Key takeaways
- Maths: 15.3% of post-16 resitters got a grade 4 or above, down from 17.1%. English fell to 19.8%.
- The worst number: in maths, 12,403 more people sat it and 1,824 fewer passed.
- Age tells a story. 10.4% of 18-year-olds passed maths. For learners aged 20 and over it was 32.5%.
- The apprenticeship rules changed in February 2025. For apprentices aged 19+, English and maths is now the employer's decision, not an exit requirement.
- That is not a loophole. It is a chance to decide whether your person needs the qualification or the capability, and to stop pretending those are the same thing.
Most employers read GCSE results day as somebody else's story. It is not. A meaningful share of the people already on your payroll, and most of the young people you will hire in the next two years, are somewhere in these numbers. The question is what you do about it on Monday.
What the numbers actually say
FE Week's analysis of yesterday's results shows both subjects down, and the cohort growing.
15.3%
of 219,135 post-16 maths resitters achieved grade 4 or above, down from 17.1%. It was 21.2% in 2019.
19.8%
of 187,558 post-16 English resitters achieved grade 4 or above, down from 20.9%. It was 30.3% in 2019.
1,824
fewer people passed maths than last year, despite 12,403 more sitting it.
That third figure is the one to sit with. Entries in maths rose by 6%, and the number of people walking away with the qualification went down, from 35,351 to 33,527. English held up slightly better, with 37,136 passing against 36,599 last year, but only because the cohort grew.
More effort, more cost, more exam halls, and fewer people with the qualification at the end of it. Whatever this system is optimising for, it is not outcomes.
The number that should change how you think about this
Break the maths results down by age and something jumps out.
A 20-year-old is three times more likely to pass maths than an 18-year-old. English follows the same shape: 15.6% at 19, rising to 29.6% at 20 and over.
The obvious explanation is the honest one, and it is worth stating plainly rather than overclaiming. The condition of funding rule, introduced in 2014, requires 16 to 19-year-olds without a grade 4 to keep studying English and maths. It does not apply beyond 19. So learners aged 20 and over are largely there by choice.
That is a selection effect, not proof that ageing improves your algebra. People who opt in are more motivated, and often have a concrete reason: a job, a promotion, a course they want. But it is a very large gap, and it points at something employers already know from their own training budgets. Purpose beats repetition.
Ofqual's chief regulator Sir Ian Bauckham noted that the rise in 18 and 19-year-old entries suggests more learners are attempting the qualification for a third or fourth time. Doing the same exam a fourth time, having failed it three times, is not a strategy. It is a queue.
"One of the most pernicious examples of the education system setting kids up for a cycle of failure."
Lucy Powell, Education Secretary, on post-16 resits — speaking to The Times, 19 August 2026What changed for apprenticeships, and what did not
Here is the part most employers have not caught up with, because it happened quietly in February 2025.
| Age at start of apprenticeship | English and maths position |
|---|---|
| 16 to 18 | Must achieve English and maths to complete the apprenticeship, unless they already hold suitable equivalent qualifications. |
| 19 and over | No longer required to achieve level 2 English and maths to complete. The employer decides whether standalone English and maths is part of the training plan, and it remains fundable if you include it. |
Individual standards can still set their own requirements, so this is a default rather than a universal rule, and it is worth checking against the standard you are using. Our levels comparison sets out entry requirements side by side if you are choosing between Level 3 and Level 4.
What that change really did was move a decision from a rulebook to you. Before, English and maths was a hurdle every adult apprentice had to clear regardless of whether it served them. Now it is a judgment about the individual and the job.
This is not a loophole, and it should not be used as one
We want to be direct about this, because we can see how the change could be sold.
An apprenticeship is not a way to help someone avoid maths. If you treat it that way you will produce people who cannot do the numeracy their role requires, which helps nobody and eventually shows up in their work. Skipping it because it is inconvenient is a worse decision than the old mandatory rule, not a better one.
The change is useful for a different reason. It lets you ask the question that the resit treadmill never allows anyone to ask: does this person need the qualification, or the capability?
- They need the qualification if a professional registration, a regulated role, a licence, or a future course they want requires a GCSE grade 4. In that case, support them properly and pay for decent teaching. The resit route is unavoidable and half-hearted support is why the pass rate is 15%.
- They need the capability if what actually matters is that they can handle the numbers, data and written communication the job demands. That is a different problem, and a fourth exam attempt is a poor way to solve it. For a lot of people the honest starting point is something like AI Champion at Level 3 rather than jumping straight to a Level 4.
For the second group, Functional Skills teaches applied English and maths in a real-world context, and Level 2 Functional Skills is broadly equivalent to a grade 4 for apprenticeship purposes. Notably, Ofqual has flagged a "long-term shift" away from Functional Skills towards GCSEs in the resit cohorts. Given these results, that shift is worth questioning.
Where AI has quietly changed the maths question
There is a wrinkle worth naming, because it cuts both ways.
A lot of the arithmetic that used to define "good at maths" in an office is now done by software. On our AI & Automation Practitioner Level 4, apprentices routinely build things that calculate, reconcile and forecast without them doing the sums by hand.
That does not make numeracy less important. It makes a different part of it more important. Knowing whether an answer is plausible, spotting when a model has produced nonsense, understanding what a percentage change actually means for the business: those matter more now, not less, because the tool will confidently give you a wrong number and wait for you to notice.
The skill that has lost value is manual calculation. The skill that has gained value is judgment about numbers. Almost nothing in a GCSE resit is aimed at the second one.
What to do if this affects your people
-
Find out who it actually affects
Do: establish, without making it an ordeal, who in your workforce does not hold level 2 English or maths.
Why: most people will never have volunteered it, and some have been quietly working round it for years. -
Separate qualification from capability, person by person
Do: for each individual, decide which of the two they actually need, and write it down.
Why: the same answer for everybody is how you end up funding exams nobody needed and skipping teaching somebody did. -
Check the age rule before you plan anything
Do: confirm the apprentice's age at the start of the apprenticeship, and check whether the specific standard sets its own requirement.
Why: 16 to 18 and 19-plus are genuinely different regimes, and getting it wrong late is expensive. -
If you include it, resource it properly
Do: ask your provider how English and maths is actually taught, how often, by whom, and what their achievement rate on it is.
Why: "we support functional skills" is not an answer. A 15% national pass rate is what unresourced support looks like. -
Use the funding while it is this generous
Do: for apprentices aged 16 to 24, training is fully funded even where a levy account has been exhausted.
Why: the cost objection to giving a young person a proper structured route has largely gone. We set out how that works in our guide to making your levy go furthest.
A 25-minute call, no obligation, covering three things:
- Where your people actually sit against the 16-18 and 19-plus rules, and what each route would require
- Qualification or capability for the individuals you have in mind, and an honest view on which they need
- What it costs, including where full funding applies and where it does not
If the answer for someone is a supported GCSE resit rather than an apprenticeship with us, we will tell you that.
Book a conversation →What is coming next
The policy is moving, slowly. The independent curriculum and assessment review led by Becky Francis proposed "stepping stone" level 1 qualifications for 16 to 19-year-olds leaving school with a grade 2 or below, so they prepare for a resit rather than being marched straight into one. A government consultation closed in June, with most learners in scope taking the preparation course in year one and the resit in year two. Functional Skills will remain available alongside them.
Sir Ian Bauckham told FE Week he was "anxious" to get on with developing them. Pepe Di'Iasio of the Association of School and College Leaders was blunter, saying the current approach of "force-feeding" post-16 learners a diet of GCSE English and maths "is simply not working".
None of that helps the person sitting in your office today who failed maths three times. That is why the employer decision matters now rather than after the next white paper, and why it is worth asking any provider you are talking to how they actually teach this. Our guide to choosing a provider covers what a good answer sounds like.
The honest summary
Two things are true at once. English and maths genuinely matter, and pretending otherwise does young people no favours at all. And the current system produces a 15% pass rate while growing the number of people it fails.
If you employ people caught in that, you have more room to help than you probably realise. The rules changed, the Growth and Skills Levy is unusually generous for under-25s right now, and the choice about how someone learns is now substantially yours.
Make it deliberately. The alternative is that they queue up again next summer.
Frequently asked questions.
What were the 2026 GCSE resit pass rates?
In maths, 15.3% of the 219,135 learners aged 17 and over who resat in England achieved a grade 4 or above, down from 17.1% last year and 21.2% in 2019. In English, 19.8% of 187,558 post-16 resitters achieved a grade 4 or above, down from 20.9% last year and 30.3% in 2019. In maths the absolute number passing fell from 35,351 to 33,527 even though 12,403 more people sat it.
Why do older learners pass GCSE resits more often?
In maths this summer, 10.4% of 18-year-olds and 10.3% of 19-year-olds achieved a grade 4 or above, against 32.5% of learners aged 20 and over. The condition of funding rule applies to 16 to 19-year-olds, so older learners are generally studying by choice rather than by compulsion. That is a selection effect rather than proof that age itself helps, but it does suggest motivation and purpose matter more than repetition.
Do apprentices have to pass GCSE English and maths?
No, and the rules differ by age. Since February 2025, apprentices aged 19 or over at the start of their apprenticeship no longer have to achieve level 2 English and maths as a condition of completing. The employer decides whether standalone English and maths forms part of the training plan, and it remains fundable. Apprentices aged 16 to 18 at the start are still required to achieve English and maths to complete, unless they already hold suitable equivalent qualifications. Some standards also set their own requirements.
What is the difference between Functional Skills and GCSE?
Functional Skills qualifications assess applied English and maths in practical, real-world contexts, and Level 2 Functional Skills is broadly equivalent to a GCSE grade 4 for apprenticeship purposes. GCSE is a general academic qualification assessed by terminal exam. Ofqual has noted a long-term shift away from Functional Skills towards GCSEs in the resit cohorts. Functional Skills will remain available alongside the new stepping-stone qualifications the government is developing.
Should employers put staff through another GCSE resit?
It depends on whether the grade itself is needed. If a professional registration, a regulated role or a future course requires a GCSE grade 4, then the resit route is unavoidable and should be properly supported. If what you actually need is someone who can handle the numeracy and written communication their job demands, a Functional Skills route inside an apprenticeship teaches it in the context of the work, which is a different proposition from a fourth attempt at an exam they have already failed three times.
What are the new stepping-stone qualifications?
They are proposed level 1 English and maths qualifications for 16 to 19-year-olds who leave school with a grade 2 or below, intended to prepare learners for a later GCSE resit rather than sending them straight into one. They were recommended by the independent curriculum and assessment review led by Becky Francis, and a government consultation closed in June 2026. Most learners in scope would take the preparation course in their first post-16 year and the resit in their second.
How can employers support staff without English and maths qualifications?
Start by finding out who in your workforce is affected, since many people will not have volunteered it. Then decide with each person whether they need the qualification or the capability. Apprenticeships give a structured route where English and maths can be built into the training plan and taught in a work context, funded through the Growth and Skills Levy. For apprentices aged 16 to 24 the training is fully funded even where a levy account has been exhausted.
Sources: results data and quotations from FE Week's analysis of the 2026 post-16 resit results, published 20 August 2026, including comments from Sir Ian Bauckham of Ofqual, Pepe Di'Iasio of ASCL, and the education secretary's remarks to The Times. Apprenticeship English and maths requirements from the Department's English and maths requirements in apprenticeships guidance. Individual apprenticeship standards may set their own requirements, so check the standard you are using. This is general information for employers and not advice on an individual case.