Tens of thousands of teenagers across England, Wales, Northern Ireland - and overseas in countries including the UAE - will open the envelopes they have been waiting on for weeks on Thursday.
The GCSE results inside will have a significant impact, potentially paving he course of their future careers.
GCSE results come exactly a week after pupils were informed of their A-level results, which revealed a drop in the number of pupils receiving the highest grades following a return to pre-pandemic grading.
What time will results be available?
Pupils can usually collect their results from their school from 8am on Thursday August 24. But statistics should be made public around 9.30am.
How have pupils been graded?
Ofqual has said a return to pre-pandemic grading means this year's national GCSE results in England will be lower than last year, and similar to 2019.
That means a return to "the forgotten third" - the proportion of young people who are left without a grade 4 in GCSE English and maths.
It follows an increase in top GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.
In 2019, more than a third, or 35.4 per cent, of state school students in England did not achieve grades 4 or above in English and maths GCSEs. This figure fell during the pandemic years.
Last year - when grades were set at a midpoint between 2021 and 2019 - the proportion of state school students in England who missed out stood at 31.2 per cent.
What do the results mean?
While traditional A*-G grades are used in Northern Ireland and Wales, in England these have been replaced with a 9-1 system This is how they compare:
- 9 — High A* grade
- 8 — Lower A* or high A
- 7 — Lower A grade
- 6 — High B grade
- 5 — Lower B or high C
- 4 — Lower C grade
- 3 — D or high E
- 2 — Lower E or high F
- 1 — Lower F or G
- U — Ungraded
Students receive their GCSE results at Brighton College, Dubai – in pictures
What happens if they fail?
In England, many students who do not secure at least a grade 4 - which is considered a "standard pass" - in English and/or maths GCSE are required to retake the subjects during post-16 education.
But they are currently funded to retake maths and/or English until they achieve a GCSE grade 9 to 4.
For students with a grade 2 or below, they can either study towards a pass in functional skills level 2 or towards a GCSE grade 9 to 4.
In Wales and Northern Ireland, GCSE results are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until next year.
What should children do if they don’t get the grades they were expected to or hoped for?
The number of pupils in England achieving at least a grade 4 in maths and English GCSE is expected to fall this year amid efforts to restore grading to similar levels to 2019 - the year before the pandemic.
But the government has stressed help is available and there are many paths to success.
"We know that results day can be an anxious time for many young people,” said a Department for Education (DfE) spokesman.
“This is why the National Careers Service offers Get Help With Exam Results Careers Advice to support young people to understand their options after exam results.
"There are more brilliant pathways to a great career open to young people than ever before, including through our world-class university sector, our groundbreaking new T-levels, a Higher Technical Qualification or an apprenticeship, which you can now apply for through Ucas as you would for a degree.”
How good are the expected results?
In England, the exams regulator has said this year’s GCSE results will be lower than last year, but they are expected to be similar to 2019 as part of its plan to return to pre-pandemic grading this summer.
But Ofqual has built protection into the grading process which should enable a pupil to get the grade they would have received before the pandemic even if their quality of work is a little weaker this year.
It comes after Covid-19 led to an increase in top GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.
In Northern Ireland and Wales, exam regulators have said they do not expect to return to pre-pandemic grading levels until next year.
In Wales, results are expected to be “broadly midway” between those awarded in 2022 – the first year students sat exams following the pandemic – and 2019.
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Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
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Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
