# The gap before the next chapter

Created 1 November 2026. UK Facts editorial explainer.

The exam-results gap, persistent absence and delayed special-needs plans, with England’s latest exam-gap figures.

## Figures, dates and limitations

### A GAP OF 26.8 POINTS.
- England · grade 5+ in both English and maths · DfE
- Latest provisional; different grading during pandemic.

### MISSING ONE IN TEN.
- England · persistent absence · DfE
- 10% or more sessions missed; not 10% of pupils.

### SUPPORT PLANS: TOO MANY LATE.
- England · 2025 · DfE · ages 0–25
- Education, health and care plans; excludes exceptions.

## Sources
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-performance/2025-26
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2024-25
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans

Full analysis: https://dev.uk-statpack.co.uk/education

## Production and assurance
AI narration: Kirsty (Yorkshire). Casting is for a natural regional delivery; accent does not establish social class or geographic coverage. No impersonation or personal endorsement is implied.

Animated bars use zero baselines and the displayed units. No incompatible series are added together. Scene data and the finished file checksum are retained. Survey/estimate caveats remain beside figures. Policy proposals and commitments are labelled separately.

Render, caption timing, data-source checks and visual sample review are builder checks, not independent analytical assurance or AQuA certification. No guaranteed policy effects, invented savings or verdicts are claimed. The “What can we do?” film discusses selected commitments, not a comprehensive appraisal of the government programme.

No full 30-year series is manufactured where compatible history is unavailable. The education film uses provisional 2025–26 exam-gap data; attendance and support-plan measures have their own earlier dates. The trust survey is historical 2023 evidence, not current approval of the government.