Nurseries and childminders in England who rely on fees from parents may be forced to close or quit the sector, creating a national shortage of childcare places, according to new research published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The study found that the coronavirus lockdown caused severe financial pressures for providers that received the bulk of their income from fees rather than through the government’s childcare entitlement, leaving about 25% of private sector nurseries vulnerable:
Ryanair raised €400m from shareholders via a share placement aimed at strengthening its balance sheet in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier said on Friday.
The Irish airline issued 35,242,291 shares at a price of 11.35 per share, a discount of approximately 2.6% to its closing price on Thursday, it said in a statement.
Ryanair decided to raise the funds to capitalise on opportunities created by Covid-19 disruption and to “de-risk” its debt repayments over the next 12 months, it said on Thursday.
A groundbreaking new comedy sketch show based on women’s sex lives during lockdown, starring Aimee Lou Wood and Miriam Margolyes, is designed to “claim the stage” for women, its co-creator, Joanna Scanlan, says.
Sex Lives, believed to be the first interactive comedy backed by the BBC’s commercial wing, BBC Studios, documents stories submitted anonymously by women and has proved a hit online.
Following the #MeToo movement, Scanlan, who acted in The Thick of It, said she had “been thinking for a long time about trying to get a conversation around women’s sexuality into the open, into the mainstream. It always ends up being to the side, to the edge.”
Ukraine sees record new cases
Ukraine registered a record 2,723 cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the national security council said on Friday, up from a previous record of 2,495 cases.
Ukraine has imposed a temporary ban on most foreigners entering the country until 28 September, and extended lockdown measures until the end of October to contain a recent spike in cases.
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Friday briefing: Eat out to help out budget blowout
At least 100m subsidised meals were eaten by diners in the UK in August under the government’s month-long “eat out to help out” scheme. The subsidy has cost more than the £500m that Rishi Sunak set aside in the July mini-budget. There was a rush during the last week of the scheme with 51m meals claimed in England, 6m in Scotland, and more than 2m in both Wales and Northern Ireland:
Pupils at special schools in England have been “forgotten about” in the rush to restart full-time education, with 20,000 children with special needs unlikely to return to school because of safety concerns, according to a study.
Parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) said they were concerned about sending their children back to school in September because their children were medically vulnerable or because their child’s needs mean they cannot adhere to social distancing and safe practice.
Headteachers at more than 200 schools and colleges in England told researchers the government’s guidance had been unclear and showed a lack of understanding of how special schools work, the types of pupils they support, and how much they rely on other key services including healthcare and local charities:
