Local authority gaps

Where a disadvantaged child lives continues to make a substantial difference to their educational outcomes. Comparing disadvantage gaps across local authorities reveals striking geographical inequalities, with some areas consistently achieving much stronger outcomes for disadvantaged learners than others. These differences remain substantial across every stage of education.

Our local authority analysis compares disadvantaged pupils in each local authority with non-disadvantaged pupils nationally, allowing comparisons to be made across England.

Differences between local authorities are widest at age 16. In 2025, Newham had the smallest GCSE disadvantage gap (at 3.9 months), while West Berkshire recorded a gap six times higher at 25.7 months (the largest in the country).

The interactive maps below show disadvantage gaps in 2025 alongside changes since 2019, highlighting both the consistency of London’s strong performance across phases and the uneven recovery across the rest of England.

Early years foundation stage  

Nationally, the disadvantage gap at age 5 reached 4.9 months in 2025 – an increase of 0.7 months since 2019 and the widest recorded since 2014. Across local authorities, the smallest gaps in 2025 were in Westminster, where disadvantaged pupils were 1.9 months behind their peers. This was followed closely by Redbridge (with a gap of 2.1 months) and Newham (2.4 months).  

Of the 20 local authorities with the smallest gaps, 17 were London boroughs – the exceptions being Thurrock, Birmingham and Slough. In contrast, Bath and North East Somerset stood out for having the largest gap, at 7.9 months, followed by Westmorland and Furness (7.1 months) and Stockport (7 months).  

Looking at changes to the early disadvantage gap between 2019 and 2025 reveals an uneven picture. While four-fifths of all local authorities saw their gaps widen, with Richmond upon Thames and Harrow experiencing the sharpest rises of 3.3 months, others bucked the trend.  

Among the one-fifth of local authorities that saw their gaps narrow, West Berkshire saw the largest improvements (by -1.8 months), followed by Havering (-1.4 months), Wokingham (-1.3 months), Stoke-on-Trent (-1.2 months) and Swindon (-1.0 month). 

 

Primary school  

 Nationally, disadvantaged pupils at the end of primary school were 10.0 months behind their peers in 2025 – unchanged from 2024 but a 0.8-month increase since 2019. 

Of the 20 local authorities with the smallest disadvantage gaps in 2025, 18 were in London, with the exceptions being Slough and Luton, both just outside London.  

The smallest gaps were found in Newham (with a zero gap), meaning that local disadvantaged pupils attained as well, on average, as non-disadvantaged pupils nationally. After Newham, Kensington and Chelsea, Tower Hamlets, Westminster and Redbridge had the next smallest gaps (of 1.1 to 3.5 months).   

Other local authorities outside the capital with relatively modest gaps (of around 5 to 7 months) included Slough, Luton, Birmingham, Thurrock, and Middlesbrough.  

The five local authorities with the largest gaps in 2025 – all with gaps of around 14 to 16 months – were Central Bedfordshire, West Berkshire, the Isle of Wight, Bath and North East Somerset, and Northumberland.   

Looking at changes over 2019 to 2025, most local authorities saw their disadvantage gaps increase compared to pre-pandemic levels. By far the biggest increase was seen in Blackpool with an increase of 4.4 months, followed by Northumberland (+3.8 months), Havering (+3.7 months), Richmond upon Thames (+3.6 months) and Central Bedfordshire (+3.3 months). 

The areas with the largest decreases in their gaps were Hackney (by -3.1 months) and Barking and Dagenham (-2.7 months). Followed by Peterborough, Middlesbrough and Walsall (all by -2.0 months). 

 

Secondary school  

Nationally, by the end of secondary school, disadvantaged pupils were 19.0 months behind their peers in 2025 – the joint-widest gap since the start of the series in 2013, and a full month wider than before the pandemic. 

The local authorities with the smallest GCSE gaps in 2025 were all London boroughs, topped by: Newham (with a gap of 3.9 months), Westminster (4.2 months), Tower Hamlets (5.9 months), Barnet (7.0 months) and Ealing (7.3 months). 

The smallest gaps outside London were found in Birmingham, Slough, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, all with gaps of around 15 months. 

Meanwhile the widest gaps were in West Berkshire, Cheshire West and Chester, Worcestershire, Knowsley and Telford and Wrekin – all with gaps of over 2 years.  

Looking at changes over 2019 to 2025, those demonstrating the greatest improvements spanned a range of areas with variable performance for their disadvantaged pupils. The five local authorities with the biggest gap-reductions were Salford (by 4.7 months), Plymouth (-4.4 months), Merton (-3.9 months), Newham (-3.2 months) and Blackpool (-2.6 months).  

At the other extreme, the biggest increase by far was in Windsor and Maidenhead, where the gap increased by 7.0 months. The next biggest increases were in Brent (+4.6 months), followed by North Somerset, Swindon, and Redbridge (all +4.2 months). 

16-19 education  

Nationally the disadvantage gap at the end of 16-19 education in 2025 was 3.4 grades, 0.1 grades wider than in 2019.  

As in earlier phases, London boroughs tend to have amongst the smallest 16-19 disadvantage gaps in the country. Many, such as Southwark (-1.8 grades), Sutton (-1.7 grades), Islington (-1.7 grades), and Ealing (-1.6 grades) have negative gaps, meaning that disadvantaged students in these local authorities have higher attainment than the average non-disadvantaged student nationally. Of the 20 local authorities with the narrowest (or negative) 16-19 disadvantage gaps around the country, 13 were London boroughs.  

There is a less clear pattern to the areas with the widest 16-19 disadvantage gaps. The five local authorities with the widest gaps were North Somerset (5.8 grades), Hartlepool (5.8 grades), Portsmouth (5.8 grades), North East Lincolnshire (5.6 grades) and Southampton (5.5 grades).  

Compared to 2019, the local authorities that saw their 16-19 disadvantage gaps widen the most were Sunderland (+2.3 grades), Doncaster (+1.6 grades), Oldham (+1.5 grades), Portsmouth (+1.5 grades), and Kirklees (+1.5 grades).  

The local authorities that saw their 16-19 disadvantage gaps improve the most were Havering (4.2 grade improvement), Stockport (3.7 grade improvement) and Cheshire West and Chester (3.5 grade improvement).  

 

Performance of local authorities across phases in 2025 

To conclude, we consider how local disadvantage gaps evolve across phases relative to the national gap. In 2025, the national gap widened consistently as pupils progressed through the system: starting at 4.9 months at age 5, doubling to 10.0 months by age 11, and nearly doubling again to 19.0 months at age 16. By the 16-19 phase, disadvantaged students were 3.4 grades behind their peers.  

Previous EPI research and our 2025 data confirms the national trend is widespread across local authorities: in all areas the gap widens between ages 5 and 16. However, there remains distinct local patterns across phases.  

In some areas, disadvantage gaps are already wide by age 5 and compound as pupils get older. Bath and North East Somerset and West Berkshire record substantial early gaps of 7.9 and 5.7 months, respectively. By age 16, these gaps have widened sharply, reaching a nationwide high of 25.7 months in West Berkshire and nearly 2 years in Bath and North East Somerset.  

However, by the 16-19 phase, these patterns diverge. In West Berkshire, the 16-19 gap falls below the national average (at 2.8 grades compared with 3.4 nationally), while disadvantaged students in Bath and North East Somerset remain 4.6 grades behind. 

In contrast, despite having highly disadvantaged communities, London boroughs like Newham and Westminster successfully mitigate the national trend. Newham completely closes its gap by age 11, and by age 16, both local authorities record the smallest gaps in the country (3.9 and 4.2 months, respectively). 

Although there are some examples of local authorities such as West Berkshire that narrow or even reverse the gap in the 16-19 phase, wider evidence has shown that once disadvantaged pupils fall behind, it becomes increasingly hard to catch-up.  

Figure LA1: Catching up becomes increasingly difficult across phases, with the disadvantage gap widening between age 5 and 16 in all local authorities

 

 

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