This year’s Education Policy Institute (EPI) Annual Report delivers a stark but vital message: England’s education system is still deeply unequal, and while some progress is being made, the gaps remain gaping. From postcode privilege to persistent poverty, from SEND neglect to systemic absence, the report pulls no punches in laying out where things stand and what’s at stake. As EPI’s Executive Director Natalie Perera puts it, the moral and economic cost of doing nothing is simply too high.
Disadvantage: Still the Biggest Divide in the Classroom
Let’s start with the elephant in the room — disadvantage. By the end of primary school, children growing up in poverty are ten months behind their more affluent peers. By GCSEs, that gap stretches to a staggering 19 months. Yes, there’s been a marginal improvement since 2023, but it’s nowhere near enough to claw back the progress lost during the pandemic.
EPI’s analysis is blunt. Absence is the engine of inequality. If disadvantaged pupils attended at the same rate as their peers, the GCSE gap would shrink by more than four months. That’s not a side issue, it’s central. The most vulnerable are missing school, and the system is missing them in return.
EAL Pupils: Language Isn’t the Barrier, Timing Is
Pupils who speak English as an additional language don’t fall behind because they’re learning English. They fall behind when they arrive late into the system. “Late-arriving” EAL pupils remain nearly nine months behind by age 11, even more when ethnicity is factored in. But here, at least, there’s reason to be hopeful. The gap has narrowed significantly since 2011, showing what’s possible when support is targeted and sustained.
Ethnicity: Progress, Regress, and Painfully Persistent Gaps
Ethnic attainment gaps show just how messy and multidimensional inequality really is. Some pupils are soaring. Chinese and Indian children outperform White British peers by as much as two years by GCSE. But others, especially Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller pupils, remain on the extreme margins of educational success.
Meanwhile, disadvantaged White British pupils are falling behind their own ethnic group, creating a kind of internal attainment gap that’s rarely acknowledged in national debates. It’s a potent reminder that poverty and ethnicity don’t sit in neat boxes, and that any serious solution must grapple with both at the same time.
Gender: Boys Are Catching Up, But Only Just
The gender gap is shrinking, but it’s far from closed. Girls still outperform boys across nearly every key stage, but the difference is getting smaller. It’s now down to 4.5 months at GCSE, the narrowest it’s been in over a decade. In early years, girls are still ahead, but the margin is returning to pre-pandemic highs. The story here isn’t just about boys underachieving. It’s also about girls plateauing. The challenge going forward is clear: raise the floor, not just level the field.
Geography: A Postcode Lottery That Still Decides Futures
Where you live continues to shape your educational destiny. London leads the pack, with the narrowest disadvantage gap across all stages. In stark contrast, the South East and East Midlands lag far behind, with disadvantage gaps at GCSE nearing two full years.
Zoom into local authorities and the picture gets even bleaker. In some areas, the difference in attainment between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils exceeds 24 months. In other words, a child’s future is still determined not by ability, but by address.
SEND: A System in Crisis
Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are among the most chronically underserved in England’s schools. Nearly half of all pupils are identified as having SEND at some point, and the support simply isn’t keeping pace. Since the pandemic, children with EHCPs and those on SEN support have fallen further behind, particularly in early years.
Rising diagnoses in autism and SEMH (social, emotional and mental health needs) reflect both increased need and better awareness. But without system-wide reform, recognition alone won’t close the gap. The current system isn’t just creaking, it’s cracking under pressure.
What’s Driving All This? EPI’s Data Cuts Through the Noise
What sets this report apart is its forensic approach. EPI translates raw data into months of learning lost or gained, giving a clear, human sense of what the numbers mean. Whether it’s analysing six years of free school meal eligibility or adjusting for compositional changes in the EAL cohort, this is research that doesn’t just describe the problem. It reveals the levers we can pull to fix it.
A Final Word: Close the Gap, Change the Future
The EPI’s 2025 report doesn’t just diagnose a crisis. It offers a roadmap out of it. Want to narrow the attainment gap? Tackle school absence. Reform SEND. Level up regional funding. Target support early. There is no single solution, but there is a clear direction of travel.
Education is still the surest route to social mobility, but only if the system gives every child an equal shot. Right now, it doesn’t. But it could.
Read the full report here: Annual Report 2025 – Education Policy Institute
