprenticeship in construction or health and social care.”
Education experts raised long-standing concerns over the gender disparity ahead of results. The Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys (CPRMB) said the disparities at GCSE level, and in education more widely, can mean boys struggle to thrive after leaving school. CPRMB research officer Martha Lucas told the Press Association: “When around a third of boys' entries to GCSE are consistently not meeting a grade four each year, which is the standard pass level, it is a massive concern. For a lot of employment, meeting that grade four in maths and English is a barrier to finding that employment. This year, the number of male Neets (not in education, employment or training) hit more than 500,000. So, boys are consistently leaving school without the qualifications nor education necessary for them to thrive in adult life – get a job, be in employment – and quite frankly that desperately needs to change.”
Social mobility warning over geographical divide
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, told PA: “It is a damning indictment of 21st-century Britain that where you happen to grow up has such a profound impact on your educational and life chances. Something is fundamentally amiss when children with the same talents and potential face such different prospects simply because of where they happen to live. England's educational divide is a story of London increasingly pulling away from much of the rest of the country. But these broad regional divides conceal an even more troubling geography of opportunity: sometimes a few streets, or a different postcode, can make the difference between a life of opportunity and a life of overlooked talent.”
Overall entries for GCSEs have risen slightly, up 0.6% on 2025, after dropping last year. The overall rate for grades 1/G or above is 97.9%, which is the same as 2025 but is down on 98.3% in 2019. In England, Ofqual brought GCSE grading standards back in line with pre-Covid levels in 2023, and exam regulators in Wales and Northern Ireland returned to pre-pandemic grading the year after.
