Research by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) found that "persistently disadvantaged" pupils, those who are entitled to free school meals for 80 per cent or more of their time at secondary school, are on average around two years (23.4 months) behind their peers in terms of academic achievement by the end of secondary school.
The EPI said this figure is "essentially unchanged since 2011". The gap among "disadvantaged" pupils, those who are entitled to Pupil Premium funding, fell across all GCSE subjects from 19.3 months in 2016 to 18.4 months in 2017.
However, the EPI said much of this fall was due to Pupil Premium accountability measures which require to enter more disadvantaged pupils in academic subjects. The EPI said this is skewing the attainment gap figures as many are being entered in subjects, such as sciences and humanities, with historically smaller attainment gaps.
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