HGfL: School workforce training and development: 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.

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.

What is our current position?

Within Hertfordshire we have a range of companies providing payroll services to our schools. Most use Serco Solutions our business partner for payroll, this uses SAP. For those schools using this service we are currently proposing that we will provide the contract module information on their behalf. For those that don’t you will need to liaise with your provider to ensure that they can provide the information required in the correct format. The link below provides technical information on the way in which this data needs to be transmitted, including the appropriate fields and format.

The alternative to providing this information in this manner is to input all of your contract data into your MIS system.

With regard to Management Information Systems (MIS) the majority of Hertfordshire schools use SIMS. For these schools Capita has produced suitable updates primarily in the form of Personnel 7 (P7) so that it may be used to do this return once SIMS has been populated; Schools IT Support Service (SITSS) are installing upgrades across the county currently with priority given to our pilot schools. For those using CMIS the appropriate upgrades are expected to be in place by November 2008, at which point it will also be able to provide information required for the return once populated.

Training sessions are being arranged for schools who buy Schools IT Support Service (SITSS) and Financial Services for Schools (FSS) support services for staff that will be completing this return on SIMS and we would actively encourage all schools to facilitate the time to allow these relevant individuals to attend. Details of these training sessions can be found on the Grid on the School Workforce Census page in the section simply titled “Training”.

All School Workforce Census submissions are to be sent to the HCC data collection team in the same manner as for the School Census, where it will be validated and then submitted to the DCSF.

A number of schools have agreed to be Pilot Schools; these schools will work with us to develop successful mechanisms for completing and returning the Census. These schools will complete returns in January and May 2009 ahead of a dry run for the whole authority in September 2009 prior to the Census going live in January 2010. A full list of pilot schools that have agreed to take part in the Census in January 2009 is available to download in the Project Plan section.

What do you need to do now?

Work is still ongoing towards delivering this return but there are some things which can be done now which will make this census easier to manage; as mentioned earlier we would encourage all schools to seek training on the relevant MIS systems you are using, and where possible gradually start to input the data required once you have been upgraded. It is expected that schools will hold most of the required information already and in most cases will not struggle.

It is imperative that Fair Processing Notices are issued to all staff annually, much in the same way they are issued in advance of the School Census for pupils. These forms are found on the grid on under the following path School Admin » School Office & Admin » Data Protection & Freedom of Information. A link is provided here for your convenience;

These will need to be issued no later than June 2008 in order to give “fair notice”. It is advised that pilot schools issue this as soon as possible (a list of all pilot schools is available in the Project Plan section).

It would be prudent for those that use payroll providers other than Serco (via the county contract) to contact your provider to ensure that they will be able to supply the data you need from them.

The new upgrades being carried out to MIS systems will inevitably require more modern equipment for these programmes to be run on. As a rule of thumb if the PC on which SIMS or CMIS is run is over 5 years old then it will need to be replaced. If it is over 4 years old then you shall need to think about replacing it. If it is 3 years old then you will need to think about replacing it in the next couple of years.

For further information please click on the link below which will take you to all of the DCSF guidance and background information.

Heading 2	Heading 2
June 2008	All schools: Fair Processing Notices issued
December 2008	Pilot schools: Data input completed
January 2009	Pilot schools: Spring Census
May 2009	Pilot schools: Autumn Census
August 2009	All schools: Data input completed
September 2009	All schools. Dry run for live roll out: Autumn Census
January 2010	All schools. First live Census return: Spring Census

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