JERSEY university students have been left in the dark over the status of their finance applications – because of the successful vote of no confidence in the Chief Minister…
Several students received messages from the government this week informing them that their applications could not be processed because the “purdah” period, while Deputy Kristina Moore and her Council of Ministers are replaced, meant that work “must be paused”.
Nicki Heath, who runs the Student Loans Support group, and Deputy Catherine Curtis, who chairs the Children, Education and Home Affairs Panel, have both said that “the normal business of government” should continue even in the time before a new Chief Minister is elected.
Mrs Heath, who has been involved with the non-political Student Loans Support group since 2015, said that she had initially been made aware of the issues by a student who had submitted their HE1 form – the initial form that student finance applicants have to submit.
Instead of receiving the follow-up HE2 form, which would allow them to declare their income, they were told: “Unfortunately, due to the vote of no confidence which occurred on Tuesday, Student Finance falls into purdah territory, which means a lot of our work must be paused until this period is over.”
She added that later, other students had contacted her saying they had received the HE2 form – only to then be told it was recalled due to purdah.
Purdah is the pre-election period during which time government ministers are not allowed to make any decisions or announcements that could be politically advantageous to them in the forthcoming election.
However, Deputy Curtis highlighted that “ministers retain executive responsibilities, and the essential business of government must be carried on”.
Mrs Heath called the situation “a mess”.
Mrs Heath eventually spoke to both the States Greffier Lisa Hart, and Deputy Curtis, to clarify the situation – and both said that there was no reason for forms not to be sent out during purdah.
Though there are around 500 new students every year – and a total of 1,500 students from Jersey – Mrs Heath said she did not know how many were affected.
She said that perhaps the civil service needed better briefing on “what they can and can’t do”.
She added: “Civil servants have got people emailing them with queries. It’s just wasting their time; it’s wasting my time; it’s wasting the Greffier’s time.”
