How Much Time Should I Plan To Spend On One-to-One Work?

You are going to have to find the balance that works for you. I think a well-balanced working week would probably be 1 day of constituency work to 2 days of Committee work and 2 days of States work, but the rhythm of the States is just not like that (and a five-day work week is just mythical!). Some weeks, Committee work will be all-consuming. Some weeks, you’ll never leave the States Meeting. And sometimes you’ll start helping a constituent on a matter so complex or heartbreaking that it eats up your day and keeps you awake at night.

I think it’s realistic to say that, for most people, constituency work is a smaller part of their workload than Committee and States work, even if you are very diligent and fully engage with everyone who contacts you. But the problems you encounter can be really difficult and time-consuming. There may be times where you simply can’t help, because of busy-ness or conflicts of interest or because it’s completely out of your sphere of knowledge or experience, and it’s OK to say so.