Data from the Northern Powerhouse Partnership has highlighted a growing regional divide in A-level attainment, with northern parts of England disproportionately represented among areas where the proportion of top grades has fallen since before the pandemic.

Data from the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, shared with Tes, shows that while most local authority areas have increased their proportion of A* and A grades compared with 2019, dozens have experienced a decline.

Of England’s 153 local authority areas, 118 recorded an increase in the proportion of A*/A grades between 2019 and 2026. However, 33 areas saw their performance fall over the same period, with data unavailable for Knowsley and the Isles of Scilly.

The figures reveal a particularly pronounced geographical divide. According to Tes, 21 of the 33 local authority areas where the proportion of top A-level grades has fallen are located in the North of England – representing almost two-thirds of all areas recording a decline.

Eight of the affected local authorities are in the North West, while another eight are in the North East. Five are located in Yorkshire and the Humber.

The picture elsewhere in England is markedly different. Of the remaining 12 local authorities recording a fall in top grades, four are in the South West, two are in the East Midlands, two in the West Midlands and two in the East of England. London and the South East each have just one local authority where the proportion of A* and A grades has declined since 2019.

The findings follow this summer’s A-level results, which showed that overall attainment had improved while significant regional differences remained.

In 2026, 32.7 per cent of A-level entries in London achieved an A or A*, compared with 23.1 per cent in both the North East and East Midlands. This created a 9.6 percentage-point gap between England’s highest- and lowest-performing regions.

The latest local authority analysis suggests the divide is not simply the result of short-term changes in examination performance. In some areas, the proportion of students securing the highest grades is now below the level recorded before the Covid-19 pandemic.

That raises wider questions about whether young people across England have equal access to the educational opportunities and support needed to achieve the strongest A-level outcomes.

The figures also demonstrate that regional averages do not tell the whole story, with considerable variation between individual local authorities.

The City of London recorded the largest increase in the proportion of top grades, rising by 12.8 percentage points compared with 2019, although the local authority does not contain any state secondary schools.

Slough, in the South East, also recorded a substantial improvement, with its share of A* and A grades increasing by 12.2 percentage points.

The analysis also identifies differences in the proportion of A-level entries achieving a grade C or above when comparing results in 2019 and 2026.

While national A-level results indicate that overall performance has recovered strongly from the disruption of the pandemic, the local picture suggests that recovery has not been evenly distributed.