The UUP’s manifesto for the 2022 Assembly election says there is a “persistent and unacceptable attainment gap at GCSE between Protestant and Catholic pupils entitled to free school meals and those not entitled to free school meals.”
Data shows that in 2018-2019, 49.5% of FSME school leavers had at least five GCSEs including English and maths, compared to 78.5% of their non-FSME peers – a gap of 29 percentage points. In 2005-2006 the gap was 32.1pp, a difference of 3.1pp.