Loose Women is set for a temporary hiatus this week due to a scheduling reshuffle, ITV has confirmed.

The popular daytime show, which on Monday featured Ruth Langsford, Frankie Bridge, Brenda Edwards and Mariella Frostup at the helm, will not air from Tuesday to Friday.

Post-This Morning, viewers will find the ITV lunchtime news filling the slot until 1pm, when racing coverage takes over for the afternoon.

Such adjustments are commonplace throughout the year to accommodate sports events like horse racing, and this instance is no exception.

Ruth wrapped up today's episode with the announcement: "That's it for today, we're not on for the rest of this week because of horse racing but we'll be back next Monday, goodbye," reports Belfast Live.

The week-long absence of Loose Women follows ITV's recent announcement of several changes to its morning schedule.

Lorraine Kelly's morning show will no longer be one hour long, and will only run from 9.30am to 10am, for 30 weeks of the year on a seasonal basis. Instead, Good Morning Britain will air for three and a half hours, and four hours when Lorraine is no longer on.

Meanwhile, Loose Women has also been cut to a 30-week schedule, like the one it operated on until 2016. The changes will begin from January 2026.

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 as well generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.

"These changes also allow us to consolidate our news operations and expand our national, international and regional news output and to build upon our proud history of trusted journalism at a time when our viewers need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever."

This Morning will continue to air from 10am to 12.30pm, its usual weekday slot, and is moving to a new studio in central London.

Lygo added: "I recognise that our plans will have an impact on staff off screen in our Daytime production teams, and we will work with ITV Studios and ITN as they manage these changes to produce the shows differently from next year, and support them through this transition.

"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."

Loose Women airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.