Retired teachers and supply teachers (FOI)

Request

A

How many Jersey teachers retired in the last 10 years? (please could I have numbers for each year and if they were in the Primary or Secondary phase).

B

Of those teachers, how many have registered to work as supply teachers in Jersey?

C

Of the teachers in question B, how many actually worked as supply teachers in Jersey without a contract?

D

Of the teachers in question B, how many actually worked as supply teachers in Jersey with a contract?

E

Last year how many supply teacher days of employment were used by a) Secondary schools b) Primary schools in Jersey?

F

Last year, how many Primary and Secondary schools reported a problem in securing supply staff?

Response

A 

The information as requested for the last 10 years is not held centrally. The Government of Jersey acquired a new HR system in 2019, historical data prior 2019 was not migrated. Data preceding 2019 is held in a variety of spreadsheets. The organisation structure and employee references (employee numbers) do not match what is currently stored in the new HR system. It is possible to see who has left, and from where they left, however leaving reasons were not logged in the same way that they are now. Legacy records show either as 'resignation', if it was the employee's choice to leave, or 'involuntary' if their contract was terminated. It would require a review of each separate individual HR file to establish whether any were related to retirements in order to validate the data. It is estimated that such a review would exceed the timescales prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. 

The following data is available from 1 January 2019 to 21 September 2022. Where numbers are fewer than five, disclosure control is applied to avoid identification of individuals.  Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. 

Please note, the table below includes data on leavers who also retired due to ill health and took voluntary early retirement. It does not include anyone who was on a zero-hour contract or anyone who may have retired from their substantive post but stayed on as education supply. 

In some instances, it has not been possible to provide separated data that has been requested for schools that have both primary and secondary provisions. The data for these schools is listed in the table below as “Specialist/Undefined”: 

B 

The information on how many teachers who retire and then register to work on supply is not held centrally.   Details may be held on individual staff files. Due to the reasoning given in the answer to question A, it is estimated that such a review would exceed the timescales prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore, Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.    

C

None. All staff who work on the supply register, including supply teachers, are issued with a zero-hour contract of employment. 

D

All staff who work on the supply register, including supply teachers, are issued with a zero-hour contract of employment. The information on how many teachers who retire and then register to work on supply is not held centrally. Details on retirement may be held on individual staff files. Due to the reasoning given in the answer to question A, it is estimated that such a review would exceed the timescales prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore, Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

E

The information requested is not held centrally. Details may be recorded on individual staff files. It is estimated that to conduct such a review would exceed the timescales prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore, Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.   

Article 16 has been applied in answer to this question due to the following: Schools supply staff are set up within the Government of Jersey’s HR system against a generic Supply Cost Centre, which means that they do not ‘belong’ to any particular school.   When supply staff carry out work, they complete a timesheet which is processed by payroll against the generic Supply Cost Centre. The hours worked for each school are not entered into the HR system, and as such the Government of Jersey does not hold the data.   

F

The information requested is not held in a recorded format. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.     

Articles applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations. 

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

3)      In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law (legitimate interests) is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) (which disapplies the provision where the controller is a public authority) were omitted.