Members of the UK’s ELT sector held a protest in Parliament this week to raise awareness of the challenges they are facing as a result of the pandemic. 

UK prime minister Boris Johnson has been urged by a group of MPs from his party to offer the ELT sector £17 million in business rates relief.

The UK English language sector has called on government for additional support as Covid-19 borders restrictions, coupled with challenges associated with Brexit, continue to limit its recovery.

English UK member schools enrolled 83.6% fewer students in 2020 than the previous year as they hosted a total of 83,446 full-time students.

English UK London has repeated calls for the UK government to extend business rate relief to all language schools up and down the country.

The UK government has said local authorities should use their discretion to decide if English language schools are eligible for Covid-19 business grants.

ELT centres in the UK had a total revenue loss of £590m in 2020 with 91% of employees affected and over half losing their jobs, research commissioned by English UK has found.

English UK has said the extension of the UK's furlough scheme by itself will not provide enough support for the country’s ELT sector.