Declaring an X grade

Hello everyone,
I'm applying to university for 2026. I am asking, do you need to declare an 'X' grade on your application? I know you have to delcare fails and Us, but I'm seeing a lot of conflicting information on declaring an X grade. I got X on one of my gcses back in 2019.
If anyone could advise, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

For those who don't know, can you explain what an X grade means?

"NO RESULT (X) indicates that a result is not being issued because of absence from all parts of the examination, or because of a decision not to issue a result for any other reason"
Would I need to declare 'X' on my UCAS?

I would, yes. UCAS public guidance is a little woolly on this.
All "Qualifications you have completed." Should be declared. In my view, an X grade is still a completed qualification. Because an exam board can give an X grade if the candidate has completed all parts.
The page goes on to say... "all GCSE, A level, vocational qualifications and international public exams studied at school or self-studied." which gives me more ground to say yes.
https://www.ucas.com/applying/applying-to-university/filling-in-your-ucas-application#_-education--

Thank you.
I had an exchange with them through instagram after 2 confusing phone calls.
This is what they said:
UCAS:
Hi there!
Thanks for reaching out about your education section. I'm happy to provide some guidance😄
The general rule of thumb for the UCAS education section is just to include any certificate you have with the result as it's stated on the certificate.
Usually if someone achieves an X for their overall grade then they wouldn't receive a certificate. If you don't have a certificate you don't need to include it. If you do have a certificate though you would need to put it on your application.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Me:
Hi,
I did not receive a certificate for this X, it was on my results slip.
I was confused because I know that a U needs to be declared as it is still considered a grade, even if you don't get a certificate for it. However I'm not sure if X is considered a grade and if it would need to be declared, as I have seen conflicting information online and heard conflicting information when calling the UCAS phone number.
Is it ok if I can confirm again if an X result needs to be put on a UCAS application?
Thank you
UCAS:
No problem 😄
If you never received a certificate then you don't need to include it in the education section.
The value and meaning of qualifications is held in the certificate itself, rather than a results slip or similar. So even though you studied for it and everything, you don't have a GCSE to declare.
That's different to a U, which does need to be declared because the attempt to achieve the GCSE happened as it should have done, it just didn't end up going too well for the student. That's still a grade they "achieved" though, whereas an X is more of a N/A if that makes sense.
So you don't need to put it on!
Me:
Thank you. So regardless of whatever reason was behind being given the X, it would not have to be declared?
UCAS:
Correct, yeah. The X isn't a result, it's just the marker that's used to state that it's not possible to produce a result. So you don't actually have a qualification to declare if that makes sense.
Considering I have this in writing and this seems like a more informed response (first phone call, the person had no idea what an X grade really even was, but when I explained what it was to them, they told me not to declare it. Second phone call, I was told to declare it, in case), should I take this advise? Or can UCAS reps be kind of shaky with their advice and should I be cautious of what was told to me on instagram?

If you have an answer in writing from UCAS, save a copy of that exchange, time, date, names if they included a name.
Don't declare it. If challenged you have this in writing.