ITV has taken Loose Women off air on Wednesday, October 28, to make way for ITV News Special: The Chancellor's Budget. The daytime programme will not air in its usual 12.30pm slot, with This Morning ending 15 minutes early at 12.15pm to accommodate the special.
Budget Special Replaces Daytime Show
Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey will announce the budget on Wednesday, his first since being appointed in July this year. Loose Women will return as normal at 12.30pm on Thursday, October 29, to discuss real-life issues, current affairs, politics, pop culture, and personal experiences.
The show is often pulled off air occasionally due to sporting events and now only airs seasonally as of last year amid cuts across ITV.
Reduced Schedules and Panel Reactions
Both Loose Women and Lorraine are only on air 30 weeks of the year, losing more than 100 of their episodes. Other changes include Lorraine episodes having a run time of just 30 minutes and no live studio audience at Loose Women.
In May 2025, Kevin Lygo, managing director of ITV’s Media and Entertainment Division, said: "Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust."
He added: "As well as generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres. Daytime has been a core element of ITV’s schedule for over 40 years and these changes will set ITV up to continue to bring viewers award-winning news, views and discussion as we enter our eighth decade."
Panelists Speak Out on Cuts
Some of the Loose Women panelists have spoken out on the decision, with Gloria Hunniford saying: "The cuts will be behind-the-scenes staff. I think everybody is staying – absolutely." She added: "We are very concerned about the team, because we have a very large team and they’re all very clever and they work b****y hard. It’s very sad to see it breaking up."
TV presenter Lorraine Kelly described the cuts to her show as "heartbreaking" but vowed to continue on her self-titled programme amid previous speculation she was prepared to walk away. She said at the time: "I don’t see me going anywhere until people get fed up, you know? Until people say, I’ve had enough of that one."
Speaking about the cuts, which see her show reduced from an hour to 30 minutes and airing for only 30 weeks out of 52, she admitted: "It’s really heartbreaking to split up the team, a lot of my team have been with me for more than 20 years and they're my friends. I've grown up with them. They were babies when they started with me and now they’ve got babies of their own."
She continued: "It’s been difficult with the cuts, it's been hard. I’m a lot happier about it now but it was honestly and genuinely all about the team. I wasn't annoyed or angry about this for me, it was about the team." Loose Women airs weekdays on ITV1 and ITVX at 12.30pm.
