Brighton & Hove's provisional 2026 results: 98.3% of A-level entries graded A* to E, 63.4% at A* to B and a 97.4% VTQ pass rate. Plus where to get help this week.

98.3% of A-level entries in Brighton & Hove were graded A to E this year, and 63.4% reached A to B, on provisional figures the city council published on results day. Students taking vocational and technical qualifications recorded a 97.4% pass rate, with more than 1,500 entering those courses across the city.

The council says the city’s results have been on or above the national average for thirteen years running (Brighton & Hove City Council, 13 August 2026). Councillor Emma Daniel, cabinet member for children, families and youth services, told students: “You should all be incredibly proud of everything you’ve achieved throughout your studies.”

One thing to be straight about: the council has not published the national figure it compared against, and Ofqual’s national release does not report an A* to E pass rate for England at all. So the headline city numbers stand on their own, and the thirteen-year claim cannot be checked against published national statistics.

What the national picture actually shows

Ofqual published its own official statistics the same morning. Across England, 835,950 A-level results went to 320,505 students in 2,835 schools and colleges, with students taking 2.61 A-levels on average (Qualification results in England: summer 2026).

The two measures Ofqual does publish by area are the share of results at grade A and above, and at grade C and above. Nationally those were 28.3% at A or above, up a shade from 28.2% last year, and 78.1% at C or above, up from 77.7%.

Bar chart of the percentage of A level results at grade A or above by English region in 2026: London 32.7, South East 31.5, East of England 27.9, South West 27.1, North West 26.5, Yorkshire and the Humber 25.7, West Midlands 24.2, East Midlands 23.1, North East 23.1, against an England average of 28.3

The South East, which is the region Brighton & Hove sits in, is the strongest outside the capital. It returned 31.5% at grade A or above across 166,940 results, behind London on 32.7% and ahead of the East of England on 27.9%. At the other end, the East Midlands and North East both came in at 23.1%. On grades C and above the South East recorded 79.5%, against 80.5% in London and 73.5% in the East Midlands.

Ofqual’s own summary of the year describes the national picture as one of stability, and puts most of the small rise in top grades down to maths, where A and A* went from 41.6% to 42.1%. The regulator attributes that to “a slightly stronger cohort of students” rather than any change in grading standards (Ofqual blog, 13 August 2026).

You can now look up the city’s figures yourself

This is new this month and worth knowing about. On 7 August Ofqual began publishing results by local authority, covering GCSEs, A-levels, T Levels and performance table qualifications by district, county, unitary authority and region, with subject uptake alongside grades. The 2026 data went live at 9.30am on results day.

The tool is at analytics.ofqual.gov.uk, and the grade outcomes by area section lets you pick Brighton & Hove, choose a subject and a year, and see how many students took it and how they were graded. Until this year, that level of local detail was not published on results day at all.

Vocational and technical results

The council’s 97.4% VTQ pass rate covers more than 1,500 city students, and nationally these qualifications now account for a large share of results day. Ofqual recorded 221,095 vocational and technical results, of which 195,190 were applied generals.

T Levels grew sharply: 19,665 results this year, up from 11,980 in 2025, with 18.3% of students achieving a distinction in their occupational specialism assessment. Locally that matters because T Levels and BTECs are the route into work-based training and into many degree courses, and the offer in the city is not limited to A-levels.

What it means for you

If your grades were not what you needed, talk to your school or college first. Senior leaders and careers staff are on site for results day and the days after, and they are the people who can request a review of marking on your behalf. Individual students cannot ask an exam board directly.

The National Careers Service exam results helpline is 0800 100 900. The council points to it for advice on appeals, complaints and next steps, and it is free to call.

If you are weighing up options, apprenticeships and further study both remain open after results day, and the council runs an online Youth Employment Hub with advice on what to do after college.

GCSE results follow on Thursday 20 August. Ofqual has confirmed that its local authority data for GCSEs will go live at 9.30am that morning, so the same look-up will work for Brighton & Hove’s GCSE picture next week.

If you are a family deciding where to live for school places, our Brighton council tax bands page and the house prices page cover the other half of that decision.