Campaigning for UK ELT
We campaign on behalf of the UK's English language teaching (ELT) industry for policies that will help the sector to compete and thrive globally. Although we continue to attract more students annually than other English-speaking destinations, we are now lagging behind in terms of student weeks.
Until 2019 our ELT member centres, situated all over the UK, attracted more students than any of our competitor nations, feeding £1.4bn into the economy and supporting 35,000 jobs.
Covid and Brexit seriously damaged this, and our annual and quarterly statistics suggest a likely recovery of just over 80%.
We are currently undertaking a major piece of economic research and have commissioned Pragmatix Advisory to establish the current shape and value of UK ELT, which will inform our future campaigning and updated position paper. We will launch the research findings and our new position paper at our Parliamentary Reception on Wednesday 14 May 2025.
Our current campaigning work
We are currently focusing on five major areas where we feel a breakthrough is most likely:
1. Expansion of the Youth Mobility Scheme
The Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) offers young adults the chance to live, work and study in another country for up to three years. Expanding it would boost ELT centres and tourism by allowing more young people a taste of life in the UK, and young Britons would benefit from being able to work abroad. The number and size of schemes expanded under the last government but there is further to go, particularly with EU and EEA members states and Switzerland.
YMS is not restoring freedom of movement.
2. Extending ID card travel for children
The youth group travel scheme for French school groups increased numbers by 30% from the post-Brexit low. We want this amended so that children in groups organised by agents and others can continue to travel without passports and/or visas and extended to include short, organised child group visits from other EU countries such as Spain, Germany and Italy. Lack of ID Card travel has made the UK uncompetitive relative to EU destinations including Malta and Ireland.
3. Amending accreditation
The British Council and English UK run Accreditation UK, a rigorous and specialist ELT accreditation scheme widely recognised as the world's best. For this reason, it is the most popular accreditation scheme for UK ELT centres. However, centres offering student visas must be inspected by ISI - an independent schools' specialist Many centres pay for both schemes. Accreditation UK should be recognised for immigration purposes, so all students have the best possible experience.
4. Extending the UK's global reach
UK ELT competes globally for students with destinations including the US, Australia, Malta and Ireland. Targeted government marketing support would help extend our reach. International education is one of the UK's most important export industries and ELT is both an entry point and a destination. UK ELT should be recognised in the government's international education strategy, with its own growth target and dedicated marketing support.
5. Allowing work shadowing
English is the global language of business, so many international students want to practise it in the workplace as they study. Pre-Brexit, work placement programmes were a popular part of our offer and not having these affects our competitiveness. We want all adult English Language learners to be able to access short work shadowing placements as part of their courses.
Longer term, we want to see the limited work rights granted to ELT students in universities to all our centres offering student visas.
How can the government help?
We need a supportive immigration system to enable our youngest students to travel easily once more, and national support for ELT marketing so we can reach new destinations, compensating for the lack of freedom of movement for older students.
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We support our campaigning with robust evidence
We monitor trends by collecting data from our members quarterly and annually with our insight partner ESOMAR member, Bonard. We are currently working with Pragmatix on our major economic research project.
> Find more facts and figures about UK ELT
Our Covid-19 impact report 
published in March 2021 estimated that English UK member centres lost £590m in gross revenue overall in 2020. 91% of UK ELT jobs were affected, with 54% of the workforce released and an additional 18% of staff furloughed.
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How do we campaign?
Our small public affairs team, supported by an external relations advisory group of member centres and an external lobbying company works to create the optimum operating environment for UK ELT.
We regularly seek member support for our campaigning work. Our approaches include:
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direct contacts with government officials, MPs and peers
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membership of official panels, such as the Education Sector Advisory Group
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orchestrating member campaigns including letter-writing campaigns to MPs and others: elected representatives always prioritise constituents' needs (we have a member campaigning resources page to support with this)
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working with our public affairs advisors to get issues raised and attempt to change legislation via carefully targeted MPs and members of the House of Lords
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What successes have we had?
Wins include the organised group travel using ID cards scheme for French school group, the expansion of the YMS in late 2023 and confirmation of the VAT exemption for EFL tuition fees in late 2024.
We also succeeded after long campaigns in getting study included on the more flexible six-month visa, and for students to be allowed to apply for follow-on visas without leaving the UK. ID card travel was extended for nine months after the end of the Brexit transition period after extensive lobbying of MPs and the Home Office.
Most English UK members in England received CARF additional funding in spring and summer of 2022 from their local councils at 20-100% of the full amount available. This followed extensive lobbying which resulted in a government minister highlighting the needs of the ELT sector during a House of Lords debate.
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Get in touch
Contact our public affairs and lobbying team on publicaffairs@englishuk.com
