Bulletin 2 and Known Issues
Date: 30th October 2023
School Workforce Census Latest Information
- Consolidated Database Patch 4 and Fileset 2506
Scomis have advised that consolidated database patch 4 is being applied upon request only as it will be included in the Autumn Release update. If you wish to have the patch applied please contact the Scomis service desk.
Fileset 2506 is now available on the Scomis website. Scomis advise that the fileset will not be applied automatically but can be downloaded via their webpages Autumn 2023 – School Census/SWC Census – Fileset 2506 – Frequently Asked Questions (scomis.org)
- Known Issues
Leaver destination codes and descriptions
ESS advise that the DfE’s final version of destination codes and description changes is not in line with the lookup changes ESS applied in consolidated patches 2 to 4 (CDP). To resolve this, ESS will provide the lookup changes via CDP 5 and the DfE validation file changes via Fileset 2506.
ESS recommend that CDP 5 be applied shortly before Fileset 2506 is imported.
School Business Professional qualifications
ESS advise that there is a discrepancy with the coding of two of the new qualifications for School Business Professionals. They advise that the DfE common basic dataset (CBDS) indicates the following descriptions for two qualifications;
- Z208: Level 4 SBP Apprenticeship
- Z209: Level 4 Diploma School Business Management (SBM)
But the DfE workforce census guide has the descriptions the other way round;
- Z208: Level 4 Diploma School Business Management (SBM)
- Z209: Level 4 SBP Apprenticeship
As software suppliers are obliged to follow the CBDS ESS have asked the DfE to correct their workforce census guide so that its in line with their dataset. At the time of publishing this comms the DfE guide hasn’t been updated.
4990 Where Last Day of a sickness absence is provided then the number of Working Days Lost must be greater than zero
Following requests from customers ESS allowed working days lost of 0 to be reported in the census so that validation error 4990 could identify the staff absences where the school had not indicated the number of working days lost.
Where working days lost were above 0 but below half a day as specified by the DfE, the method that ESS used was to round down that fraction of the day to zero and then exclude them. This however results in error 4990 being triggered which the school can only avoid by removing the fraction of a day that has been lost.
Instead of schools having to round down to exclude fractions of a day that should not be reported in the census, ESS will provide a fix to directly exclude them. ESS advised that this is fixed as part of CDPSu4 and Fileset 2506.
- Further Guidance
Our School Workforce Census bulletin, containing information on new items and changes to existing items is available via Workforce Census – Bulletin 1 – Support for schools and settings (devon.gov.uk)
Our School Workforce Census guide is available via School Census and School Workforce Census – Support for schools and settings (devon.gov.uk)
The DfE School Workforce Census guide is available via School workforce census: guides – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Scomis School Workforce Census Bulletin website which has latest information on known issues, changes and filesets is available via School Workforce Census Bulletin 2023 – Frequently Asked Questions (scomis.org)
If you have any queries, or if this is your first workforce census, please email census@devon.gov.uk and someone from the Education Information Team will contact you to provide support and guidance.
Kind Regards
Education Information Team (EdIT)