Teaching in Jersey, Channel Islands: teacher pay, relocation and housing status

A teacher with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in a permanent full-time post can be Licensed, which lets you rent or buy a home and gives free hospital care from your first day. Government recruits from off-island also get a £5,000 relocation payment and removals up to £5,000, repayable if they leave within three years, and can get up to 12 months in subsidised key worker accommodation. Private schools set their own pay and terms.

In Jersey the job decides where you can live, so a post's status matters as much as its salary. Our jobs guide has the wider rules, and our schools guide explains the school system from a parent's side.

Who employs teachers

Teaching jobs fall into three groups, and which one you join decides your pay scale and your relocation help.

• States schools. The free primary and secondary schools run by the Government of Jersey, Hautlieu among them. Teachers are Government employees on the Jersey pay scale.
• Fee-paying States schools. Victoria College, Jersey College for Girls and their prep schools charge fees but are Government schools. They recruit through the Government's careers site on the same scale: Victoria College's October 2026 maths advert quoted the Jersey scale and attached the Government relocation policy.
• Private schools. Privately run schools, such as St Michael's and St George's prep schools, which were both advertising on Tes in October 2026. They set their own pay, contracts and relocation help, so ask each one.

Teacher pay in 2026

The 2026 scale took effect on 1 January 2026, 3.8 per cent above 2025, after rises of 4 per cent in 2025 and 8 per cent in 2024. Government adverts in October 2026 said the scale "starts at £49243.54 for a qualified teacher", with a step for each full year of service and five upper points beyond.

Supplementary allowances, paid on top of the scale for some posts, run from £3,522.58 (SA1) to £21,129.90 (SA6) a year in 2026. Teachers in Government schools have their own superannuation (pension) fund.

QTS and Licensed status

Control of Housing and Work guidance, published on 25 November 2025, lists "teacher" with QTS among the roles that can be Licensed below the usual £60,000 threshold. Unlike the health roles, the teacher entry is not limited to Government employers, so a private school can apply for a Licensed permission too, though any employer must show it could not find a suitable local applicant. Licensed roles must be full time (more than 25 hours a week) and permanent. From point 7, at £60,537.30, the salary clears the threshold on its own.

With Licensed status you can:

• rent or buy one home, including Qualified property, as your main residence;
• use all hospital services free from your first day, where most working newcomers wait six months;
• bring a partner, who can register as Entitled for Work Only and take any job.

The status is tied to the post: leave it and you lose the right to stay in Qualified property. Our housing qualifications guide explains each status and our renting guide the notice rules.

Without QTS. Unqualified teachers start on point 1. Trainee teachers without QTS who have a degree in a relevant subject and hold a PGCE or are on the On-Jersey Graduate Teacher Training Programme are on the Licensed for Lease Only list, which lets you rent Qualified property on a lease under nine years but not buy. So are education support staff at grade ESSF05 (£36,619.63 to £40,505.33 in 2026) or above, with at least a Level 2 qualification.

Supply teaching. The Government's supply list requires "Qualified Teacher Status with a registered teacher number", and says Jersey recognises most teacher qualifications in line with England. Supply posts are zero-hours and, as the October 2026 advert put it, "not licenced", so supply work is not a route in from off-island.

The relocation package

Government teachers recruited from off-island into a licensed post come under the same relocation policy as other public servants, effective 27 March 2026. It covers permanent full-time posts and fixed-term contracts of 18 months or more.

Resign or be dismissed and you repay the removals costs and the net payment in full in your first year, 66 per cent in the second and 33 per cent in the third; after three years, nothing. From outside the UK, removals and visit travel are normally paid only from the UK, though managers have discretion for shortage roles.

Fixed-term contracts under 18 months get no package, but may get a £500 a month rental allowance and £1,500 a year travel allowance, both taxed, if you keep a home outside Jersey. Because Licensed permission is for permanent roles, check the status of any fixed-term post before you accept.

Key worker housing

Under the Priority Key Role Accommodation Policy, effective 15 May 2026, priority roles are set each year, and teachers are among those the policy expects to include. Eligible recruits can get transitional accommodation for up to 12 months, initially at up to 80 per cent of market rent and reviewed at six months. You need a permanent contract or a fixed-term one of 18 months or more, at least 25 hours a week. A single person gets a studio or one-bed, a family with one child two bedrooms and a larger family three. There is no secure tenure or appeal over the home offered, and Licensed staff judged able to afford private rent are not eligible. The school requests it for you.

How to apply

Government schools, including Victoria College and Jersey College for Girls, advertise on careers.gov.je, and many posts also appear on Tes. Create an account, upload a CV and set job alerts; interview invitations come by email. Adverts say whether you must already be "entitled for work"; if the status a post carries is unclear, ask before you resign.

Recruitment runs ahead of the term. In October 2026 Hautlieu and Victoria College advertised permanent posts closing on 1 November 2026, for starts in January or Easter 2027. Private schools advertise on their own websites and on Tes.

Teachers from outside the UK

If you trained abroad, you need QTS, which the Department for Education awards in England. In October 2026 its service asked for a degree equal to a UK bachelor's, recognition as a teacher at level 6 or equivalent where you trained, completed induction, qualification to teach children somewhere between 5 and 16, and at least nine months' teaching experience. Applicants from some countries also need a secondary specialism in maths, science or one of several languages, such as French, German or Spanish. There is no fee, and the department says it assesses 90 per cent of applications within 12 months, so start early.

British and Irish citizens need no work permit; most others do. Under the policy updated in January 2026 the employer applies and pays, permits run for up to three years at first, and you need English at B1 or above. Education roles also need criminal record certificates from every country you lived in for over 12 months in the last ten years, a UK DBS check, two years' relevant experience and vetted qualifications. Allow about three weeks for the permit and three for the visa; family can join only if the permit runs over 12 months.

Pay against the cost of living

These figures use 2026 Jersey rules for a single person with no allowances, before pension contributions; our tax guide explains the calculation.

Our October 2026 snapshot of asking rents put a one-bed flat at roughly £1,300 to £1,700 a month (an estimate; Numbeo's crowd-sourced central St Helier average was about £1,380 on 28 October), or roughly 41 to 53 per cent of a newly qualified teacher's take-home, which is why key worker housing matters in the first year. You also pay the full cost of GP visits for your first six months; see our healthcare and cost of living guides.

Frequently asked questions