RECORD RESULT

Number of top grades rising but regional inequalities grow

- BY SOPHIE HUSKISSON Political Correspondent

A RECORD number of students celebrated top A-level results yesterday with a new milestone hit for A and A* grades.

But education leaders warned of stark divides in results between different areas of the country.

The regional gap widened from 7.4 percentage points to 9.2, with 32.1% in London getting top grades compared with 22.9% in the North East of England. On average across the UK, 28.3% of entries were awarded either an A or A*, up from 27.8% in 2024 and 25.4% in 2019.

This is the highest proportion on record outside the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22 - when the figure peaked at 44.8% in 2021.