Qualifications by London borough

Last updated: July 2026

Next estimated update: March 2027

What does this indicator show?

This indicator shows how the highest qualifications held by Londoners vary across boroughs.

People’s qualifications are split into four categories:

• Level 1 (RQF1) includes GCSE grades 3 to 1 (D to G)
• Level 2 (RQF2)includes GCSE grades 9 to 4 (A* to C)
• Level 3 (RQF3) includes A-levels
• Level 4 (RQF4+) includes apprenticeships, degrees and above

We can also see the proportion of working age adults with no or ‘other’ qualifications. ‘Other’ qualifications include, for example, some overseas qualifications.

Full details about the classifications can be found here.

What does it tell us?

Boroughs with lower qualification levels

In five London boroughs, 15% or more working-age people have no or other qualifications. All are in East and Outer London: Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Redbridge, Enfield and Hillingdon.

This pattern echoes unemployment, since several of the same boroughs also have among the highest rates in the city.

14 London boroughs have a higher proportion of residents with no/other qualifications than the England average (11%).

Every borough has high levels of degree-level qualifications

Despite several boroughs having high levels of no/other qualifications, London as a whole has a highly educated population. Every single borough has a higher proportion of its population with degree or apprentice level qualifications (or above) than the England average (48%).

Islington has the highest proportion of working-age residents with degree-level, apprenticeship or above qualifications (78%), while Enfield and Havering have the lowest (both 49%).

City of London is excluded from this chart due to small sample size suppressions in the source data. Further details can be found in the downloadable CSV file.