The attainment gap between 16-year-olds from low-income families and their wealthier classmates has grown across all regions of England since before the pandemic with the exception of London, research has found.
Disadvantaged pupils are now more than 19 months behind their peers by the time they sit their GCSEs, with the gap having increased at every stage of their schooling aged five, 11 and 16, according to the Education Policy Institute (EPI) thinktank.
