Educational Psychology: Labour Turnover and Recruitment

Department for Education written question – answered at on 27 November 2024.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Luke Evans Luke Evans Shadow Parliamentary Under Secretary (Health and Social Care)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the challenges of (a) recruiting and (b) retaining educational psychologists to ensure the effective processing of education, health and care plans.

Photo of Luke Evans Luke Evans Shadow Parliamentary Under Secretary (Health and Social Care)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of educational psychologists.

Photo of Catherine McKinnell Catherine McKinnell Minister of State (Education)

This department’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

Educational psychologists play a critical role in supporting children and young people, providing statutory input into education, health and care assessments and advising the school workforce on how to support children and young people with SEND.

As the employers of educational psychology services, it is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure that their services are adequately staffed. The department is taking measures to support local authorities by investing in building the pipeline.

The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from this year. This builds on the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.

To support retention, following graduation, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. For trainees beginning their course in September 2024, this requirement has increased to three years.

Does this answer the above question?

Yes0 people think so

No0 people think not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.