(UK) Jersey: $6.2M SPED overspend; "increasingly complex special ed needs"

Jan 28, 2026, Jersey Evening Post: £4.5m [$6.2M] overspend in schools driven by “sharp increase” in special educational needs

https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2026/01/28/4-5m-overspend-in-schools-driven-by-sharp-increase-in-special-educational-needs/ 

 AN OVERPSEND of over £4.5 million [$6.2M] in Jersey schools was driven by the rapid expansion of frontline staffing to keep children and staff safe, alongside a sharp rise in pupil numbers and increasingly complex special educational needs, the Education Minister has revealed.

Deputy Rob Ward said staff budgets had been overspent “predominantly in special schools and on inclusion support in mainstream schools” after more frontline staff were appointed than originally budgeted.

He explained these appointments were made “to address safety issues for both children and staff to meet individual needs”.

The Education Minister was responding to a written question from Deputy David Warr, which was prompted by a JEP article revealing that schools across the Island had overspent their budgets by more than £4.4 million [$6M] by the end of October 2025.

Special educational schools were among the worst hit, with Mont à l’Abbé in a £1.27m [$1.8M]  deficit and La Sente/La Passerelle down £845,559 [$1.2M].

With just 211 pupils between them, this put the deficit across both schools at around £10,000 [$14,000] per student.

The Education Minister refused to respond to queries from the JEP at the time.

But in the recent written question, Deputy Ward said that a “sharp increase in the numbers and complexity of special educational needs across primary and secondary schools” had intensified pressure on budgets across the system. . . .

It comes after the JEP exposed concerns from parents of children La Sente/La Passerelle, who described the Island’s alternative provision for pupils with additional needs as a “dumping ground” operating in buildings they said were unfit for purpose.

Parents told this newspaper that their children were being taught in temporary cabins, sometimes in hallways, with limited access to outdoor or sensory spaces, sudden timetable changes and reduced school hours imposed at short notice.

And a government-commissioned report into special educational needs provision, published at the end of last year, found leadership, strategy and accountability “not sufficiently effective” across Island schools. . . .