THERE will be a “back-to-normal” educational psychology service by the time children return to schools in September, it has been claimed.
Jersey was designated an “unsafe” place to work by the Association of Educational Psychologists in November last year, with the union stating that it would no longer recommend Jersey as an “appropriate” place to its members.
Following the announcement, which was described by Children’s Commissioner Carmel Corrigan as “deeply worrying”, an “urgent” review was commissioned by the States Employment Board aiming at resolving the dispute involving Jersey’s educational psychologists but this was delayed twice, despite government pledges the review would be carried out “at pace”.
In February this year, Deputy Malcolm Ferey, vice-chair of the SEB, said the delays were due to the scope of the review being “wider and deeper than originally envisaged”.
Lesley Darwin, chief people officer, said the review had now taken place and the government had an “action plan” following its recommendations, in an update provided to Scrutiny politicians on Friday.
Ms Darwin said the recommendations – which were not outlined during the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel hearing – had been shared with educational psychologists in Jersey and also with the association.
Ms Darwin added: “We have continuous conversations with the association, and they are going back to the board, I believe at the end of this month, with those recommendations and the action plan. And hopefully that restriction will be removed.”
Ms Darwin said she was confident there would be a back-to-normal educational psychology service in September, when asked by panel chair Deputy Helen Miles.
In May, politicians heard stark warnings about the condition of the service – with just three qualified practitioners in post, a growing backlog of cases, and significant increases in spending on costly off-Island locums and remote assessments to keep up with rising demand.
Educational psychologists are responsible for assessing and identifying children’s learning and emotional needs from birth to 19 years old, and for facilitating discussions to consider support arrangements in schools, and demand for their services is growing.
To help bridge the staffing gap, the government has increasingly relied on costly temporary staff.
In 2021, the bill for locums stood at just over £40,000. By 2024, it had jumped fourfold to £174,000 – not including travel or accommodation.
Between January and May 2025 alone, more than £54,000 was spent on temporary staff.
CYPES Programme Director Jonathan Williams said at the time that the Government’s goal was to have a full team of five educational psychologists in place by the start of the new school year.
The shortage has also led to an increase in remote assessments, with a fifth completed remotely between September 2023 and 2024 and 35 carried out via video call in the first five months of 2025.
While Education Minister Rob Ward defended this as a temporary solution,
the AEP has warned that remote assessments should never be used out of convenience.
Last month, Education Minister Deputy Rob Ward told the States Assembly that an action plan would be put in place in the next “few weeks”.
The JEP contacted CYPES department to request further details – including whether the plan would be made public, and whether the AEP had been involved in shaping it. No response has yet been received.
