Level 3 attainment gap between Free School Meals and non-Free School Meals students at 19 years-of-age (2004/05-2022/23)
Last updated: June 2024
Next estimated update: June 2025
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 Inner London than in Outer London and lower in Outer London than it is in the rest of England.
In Inner London in 2022/23, disadvantaged students were less likely to have gained Level 3 qualifications (equivalent to A levels) than their peers - a difference or gap of 14.4 percentage points. In Outer London the gap was wider at 20.0 percentage points and in the rest of England it was wider still at 27.7 percentage points.
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 in 2022/23.
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 (2021/22)
Although a majority of boroughs have seen the attainment gap narrow over the last 5 years, in some boroughs it has widened significantly. Since 2017/18, Richmond upon Thames has had by far the largest increase in the attainment gap (9.2 percentage points), followed by Newham (7.4) and Greenwich (4.0).
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.