Level 3 attainment gap between Free School Meals and non-Free School Meals students at 19 years-of-age (2007/08-2023/24)
Last updated: June 2025
Next estimated update: June 2026
What does this indicator show?
This indicator shows the attainment gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students in Inner and Outer London, as well as the rest of England.
The attainment gap shows how many more students who weren’t disadvantaged gained Level 3 qualifications (equivalent to A Levels) than those who were disadvantaged. For this indicator, someone is counted as disadvantaged if they were eligible for Free School Meals at the end of Key Stage 4.
At the bottom of the page we can see how the attainment gap differs across London boroughs.
What does it tell us?
The attainment gap is lower in London than in the rest of England. It is higher in Outer London than Inner London.
In Inner London in 2023/24, disadvantaged students were less likely to have gained Level 3 qualifications (equivalent to A levels) than their peers - a difference or gap of 14.3 percentage points. In Outer London the gap was wider at 20.8 percentage points and in the rest of England it was wider still at 27.9 percentage points.
How has the attainment gap changed over time?
Looking over the past decade, the attainment gap has remained fairly consistent in the rest of England and has shown a small increase in the two London areas. However, Inner London consistently has a smaller gap than Outer London and the rest of England.
Based on this data alone, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negligible impact on the attainment gap in Outer London and the rest of England, although there has been an uptick in Inner London and Outer London since 2021/22.
How does this differ across London boroughs?
Level 3 attainment gap between Free School Meals and non-Free School Meals students at 19 years-of-age by London borough (2022/23)
A majority of boroughs have seen the attainment gap increase by more than 1 percentage point over the last 5 years. In some boroughs it has widened significantly.
Since 2018/19, the following boroughs saw a widening of the attainment gap of more than 5 percentage points: Harrow (+10.8 ppt), Kensington and Chelsea (+8.9ppt), Greenwich (+5.8ppt), Newham (+5.3ppt), Merton (+5.3ppt) and Richmond upon Thames (+5.2ppt).
However, in some boroughs the attainment gap has shrunk. The boroughs that have seen the biggest decreases since 2018/19 are Kingston upon Thames (-9.2ppt), Lambeth (-6.5ppt) and Havering (-5.8ppt).
Want to know more?
If you want to explore this data in more depth, check the 'data source and notes' button on the above charts. This will tell you where the data comes from, where you may be able to dig deeper.