Millions of parents will for the first time this year be able to sign up their children for a flu vaccination without being contacted by the child’s school.
NHS chiefs are trying to boost uptake among young people aged 16 and under to stop them from spreading influenza to their grandparents and other relatives over Christmas.
Parents of pupils at 14,000 schools across England will get emails and texts directly from a new NHS digital tool known as Mavis (Managing Vaccinations in Schools), where they can give consent for their child to have a vaccination.
All the areas Reform is planning to target next
Reform UK is preparing a huge expansion of its operations around the country in a bid to attract voters in areas where it does not have a foothold, as it bids to put Nigel Farage in Downing Street.
Reform is advertising positions
The party is advertising 51 new campaigning roles across parts of England, Wales and Scotland, including for campaign managers and branch co-ordinators.
Exclusive analysis by The i Paper shows that Reform is focusing much of its hiring blitz in areas where it doesn’t yet have a strong electoral footing.
Which areas is Reform pushing into?
Reform advertised three roles in London where it holds just one seat on the London Assembly.
The South-East
Reform advertised five roles here. The party has just three seats in Surrey and one in Oxfordshire.
The South-West
The South-West has the heaviest hiring out of the three, with seven roles advertised. Reform holds one MP in the region.
How does the rest of the map look?
The East and West Midlands each have a branch network co-ordinator and a senior campaign manager advertised.
The North-West follows the same pattern, with a branch network co-ordinator and senior campaign manager sitting alongside five county-level campaign manager posts.
Reform also took Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland councils directly from Labour control in May, while in West Yorkshire the party now runs Wakefield and Calderdale councils outright and is the largest party in Kirklees.
4 min read
The universities crowned best in the UK
and have unveiled the top universities in the UK in their .
The top 5 universities listed
- 1 The University of St Andrews
- 2The London School of Economics
- 3
- 4 The University of Cambridge
- 5 The University of Oxford
What has changed?
Oxford fell from fourth to fifth place with Cambridge remaining in fourth.
Oxbridge institutions dropped out of the top three for only the second time in the UK university guide’s 33-year history.
Imperial was named University of the Year after it climbed three places in the rankings from sixth place last year.
The expert view
[St Andrews has a] distinctive undergraduate experience that translates to superb rates of student satisfaction
Zoe Thomas, author of The Times and The Sunday Times Good Guide 2027
The key claims made by Earl Spencer so far about the Royal Family
Earl Charles Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, has revealed all in a new book about his sister’s life.
What you need to know
Charles Spencer makes a number of shocking claims in his controversial new book Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.
The memoir features allegations about the King’s state of mind immediately following Diana’s death, as well as some revelations about his sister herself.
Spencer’s key claims
Spencer alleged Charles sounded like a “lottery winner” after receiving news of Diana’s death.
Spencer also claimed Diana considered suicide but love for her sons “stopped her from going further”.
He claimed Diana had ADHD and also suffered from Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria.
Reactions to the book
- A spokesperson for the King said: “His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.”
- The former press secretary to Queen Elizabeth II described the claims of Charles sounding “giddily elated” as “hogwash”.
- Royal commentator Jennie Bond told the BBC Spencer’s “vindictive account” was “extraordinary”.
Watch more from The i Paper
The changes mean that parents will no longer need to wait for an email or letter from their child’s school inviting them for the appointment.
Nurses will still give the vaccine – normally a nasal spray for youngsters – to pupils at school, but parents will also receive email and text reminders from the Mavis service a week before the planned sessions.
And for the first time this year, any child who misses an appointment at school can have the jab or nasal spray at a pharmacy from 1 December.
Consent forms are typically sent to parents directly from schools, adding to the burden of paperwork for school staff and families.
Just 55 per cent of primary school-age children and less than half of second school pupils get the vaccine each year, and NHS officials are concerned that lower rates fuel circulation of the virus and lead to more infections of elderly relatives over the holiday period.
The Mavis consent app was piloted in 2025 but this year it is being used by more schools across England.
NHS director of vaccination Caroline Temmink told The i Paper: “It’s really important that school-age children get their vaccinations as soon as possible because going into Christmas, they’ll be seeing older or vulnerable relatives over that period.
“That’s why we’ve set out some ambitious targets to increase uptake in schools – and by making it easier for parents to give consent, we want to boost take up and therefore help protect the people who are most vulnerable.”
NHS scrambles to shore up vaccine supplies
With the new season’s vaccination programme getting under way this month, NHS England is scrambling to shore up supplies after Sanofi, one of the biggest flu jab manufacturers, said it could not supply two million jabs that were on order from GP surgeries and pharmacies.
The company announced last month that it is unable to supply the flu vaccine in England until November, meaning NHS chiefs have had to source doses from elsewhere.
Health officials have told The i Paper they will have enough supplies to meet demand and are “confident” there will be no disruption.
Temmink said: “In England we use multiple suppliers. GPs and pharmacies order their own flu vaccine, so they have that arrangement with the suppliers – but we’ve supported them to make alternative orders, so we’re confident that there should be no disruption to the flu programme.”
However representatives of the pharmacy sector have written to NHS England asking them for assurances that there will be enough jabs to meet demand.
Another provider, Seqirus, is understood to have been scaling up doses to meet demand.
Henry Gregg, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, said: “We are concerned by reports there are unexpected changes to the supply of flu vaccine to pharmacies, ahead of the roll out later this year.
“This is frustrating for pharmacies, who have been carefully planning for the flu season to vaccinate as many patients as possible.
“We have raised this urgently with both the manufacturer and NHS England, and we have been reassured that they are working through contingencies to ensure alternatives are available to patients and there is no disruption to supply.”
This season more than 32 million people in England will be eligible for the flu jab – the biggest cohort outside of the Covid pandemic. More than 300,000 homeless people are being offered it for the first time.
Between 18 and 19 million people are expected to take up the offer overall.
Who is eligible for the flu jab this year?
Pregnant women, who can get vaccinated via their maternity services or GP
All children aged two or three years on 31 August, 2026 – parents can book appointments via GP or, from 1 October, a pharmacist
Primary school and secondary school-aged children, from reception to Year 11 – parents will either be contacted by their child’s school or directly via a new NHS service called Mavis
Young people aged 17 and over attending a special educational needs (SEN) school who are also in a clinical risk group
All children in clinical risk groups, from six months to less than 18 years
Everyone aged 65 years and over
All adults in clinical risk groups, from age 18 to under 65
Residents of long-stay residential care homes
Carers in receipt of carer’s allowance, or those who are the main carer of an elderly or disabled person
Close contacts of people who are immunocompromised
Rough sleepers and those using homeless hostels or night shelters aged 16 years and over
Frontline social care workers without access to an employer-led occupational health scheme, including those working in residential care homes, domiciliary care and voluntary managed hospices
Anyone eligible will be contacted by the NHS to book an appointment at GP or pharmacy
Last year’s flu season arrived earlier than normal due to a variant, known as subclade K, of the Influenza A virus.
However, hospital admissions and deaths were lower in 2025-26 than the previous winter.
Dr Julie Yates, UK Health Security Agency’s deputy director for immunisation programmes, said: “It’s still too early to say with any certainty what the flu season will look like, but we’ll be monitoring this closely throughout autumn and winter.”
Health minister Baroness Merron told The i Paper: “Last winter saw the best ambulance and A&E performance in four years, and we’re determined to build on that this year.
“NHS trusts across the country are already stress testing their winter plans, with preparation starting as early as July.
“We’re making it easier than ever to get the vaccine this winter, expanding access in community pharmacies, and rolling out digital tools to simplify the process for parents, schools and vaccination teams.”