GCSE Pass Rates Dip Slightly Across UK Nations as Retake Policy Faces Scrutiny

Secondary school students across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland received their national exam outcomes on Thursday, revealing a minor decline in overall pass rates that aligns overall performance with pre-pandemic figures. The overall proportion of entries achieving grade 4 or higher—equivalent to a traditional grade C pass—decreased marginally to 67.3% this year from 67.4% in 2025, mirroring the baseline recorded in 2019 prior to COVID-19 pandemic disruptions.

The results mean that roughly one-third of secondary school leavers across the three nations did not achieve basic passing standard qualifications in English and mathematics. Under current regulations in England, pupils who fail to secure at least a grade 4 in English or maths are obligated to retake those specific examinations. However, national figures indicated that performance among older candidates taking these resits worsened this year. Pass rates for students aged 17 and above dropped by 1.4 percentage points in English and 1.7 percentage points in mathematics relative to the previous year.

Addressing the outcome for older students, Education Secretary Lucy Powell stated that the administration is evaluating potential changes to compulsory retakes in England. Powell noted that merely one in five pupils retaking English and maths successfully passed, remarking that repeatedly failing the tests was “knocking their confidence.” Prime Minister Andy Burnham offered a public message encouraging pupils, stating that “there isn’t just one route to success.”

For 16-year-old candidates in England specifically, outcomes showed small upward movements. Out of nearly 700,000 students, 70.7% earned a grade 4 or better, rising from 70.5% in 2025. Furthermore, the proportion of English 16-year-olds attaining top marks—grades 7, 8, and 9, which correspond to grades A and A*—rose slightly by 0.1 percentage points to reach 23.1%.

Gender disparities persisted in this year’s outcomes, though male students narrowed the gap with female peers across all three regions. Nearly a quarter of entries from female pupils, or 24.4%, earned a grade 7 or higher, compared to 19.6% of male entries. This represented a 4.8 percentage point gap, down from 5.1 percentage points in 2025. In terms of overall pass rates, 70.2% of female entries achieved a grade 4 or above, compared with 64.4% for male entries, reducing the gender gap from 6.2 to 5.8 percentage points.

Regional variations in England remained prominent. London maintained its position as the top-performing region, with 28.6% of entries obtaining a grade 7 or above, up from 28.4% last year. Conversely, North-east England registered the lowest rate of top grades at 17.7%, down from 17.8% recorded in 2025.

Background

GCSEs, or General Certificates of Secondary Education, are standardized academic qualifications taken by secondary school students in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, typically at age 16. In England, grades are awarded on a numerical scale from 9 down to 1, where grade 4 represents a standard pass equivalent to a traditional C grade, and grades 7 through 9 represent top marks equivalent to A and A* grades.