Boris Johnson is facing mounting pressure to announce a U-turn over A-level results chaos amid growing speculation the Prime Minister will set out a change in approach this afternoon.

The PM, who is now on holiday for a week in Scotland, held a conference call with under-fire Education Secretary Gavin Williamson and officials this morning. 

Tory backbenchers have reportedly been assured there will be a change in Government policy on exam grades in England set out by the end of the day.       

Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem MPs have all attacked the Government's handling of the row along with furious teachers, union bosses and education leaders.

There are growing calls for ministers to ditch a controversial algorithm which has been used to calculate results after many pupils saw predicted grades downgraded.

Many believe the results should be calculated using teacher assessments instead. 

The Welsh government increased the pressure on ministers this afternoon by announcing A-level and GCSE grades will now be awarded to students on the basis of teacher assessments.

It followed a similar announcement in Northern Ireland this morning.   

The algorithm is also being used for GCSEs but Downing Street today insisted the release of those results this Thursday will not be delayed despite rising pressure for a two week pause. 

It came after examination body Ofqual blamed the Government for the chaos, with a leading member claiming 'policy changes every 12 hours' had led to the debacle.

Professor Tina Isaacs, who sits on Ofqual's advisory group, told BBC Breakfast: 'Ofqual's role is to carry out Government policy.

And when policy shifts every 12 to 24 hours, Ofqual then has to deal with it as best as it can. 

'Hence the changes to the appeals process, which now Ofqual has taken off the board so that it can give as much consideration to it as possible given the timeframe.' 

It was revealed today that some Ofqual board members want to get rid of the algorithm which led to almost 40 per cent of grades being downgraded from teacher-predicted marks.

Critics have complained the algorithm unfairly penalised many pupils, particularly those who attend schools in more disadvantaged areas. 

Eton's headmaster has written a letter to parents criticising the algorithm and describing it as 'unfair' - one of several private and grammar schools slamming the Government. 

There are also fears the algorithm has resulted in a 'haemorrhaging' of public trust in the results. 

Some experts have said that reverting to teacher assessments - as the Scottish government had done - may be the 'least bad option' but there are concerns such an approach could lead to implausibly high marks.  

Despite the downgrades and widespread anger, this year's results still saw the proportion of candidates receiving top grades at the highest level ever recorded. 

A total of 27.9 per cent of entrants scored either an A or A*, up from 25.5 per cent in 2019.

Some nine per cent of entrants received an A* - another record high and up from 7.8 per cent last year. The overall pass rate (grades A* to E) was 98.3 per cent - another record high.

Ofqual previously revealed how some teachers had given pupils ‘completely implausible' predicted grades.
If they had been used, A-level results this year would have been 14 per cent better than in 2019. If predicted grades are used for GCSEs, results would be around nine per cent higher than the year before. 

The growing furore over A-level results came as:

• Leading Conservative MPs including Iain Duncan Smith called for the A-level algorithm to be scrapped and teacher grades to be used instead;
• In England, this week's GCSE results could be delayed for a fortnight amid fears millions of students could be harmed by the controversial algorithm; 
• Northern Ireland announced it would be using teacher grades for GCSE results this week and not a computer programme; 
• Members of Ofqual's board suggested their system should be replaced with teacher grades;
• Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has initiated legal action against Ofqual over the crisis; 
• Protests across the country are set to continue as students march in anger at their grades.