Contact:
Chris Williams Schools HR Advisory Team Tel: 01438 844907 Email:christopher. williams@hertscc .gov.uk
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Fair Processing Guidance - School Workforce Census
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Information for Admin Staff

What is the School Workforce Census?
Why do we need the census?
Who will be included in the census?
What data will be included in the census?
What do you need to do now?

What is the School Workforce Census?

A central database that will record comprehensive data on all teachers and support staff.

Why do we need the census?

A single database will strengthen data security and improve the accuracy of data analysis for schools, HCC and the DCSF.

The census is also intended as a replacement for six existing returns:  618G, Secondary School Curriculum and Staffing Survey (SSCSS), Survey of Teachers' Pay (OME), Survey of Teacher Resignations and Recruitment (NEOST), the workforce sections of the ASC/ SLASC/ PLASC returns, and the Hertfordshire Vacancy Survey.

Who will be included in the census?

For the purpose of the census, the "school workforce" refers to teachers and support staff with regular service in the maintained sector.  Regular service is defined as continuous service of one month or more, either under a specific contract or under a service agreement.  The census also includes centrally employed staff.

For the census, "teacher" refers to individuals employed by the school or local authority and paid according to teachers’ pay and conditions.  "Teacher" also includes agency staff employed in posts paid according to teachers’ pay and conditions and centrally employed teaching staff, such as peripatetic and advisory teachers.

Finally, "support staff" refers to teaching assistants, as well as learning and pupil support staff such as HLTAs, special needs support staff, minority ethnic pupils support staff and bilingual assistants.  "Support staff" also includes matrons, nurses and other medical staff, librarians, IT technicians, technicians, administration officers and secretaries, bursars and other administration staff, premises staff and catering staff.

What data will be included in the census?

The census comprises six modules - Staff Details, Contract, Absence, Curriculum, Qualification and Vacancies.  Only the Staff Details and Contract modules apply to all three census returns.

Basic Staff Details include Teacher Number, Family Name, Given Name, Former Names, NI Number, Gender, Date of Birth, Ethnicity, QT Status and HLTA Status.

Contract details include Contract or Agreement Type, Start Date, End Date, Post, Role Identifier, Date of Arrival in School, Pay Scale, Regional Pay Spine, Spine Point, Salary Rate, Safeguarded Salary, Daily Rate, School Level, Hours Worked per Week, FTE Hours per Week, Weeks per Year and Additional Payments.

Absence details include First Day of Absence, Last Day of Absence, Working Days Lost, Absence Category and Payroll Category.

Curriculum details include Subject Code, Hours and NC Year Group.

Qualification details include Code, Class of First Degree, Country of Origin, Subject Code(s), Date of Award and Verification.

Vacancy details include Vacancy Post, Vacancy Subject, Vacancy Tenure, Vacancy Temporarily Filled and Vacancy Advertised.

• Word 2003, 105kb/1 page, 26/03/2008, data_items.doc

What do you need to do?

A number of pilot schools will be working with the LA on developing the methods used to produce the census ahead of the dry run for all schools in September 2009 enabling HCC to deal with anything unexpected and put relevant solutions in place.

For SIMS users there is an ongoing programme of training which you will benefit from attending run jointly by SITSS and FSS. This will take you through the Personnel 7 module which has been developed to enable SIMS to produce this census. Information about training events can be found on the “Training” section of the School Workforce Census area of the grid. This is especially important if you have agreed to be a pilot school.

For CMIS users unfortunately Serco have informed us that upgrades are not expected to be ready to allow it to do the census until November 2008. You will need to speak with your CMIS contact at Serco to see what training they are planning and when this will be. All information we receive regarding this will be put on the “Training” section of the School Workforce Census area of the grid.

Once you have received your training and the system you are using has been upgraded there is no reason why you can not start to populate the fields with the required data so that by the time of the census the work required is not substantial.

If you do not use Serco payroll (via the county contract) you will need to check with the Head and/or whoever deals with this within the school to see if they are able to provide the contract module information as described above.

You will need to inform your Head if the PC used to run either SIMS or CMIS is due to be replaced, the guidance we are giving is that if the PC is 5 years old or more then it should be replaced. If it is 4 years old then the school need to think about replacing it. If it is 3 years old then the school will need to think about replacing it in the next couple of years.

Please see below for the census schedule. 

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