National Rates
Frequently asked questions and guidance about the national achievement rates shown alongside your own figures in your reports, and about the national rate in the total row.
What are the national rates in my report?
They are the Department for Education's National Achievement Rate Tables (NARTs), the achievement rates DfE publish for learners across England. Strata places them next to your own rates so you can compare like with like.
The common national columns ('Nat Ach %', 'Nat Pass %') you will see in system reports compare you with providers of your own type, such as e.g 'General FE and Tertiary College'. However, you may also choose national rate columns ('Nat Ach % (All)', 'Nat Pass % (All)') which compare you with 'All Providers'.
What does "Matched On" mean?
Under the report you'll see a line such as National Rates - Matched On: Hybrid End Year, Standard Code. It names the columns and filters that were matched to DfE's published figures. The national rate on each row is DfE's figure for exactly those columns - it is not weighted, it is a straight read from the DfE data.
DfE only publish rates for their own breakdowns, such as hybrid end year, age band, subject area, level or standard. Columns that only exist in your organisation, such as your departments or subcontractors, can't be matched. On those rows you'll see the national rate for the columns that were matched. In a report by department, for example, every department shows the year's national rate.
A course that is made up of a single learning aim is matched through that aim, so the line says Learning Aim. A course made up of several aims has no national equivalent and its national rate is blank.
Why does the national rate in the total row change when I change the breakdown?
In short: the total row shows the national rate for a provider with your mix of learners, and each breakdown describes your mix in a different way.
On each row, the national rate is DfE's published figure for that row. The total row is worked out differently. It takes each row's national rate and weights it by how many of your leavers are in that row. The result is the rate you would expect nationally from a provider whose learners are spread across the rows exactly as yours are.
An illustrative example, not real data: a report by subject area for one year.
| Subject area | Your leavers | National rate |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering | 300 | 80.0% |
| Health & Social Care | 100 | 90.0% |
| Total | 400 | 82.5% |
(300 × 80.0% + 100 × 90.0%) ÷ 400 = 82.5%
Three-quarters of these learners are in Engineering, so the national benchmark for this provider leans towards Engineering's 80%.
Break the same learners down another way, for example by level or by the more detailed subject sub-areas, and you describe the mix differently. Each description gives a slightly different benchmark. A more detailed breakdown usually captures more of how your provision differs from the national picture.
The same applies to group subtotals, and to reports covering several years: each year's national rate is weighted by how many of your learners finished in that year.
Rows that have no national rate (see why some are blank) are left out of the total's national figure.
Why doesn't the total row match DfE's published national rate?
DfE's published overall rate is the national rate for the national mix of learners. The total row is the national rate weighted to your mix. The two only agree when your learners are spread across subjects, levels and ages in near exactly the same proportions as learners nationally, which is unlikely.
In the example above, DfE's overall rate might be 85%. For a provider where three-quarters of the learners are in Engineering, a benchmark of 82.5% is the fairer comparison. If you want DfE's own overall figure, run the report by year only: with no other breakdown there is a single row, and its national rate is DfE's published figure.
What does the Diff column show in the total row?
On each row, Diff is your rate minus the national rate for that row. In the total row, it is your overall rate minus the benchmark weighted to your mix. So it shows how you compare with what a provider like you would achieve nationally.
Continuing the example: if your overall achievement rate is 88.0%, the total row's Diff is +5.5 percentage points (88.0% − 82.5%).
Why are some national rates blank?
- Too few learners nationally. DfE don't publish a rate where fewer than five learners finished or achieved, to protect individuals, and Strata follows the same rule.
- Earlier years. National rates are available from 2021/22 onwards.
- Newer breakdowns. Some breakdowns, such as LLDD and EHCP, only have national rates for recent years.
- Courses with several learning aims. There is no single national rate to compare them with.
If the line under the report reads National Rates: not available for the selected columns and filters, the report's columns or filters can't be matched to any published national figure. Removing or changing one of them usually brings the national rates back.
Which national rates release am I looking at?
Select the info icon at the end of the National Rates - Matched On line under the report. Alongside a short version of these answers, it shows the version, for example July 2026. That is the most recent national rates update imported into Strata, and it applies to every year shown in the report.
Exports to Excel include the version in their national rates note too.
Any other questions? Email support@orbitalgo.com.