On Thursday 30 July 2020 the Home Office announced further provisions for international students who are unable to leave the UK due to travel restrictions relating to Covid-19. 

Exports Minister Graham Stuart has written an open letter to international ELT students, welcoming them back to UK classrooms and recognising English UK and its members work on focussing on student safety and latest government guidance. 

The UK welcomed 1% more students last year than in 2018, continuing from the market rebound of 2017.

The proportion of juniors rose to 54% of the total, and a quarter of all weeks were spent in London. Central England saw a 21% spike in student weeks, while Northern England was the best performer, with student weeks rising to 25,877, a rise of 9%.

The extent of the financial hit to UK ELT has been calculated for the first time in research done by English UK among its member centres.

The research, carried out by Bonard in June, shows a £257m loss among the 145 participating centres. Extrapolating that figure to the entire membership equates to a loss of more than half a billion pounds for the first three quarters of 2020.