School Workforce Census – Statutory Return Autumn 2023
Frequently Asked Questions
This has been split into the following sections:
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Who to Include
Who to Include
General Rules
Teachers and Support Staff need to be included in the School Workforce Census (SWC) as a named record (i.e. included in your Personnel system) if they are in regular service. This is defined as continuous service of one month (28 days) or more, either under a specific contract or under a service agreement.
Exceptions (not to be included):
- Finance officers on a Service Level Agreement (but record on Third Party Headcount if in school on 2 November)
- Advisory Teachers on a Service Level Agreement (but record on Third Party Headcount if in school on 2 November)
- ScoMIS IT Support Technicians (this information will be sent to the DfE via a central file)
- Governors and Clerk to Governors
- Voluntary Staff
- Staff employed at Childrens Centres (except where an element of their time is for the maintained school sector)
- Staff employed in extended services, e.g. breakfast club (except where an element of their time is for the maintained school sector)
- Peripatetic Teachers whose contract is with parents (If their contract is with the school they must be included)
- Support Staff not employed by the school or LA. (These are only included on SWC in Third Party Headcount if in school on the census day)
- Exam invigilators (unless they meet the regular service criteria)
A more extensive list is available in Annex 1 of the Devon Annual School Workforce Census guidance.
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Scope for Inclusion
Q. Do tutors coming into a school to lead the national tutoring programme need to be included in the workforce census? If so, should they be added with a service agreement or included in the occasional teacher on census day?
A. yes, tutors on the national tutoring programme should be recorded in the workforce census. Where they have a contract for 28 days or more then a school should complete individual level data for them, as either a teacher or a non-teacher. If their contract is for fewer than 28 days then if they’re a teacher they should be recorded as an occasional teacher, if they’re not a teacher they should be included in the third-party support staff headcount if they are employed via a third-party service agreement.
Q. Do we count staff employed in Breakfast Clubs and After School Clubs and staff in Children’s Centres as some of these may be on the school’s personnel system and some of them will be staff employed by the LA? Do we count Outreach Workers who are employed by Health Authorities?
A. Breakfast Clubs and After Schools Clubs – staff involved exclusively in these are not in scope, unless the activities are seen as an integral part of the standard curriculum. In most cases these are extended services and therefore not in scope. Children’s Centres and Early Years Settings (e.g. pre-schools) are out of the scope. Health workers – the general rule is to look for a ‘best-fit’ to the roles. If you can’t find a best fit then the role is probably out of the scope.
Q. Are Children’s Centres in scope for SWC?
A. Surestart, day care centres and children’s centres are not in scope. LA maintained nurseries are in scope. If staff work across more than one of these establishments they are in scope for the portion of time they are working in the LA maintained nursery schools. For example, a teacher working 0.5 FTE in an LA maintained nursery and 0.5 FTE in a Surestart or children’s centre would only count as a 0.5 FTE member of staff for SWC purposes.
Q. Most Children’s Centres operate on school premises although staff are not paid for by schools. These staff don’t appear on the staffing part of the Pupil Census and are not usually involved in teaching/supporting pupils in the LA’s maintained schools. Are they in scope for SWC?
A. If staff working at the Children’s Centres are not involved in teaching or working with pupils at the maintained school and are not paid for by the school then they are not in scope for SWC. The fact that the centres are physically situated on school premises is immaterial.
Q. We have taken over a pre-school which is now part of our foundation unit. How do I include the staff? (Note: School Workforce should only include staff who teach or support the school.)
A. Only include the FTE of the staff that will apply to pupils in Reception. If you have an LA designated Nursery Unit and these pupils were included on your School Census then include the appropriate staff in the Workforce Census. If not, staff (or a proportion of staff) will need to be excluded. You will need to email census@devon.gov.uk to adjust this information for you.
Q. What role should be used for Admin Officers? Administrator is lumped with a clerk and seeing as there are about 3 or 4 grades different between these, this would not reflect the true workforce of a school – should we use Other?
A. This is about the nature of work carried out by staff, not the office hierarchy, choose whichever role fits best. Other possibilities include bursar, school secretary, finance officer and office manager.
Q. Do school crossing patrol staff need to be included?
A. School crossing patrols do not need to be included.
Q. Are home-to-school transport people in scope?
A. There is a role code for ‘escort’ so these people are in scope, however, drivers are not. What we are after are people who provide support to children e.g. pupils with SEN, escorting them between various activities or locations.
Q. Do we need to include an EWO who is based at one school but works in other schools as well? Do all the schools they work in include them on the return?
A. Education Welfare Officers only need to be included in your School Workforce Census if they are in school on census day in the Third Party Headcount section. However, if one school is employing the EWO directly that school will need to include them in the SWC as a named record.
Q. Do School Improvement Partners (SIPs) need to be included on the return?
A. SIPS do not need to be included. There is no separate code for them and it is unlikely that they meet the other criteria for inclusion – in regular service as SIPS or spending most of their time in schools.
Q. I have a member of staff with two contracts. She is a Teaching Assistant but also is a home-to-school escort. Only the TA contract needs to be included in School Workforce Census – how do I exclude her contract as a home-to-school escort?
A. Unfortunately sims doesn’t allow you to exclude a contract. In situations where you need the person to be included in SWC you will need to submit both contracts then email census@devon.gov.uk with details of the member of staff (with their NI number where possible) and the contract that needs to be excluded. Your data will be amended centrally.
Remember to add a note to your Summary and Details Reports as they will no longer match the data submitted to the DfE.
Q. Do I need to record cleaning staff on the census and if so, is it only a ‘Headcount’ on the census day only?
A. Cleaning Staff need to be recorded on your school workforce census in some way;
- If you employ them direct you will need to record them on your Personnel system and include them in the SWC as a named record.
- If you employ them from an agency (e.g. Glen Cleaning or Norse) you need to include those that are in on the census day (regardless of the time of day, i.e. before, during or after school) in the third party support staff headcount section.
Q. Is it right that QTS route is only required for newly qualified teachers?
A. QTS route is only required for teachers who, in the last year, have taken up their first position since qualifying (or who are working towards QTS). This does not have to be back filled for all other staff who were employed as teachers and who had QTS before the last census.
Q. Do I include Clerk to Governors?
A. No, these do not need to be included.
Q. The school has two security guards that patrol the school perimeter. They don’t enter the school or its grounds, nor do the school pay them (they’re employed and paid for by a private company).
A. No, security guards acting in the way described are not in scope for SWC.
Q. We record ‘Date of arrival’ in school for support staff which is not required in SWC. Is it OK to return it or should it be filtered out?
A. Collection of this item for support staff is not required for the SWC, it is an optional item. Your school should decide whether or not to filter it out
Q. Do I need to record an ‘origin’ for all my staff?
A. No, origin is only required for teacher and teaching assistant contracts starting from 1/09/09. It is optional for other members of staff.
Q. How do I find out the reason for leaving and destinations of the staff that have left?
A. Reason for leaving and destinations are only required for teachers, school business professionals and teaching assistants who left during the previous academic year. It can be collected via your normal procedures, e.g. an exit interview.
Q. What should schools enter if they are not given the reason for leaving or next destination of Agency staff?
A. Destination is an optional field for agency staff so schools are not required to enter this information. Should you wish to do so, you can select ‘Not Known’ if appropriate.
Q. We have some apprentices working in our schools, should they be included in the SWC?
A. If they have a contract for one month (28 days) or more and are fulfilling one of the roles listed in the role code set then they should be included for that role. If they are employed on a more casual or training basis, then they would not be included.
In addition to this, if the member of staff is an Apprentice Teacher, the DfE now have a post of ‘Apprentice Teacher’ which should be used.
Q. We have a Teacher previously employed under the ONE to ONE scheme and have continued to employ her in the school in a similar capacity.
A. If she is a teacher in regular service employed in the school she should be included in the workforce census. If she is only engaged for the ONE to ONE Tuition Programme then she should not be included. This is unlikely though as the funding for this programme ceased in 2011 as it was to be channelled into the national schools budget.
Q. Executive principal role is being introduced as a leadership role – not a Headteacher but a professional who advises on the curriculum, pedagogy, resources etc – I don’t think this is the same as the new executive head role – does a new role need to be considered?
A. The DfE have split the post of ‘Support Staff’ into three categories; ‘School Business Professional’, ‘Other Support Staff’ and ‘Leadership – Non Teacher’. You can use the ‘Leadership – Non Teacher’ post for this type of position and select a role that best fits the function carried out by the staff member.
Q. My school is part of a federation with an Executive Head who looks after three schools. Which one includes the Executive Head in their SWC?
A. The information on the Executive Head should only be returned by the school that holds the contract (normally the school that holds his/her information in Personnel). The other schools should not include the Executive Head in their return. However, any other staff shared between the schools in the federation need to have their time (and any other relevant information) apportioned between them (see next FAQ).
Q. We currently have a federation of 2 schools that are under one governance but have 2 establishment numbers. They share teachers and have the same head teacher, they use the same bursars, librarians etc. How should these be recorded?
A. The DfE advise that a return must be made for both the schools. Staff that are shared across the schools should be returned separately for each school showing the appropriate hours worked and f.t.e. hours per week for the time they spend working within that school.
This can easily be done if the 2 schools have separate Personnel systems. However, if the data is only held by one school you will need to provide a file with all staff for both establishments then send a listing by school of which staff relate to each establishment with the FTE for each.
The only exception to this is the Headteacher who should be recorded as an ‘Executive Head’ and only appear on the SWC for the school that holds his/her contract details. You will also need to provide snapshot data i.e. Occasional Teachers, Teacher Vacancies and Third Party Headcount data separately. Please email the details to census@devon.gov.uk, EDIT will then make the changes for you.
You would also need to provide Absence Data for each establishment separately.
Q. How do I record Teaching Staff temporarily Acting-Up?
A. If a member of staff is acting up within a school, e.g. a deputy head acting up to a head post, the contract for the acting up post should be returned and not the original substantive post. ScoMIS have previously advised that you should;
- Clone the original contract and add future dates
- End the original contract
- Enter the acting up contract to fill the gap between the ending of the original contract and the re-starting of the future contract
If you suspend a contract this could generate query 4745Q member of staff working more than 48 hrs, or query 6530Q Same person has total Full Time Equivalent ratio greater than 1.5. In these instances you will need to email census@devon.gov.uk with details of the suspended contract and date the suspension started. The contract will then be amended in COLLECT on your behalf.
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Privacy Notices
Q. Who receives them?
A. A Privacy Notice must be sent to anyone whose data is being included on the SWC for your school as a named record. Privacy Notices must also be issued to any other staff for whom the school has collected, processed, or stored data, in accordance with GDPR. Further information is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office here: Overview of GDPR, and Right to be informed
Q. Where do I find it?
A. The Department for Education Privacy Notice template for school employed staff is available from the following webpages.
Q. When are they issued and how often?
A. You need to issue them to all new members of staff. It is recommended that the privacy notice is included as part of an induction pack for pupils and staff, is made available on the school website for parents, and features on the staff notice board / intranet. Privacy notices do not need to be issued on an annual basis, where:
- new pupils and staff are made aware of the notices
- the notices have not been amended
- they are readily available in electronic or paper format
You will need to reissue them to staff if there are changes to the data collected, the uses to which the data will be put and/or the organisations it will be shared with. The DfE advise that it is important that any changes made to the way schools processes personal data are highlighted to data subjects. It remains best practice to remind parents of the school’s privacy notices at the start of each term (within any other announcements / correspondence to parents).
Q. Who issues them to central staff?
A. These will be issued centrally.
Q. Do Agency Teachers need a Privacy Notice?
A. If they have an SLA with the school their details will be included in the SWC and so they need to receive a Privacy Notice. Schools are required to ensure that they are issued to Agency Teachers.
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Personal Details
Q. Gender: We don’t understand how values other than male or female can be allowed. Surely the school should not be allowed to submit not known or not specified?
A. There are some cases where a person does not know their own gender hence the ‘not known’ option.
Q. Gender: in the school census which collects pupil data this item has changed to Sex, should it also be Sex for the Workforce Census?
A. No, the DfE have advised that the Workforce Census continues to be used the gender data item for 2023.
Q. Ethnic Code: Does NOBT (not yet obtained) mean asked for but not supplied or responded to, or does it mean not requested.
A. Ethnicity should always be requested for all members of staff. If staff refuse to supply their ethnicity then REFU (did not wish to be recorded) should be used. If the data has not yet been requested or entered then NOBT (not yet obtained) should be used.
Q. How do I record a member of staff with a disability?
A. In the member of staff’s record in sims, enter ‘Disabled’ in the ‘Are day to day activities substantially affected by physical or mental impairment’ field (located in 2. Personal Information).
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Contracts and Pay
Q. How do we treat changes in contracts? e.g. an employee has had additional hours or a new allowance or an increment between 1st April and 31st August, what are you expecting to be reported? Is it the situation as at the end of August? Or are you expecting one set of contract records for each change to the terms and conditions of employment?
One-off payments also present a problem, e.g. would you expect to get details of any one-off payments which were made in the previous term, or the previous year. How do we decide what is a ‘current’ one-off payment? By definition it will already be in the past and will not form part of the employee’s current contract.
A. All items (including pay) are collected as a snapshot at the time of the census. Therefore the employee’s current contract will be included and any other contract that you might have issued that ended during the previous academic year.
Additionally, non-pay items are collected at each census but only for contracts which have a start or end date during the previous academic year.
The pay details required for the census include the annual amount (or actual amount, depending on spot allowances) of all allowances paid since the previous census, i.e. for the November 2023 census, all additional payments from 04/11/22 to 02/11/23.
Q. We have a member of staff whose contract started on 1st November and we are getting error 4376 service agreements and temporary contracts that have lasted less than 28 days will be picked up in the next year’s census if they go on to last 28 days or more
A. This may appear for any non-permanent contract that started within 27 days of the census. It is not necessary to include it in the current census as it will be picked up on next year’s census. If this is the only contract for this member of staff, simply untick them to exclude them from the census. If they have another contract(s) that needs to be included, email the details of this one to census@devon.gov.uk requesting it be deleted.
Q. Is the additional payment amount included only if the additional payment is active on the census date when it comes to one-off payments?
A. All additional payment amounts should be included if the associated contract is active on the census date and the payment was made after the previous census date (03/11/22).
Q. Is a snapshot of the annual salary rate on the census date itself required, or a salary rate history?
A. Base pay should reflect the annual salary of a member of staff at the time of the census. It should not include any additional payments or allowances.
Q. Is Base Pay the same as Total Pay?
A. ‘Total Pay’ was renamed to ‘Base Pay’ to better reflect the underlying definitions.
Q. How are benefits in kind treated?
A. Benefits in kind are not included.
Q. If a teacher has a permanent full time appointment at school 1 but is seconded full time as temporary head of school 2 for one term (Jan to March), which school returns which information and how?
A. The teacher is recorded as seconded in school 1 (with a secondment absence record) and is returned as a head teacher in school 2.
Q. If a teacher has a permanent full time appointment at school 1 but then becomes a part time teacher at school 1 AND is seconded as a part time acting head at school 2, how is this returned?
A. Assuming the full time contract hasn’t been closed, it should be returned as seconded. The two part time contracts should also be returned with the appropriate hours etc on each. So in this example, the teacher will have 3 contract records returned: two from school 1 and one from school 2.
Q. Where do we record contracts linked to Pupils with EHCPs? We record an end date for administrative purposes and call the contract ‘Fixed Term’. Should they be counted as ‘Temporary’?
A. “Temporary” is used for all short term contracts without a fixed end date. “Fixed term” is used for contracts with a definite span and a fixed end date. In this case the contract has an end date and is called ‘fixed term’, then the advice is to return it as such.
Q. When we have contracts starting in August but the employee does not start in school until September, which census should the new starter be included on? e.g. for some employees their contract will start in August but they are not required to attend school until the first pupil day in September.
A. This depends on what the contract says – it is the contract start date which matters, not when they start actual work. If the contract start date is in August then it will appear in the return in the current November census.
Q. Is it correct that no payment data is required for any support staff (other than TAs)?
A. No, basic pay data is required for all support staff not paid a daily rate.
Q. We have a member of staff whose contract was due to finish on 12th April however this has been extended to September. Should we set up a new contract or can we just change the end date of the current contract?
A. The School Workforce Census would not see this as a new contract, merely an extension, so the end date of the current contract can just be changed.
Q. Is ‘Weeks per year’ the weeks actually worked as opposed to full time weeks? (For Part time staff?)
A. The ‘weeks per year’ is the number of weeks for which a person is paid, including any paid holiday. Where payment for contracted hours is spread over the full academic year, it is the contracted hours in weeks that needs to be recorded. For example, someone on a term time only contract would be contracted to work 39 weeks per year. If they receive their pay in 12 monthly instalments it’s still the 39 weeks that should be recorded
Q. How should a school record the situation where an individual is employed on a contract which has no fixed hours? e.g. flexible ‘zero hours’ contracts. For example, an individual works as a classroom teacher as and when the school needs them. They’re paid on a daily rate which is (loosely?) based upon a main scale spine point. It’s like a supply agency arrangement but the contract lies with the school.
A. The DfE advise that where staff are employed on flexible ‘zero hours’ arrangements and the hours worked cannot be determined they should not be included as a named record in the Workforce Census. If the teacher on a ‘zero hours’ contract is in school on census day they should only be included in the occasional teacher count.
Q. As the teachers’ pay awards have now been announced will they all need to be updated in schools before the SWF census date?
A. if your school has agreed the pay awards then yes they should. If the pay awards haven’t been ratified by governors as at census day they no, do not update the teachers pay in sims. The workforce census collects base pay as at census day. It also collects the date of the last pay review. So if the review has not taken place this year, the date of the previous year’s determination should be entered, the DfE will then be able to identify that the pay figure will be retrospectively uprated later in the year.
Q. Which date should we use in the date of the last pay review, the date the governors agreed the pay award or the date that it was backdated to commence?
A. The date supplied should be the date of the pay determination. For example, if the 2023 pay determinations were agreed on 15 Oct 2023 backdated to the 1 Sept 2023 and put into payment on 30 Oct then the 15 Oct 2022 should be recorded. If the 2023 pay determination has not yet been recorded and the 2022 pay determination salaries are to be reported in the 2023 School Workforce Census then that date should be recorded in the field.
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Qualifications
Q. If a teacher has been in post for many years and their teaching qualification says they have a teaching certificate, how should this be recorded?
A. ‘Certificate in Education or equivalent’ should be selected in this instance.
Q. If a teacher gained their degree some time ago and there isn’t a subject code to match the subject of that degree, what should I record?
A. If you cannot match it to one of the generic Z codes then please leave the subject blank – don’t try to find a ‘best fit’. The appropriate qualification should still be selected but do not enter a subject code.
Q. Do we need to include qualifications for Teaching Assistants?
A. Yes, qualifications at Level 4 (post A Level) or above are collected for all teachers, teaching assistants and non-teaching school leaders, whilst qualifications at Level 3 and above are collected for School Business Professionals.
Q. What about all the support staff? Surely schools will want to record their qualifications as well, if only to support their decisions to employ them.
A. Qualifications are not required in the Workforce Census for ‘other support staff’. Qualifications are collected from teachers, teaching assistants, school business professionals and non-teaching school leadersl. If schools record this information in their MI system then it may be returned as part of the census (schools will need to check with their MI systems supplier).
Q. Which qualification should be recorded, the one that qualifies them to teach or the highest qualification they hold?
A. All qualifications relevant to their engagement as a teacher, achieved at a level 4 or higher, should be recorded. For teachers with a PGCE, information on prior degree should also be recorded.
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Absence
Requirement: Absences in the previous academic year (except Training Absences) for all Teachers and Teaching Assistants in regular service, employed directly by the school (optional for other staff).
Definition: As a general rule, absence is anything that takes a teacher or teaching assistant away from their ‘normal duties’
Q. What type of absences should I record and for whom?
A. Absence covers any activity or circumstance that takes a teacher or teaching assistant away from their usual duties (except for training).
The categories are: Sickness; Maternity/ Paternity leave; Other paid authorised absence e.g. compassionate leave; Paid absence for public duties; Secondment; Unauthorised Absence; Unpaid, authorised absence; Pregnancy Related.
The following should not be counted as absences for the purpose of SWC;
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- taking part in activities such as field trips
- days that are non-working days under a person’s contract
- PPA (planning, preparation and assessment) time
- INSET days
- NQT non-contact time
- Training
- Working at a consortium school or a Primary/Secondary linked school
- attending meetings that are part of an individual’s normal duties
Note: absence information is only required for teachers (including agency teachers) and teaching assistants in regular service. It is only necessary to provide the number of working days lost for sickness and pregnancy related absences.
Q. what’s the advice about COVID related absences for the workforce census? For example, if they are sick because they have COVID, or isolating either due to contact with someone or as being clinically vulnerable.A. for COVID related illness record absences as sickness. For any other COVID related absence, such as self-isolating or shielding, where the staff member is unable to work record them as ‘other paid authorised absence’, unless they aren’t being paid in which case use ‘unpaid authorised absence’.
Q. should members of staff working at home be recorded as absent?
A. No, where a staff member is working from home, whether for COVID related reasons or not, they should not be recorded as absent.
Q. Is it necessary to record absence for training?
A. This is not required for the SWC. However OFSTED might require that records are kept of all training that is undertaken. This could be electronic (i.e. recorded in SIMS.net) or you may prefer to keep a manual record.
Q. Are working days lost required for all types of absence?
A. No, working days lost are only required for sickness and pregnancy related absence. If schools wish to record working days lost for other types of absence, then you are free to do so.
Q. Does NQT non-contact time count as absence?
A. No, as this is part of their ‘normal duties’.
Q. Do teachers working together but out of their classrooms in school time, with their classes covered by supply staff count as absence?
A. It depends on what the teachers are doing – if it is part of their regular work then there will be no absence recorded.
Q. If a teacher is working at another school within a consortium or federation should this be recorded as an absence?
A. No, as teaching is part of their normal duties.
Q. If a teacher is under a disciplinary suspension which covers the census week how should this be returned with regards to contracts and absences? In SIMS there are start and end dates for suspension and free text for reason for suspension – do we need an extra absence category for suspension?
A. No extra absence category is required – disciplinary suspension should be recorded as an authorised absence, paid or unpaid as appropriate;
- OTH – other paid authorised absence (if the leave is paid) or
- UNP – unpaid, authorised absence (if the leave is unpaid)
Q. Does SEN non-contact time (half a day per week) for the SEN co-ordinator count as absence?
A. No, this is part of their normal duties within their regular employment so it is not counted as absence.
Q. How should schools record teachers who are on a) PPA time or b) INSET days for the purpose of recording attendance and absences of staff?
A. Neither PPA time nor INSET days should be recorded as absences as they are considered to be part of their normal duties.
Q. If a teacher went off sick at the beginning of June and still hasn’t returned to work at the time of the Census do I need to put 31/08/2023 as the last day of absence?
A. No, you should leave the last day field blank. The date should be entered once the period of sickness absence has finished and the teacher has returned to work. The fact that the last day field is blank will show that the absence is on-going and the last day will be picked up in a future census.
Q. If the deputy Headteacher is absent from the school to carry out some interviewing does this need to be recorded?
A. If the absence is for half a day or more and not considered to be part of the deputy headteacher’s normal duties, then it should be recorded as an absence, probably ‘other paid authorised absence’.
Q. How should absence be recorded if a member of staff is making a phased return to work after a period of long term sickness?
A. These staff should be recorded as absent for the periods when they would normally be working. The school will need to decide whether the absence is sickness absence or other paid authorised absence (may depend on HR policy).
Q. Should there be a separate code for career break?
A. No, career break would be covered by UNP – unpaid authorised absence.
Q. Do staff training days when pupils/students are not at school count as absence?
A. These are not absences and should not be recorded as such
Q. Support staff that have been given extra days’ holiday for long service – how should they be recorded?
A. Absences for support staff (other than TA’s) are not required for the School Workforce Census
Q. How should you record a member of staff who is only off sick on days when they are not employed?
A. This does not constitute a sickness absence as there are no working days lost. The census generates an error if there is a sickness absence with 0 working days lost.
Q. Deputy Head (or other teacher) moderating – covered by funding, how do they record this?
A. If this is part of their normal duties it is not regarded as an absence. If it is not part of their normal duties then the DfE have historically suggested that this is an ‘other paid authorised absence’.
Q. If a teaching assistant is due to work 6 hours and only works 4, missing the afternoon session, is she considered to be absent for the whole afternoon.
A. Yes, as a session is classed as half a day.
Q. If someone works only Tuesdays and Thursdays and are sick both those days, the system records absence as starting Tuesday and ending Thursday i.e. 3 days. Will this affect the return?
A. The length of absence should be picked up by calculating the number of working days lost which will be two. This needs to be input manually and is independent of the first and last day of absence fields.
Q. If a member of teaching staff works mornings only and is off, is the absence recorded as the working hours lost or as a whole day?
A. In the instance where a member of staff only works mornings and they are off sick on a morning, that would be recorded as 0.5 working days lost. Only absence of half a day or more should be recorded and working days lost are only required for sickness absence. If there are instances where the morning and afternoon sessions are not equal, each session should be counted as half a day.
Q. If someone is off sick during the school holiday period would those days during the holiday period count as working days lost?
A. Only days when the teacher or teaching assistant would have been working but was off sick should be included in the working days lost.
Q. A member of staff is absent as she is attending a pregnancy related hospital appointment. How should this be recorded?
A. Absences due to pregnancy related medical appointments or pregnancy related sickness should be record as PRG (pregnancy related).
Q. How should adoption leave be coded? MAT (maternity/paternity leave) or OTH (other paid authorised absence)
A. Adoption leave should be recorded as OTH (if the leave is paid) or UNP (if the leave is unpaid).Q. Suspension in SIMS can be for maternity leave. Should this be mapped to a different absence category e.g. OTH or should it be mapped as MAT (Maternity)?
A. Use ‘Maternity’ if the reason for absence is Maternity. Use the most appropriate of the other available codes if the reason is not maternity.
Q. Will we be recording ‘sickness’ as the absence code rather than any particular reason for sickness?
A. If it is a pregnancy related sickness it should be recorded as PRG. If the sickness is not pregnancy related it should be recorded as SIC (sickness). The reason for sickness is not collected for SWC.Q. Teacher is the trainer and not the trainee – is this an absence?
A. If a teacher is delivering training, then that would not be recorded as an absence.
Q. If the last day of absence is left blank for maternity leave why does this generate a query and why do I need to add a note?
A. The DfE would expect schools to know in most cases the return date for someone on maternity leave and if it isn’t then a note should be added to say the date is unknown.
Q. Does absence only include staff contracted to the school or does it also include people on Service Level Agreements?
A. Absence data is only required for all teachers and teaching assistants in regular service with contracts with the school. Absence information is optional for other staff there is no requirement for schools to record this information but if it is recorded it will be returned in the SWC.
Q. In a situation where a teaching assistant has to accompany a pupil to the hospital – what absence category should be used?
A. An absence is described as any activity that takes a member of staff away from their normal duties. If this is not considered part of the teaching assistant’s normal duties, it should be recorded as ‘other paid authorised absence’ as long as it is for at least half a day.
Q. If a teacher is absent from school as they are on secondment at another school should this be recorded as absence?
A. Yes, the member of staff would have an absence record of “Secondment”. However if the teacher is “acting up” in the same school, this is not regarded as an absence due to secondment, as the staff member is still working at the school.
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