Education Information Team
Email: census@devon.gov.uk
Date: 18th October 2024
Dear Colleagues,
DfE School Workforce Census: Thu 7th Nov Return by: Fri 15th Nov
The statutory School Workforce Census takes place on Thursday 7th November. We strongly advise schools to do a dry run prior to this date to identify queries with your data. Devon Guidance notes for LA Schools using SIMS.net are available via: School Census and School Workforce Census – Support for schools and settings (devon.gov.uk)
Changes to data items for 2024
Sex has replaced gender – the DfE advise that ‘sex’ is the sex recognised in law, as recorded on a birth certificate or gender recognition certificate. This will be the same value that is reported to the HMRC, as legal sex can affect pension ages or National Insurance contributions. Software suppliers can map previous values of ‘Gender’ to the new field of ‘Sex’, but should alert data suppliers that this change has been made. Schools and local authorities will not be asked by the department to re-obtain sex information from staff.
For further details on data items please see the DfE Workforce collection guidance available at School workforce census: guides – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
SIMS users – Fileset
Schools must have upgraded to version 7.218 or above and must have imported the most up to date fileset – 2804 at the time of publication. If you are a hosted school, Scomis will apply filesets automatically for you. If you encounter any difficulties please contact Scomis on 01392 385300. Non hosted schools will need to download the filesets from the Scomis website and apply themselves (Autumn 2024 – Fileset 2800 series – School Census – Frequently Asked Questions (scomis.org)).
Teacher Pay Ranges
The DfE have not yet published School Teachers Pay and Conditions for 2024, this is due to be released early November 2024, after a period of consultation with statutory consultees. Pending the outcome of the consultation period, the Teachers Pay and Conditions, which will be effective from 1st September, will provide for a 5.5% increase to all pay and allowance ranges.
Further information can be found here; Pay award update – teachers and support staff (September 2024) – Support for schools and settings (devon.gov.uk). Once published the STPC document will be available from School teachers’ pay and conditions – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
As teacher pay generates a large number of queries in the census we recommend schools check their pay ranges in sims to ensure they are correct before running a return.
Missing Contracts
Each year a significant number of schools upload members of staff without contracts. When producing the census in sims, please run the Summary Report and check Table A which states whether you have members of staff without a contract. If there are, check the Workforce Member Area Details Report to identify the member of staff (there will be an “x” in the Contracts column in “snapshot on census day”). If they should be included in the census please add a contract or Service Level Agreement. If not, please exclude them from the census (eligible for SWR tick box).
COLLECT Credibility reports
The DfE have produced a range of credibility reports in COLLECT to help schools check their data. A summary from these credibility reports will be included in the Education Information Team’s data checking report that will be sent to schools. This will indicate any data that needs to be checked and any additional credibility reports that the school needs to run in COLLECT. As schools are responsible for accurate submissions these reports should be run and queries should be investigated and resolved.
EDIT School Workforce Census Checking Service – School Reports
As you may be aware the Education Information Team undertake a number of quality checks. Any queries will be listed in our ‘Workforce Census Checking Service – School Report’, which will be emailed to your school for your attention. The report will provide details of any queries along with guidance on what action needs to be taken.
Uploading Files to COLLECT via DfE Sign-in Portal
We are aware, that some schools, have in the past encountered difficulties with their COLLECT access. We therefore ask that you check your COLLECT access by logging in to the DfE Sign in Portal as soon as possible. If you encounter difficulties logging in click on the ‘Having problems’ link on the webpage.
Further Guidance
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 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workforce-census
Scomis maintain a School Workforce Census Bulletin website which has latest information on known issues, changes and filesets: School Workforce Census Bulletin 2024 – 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)