Annual Census

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The Annual census will replace the planned termly census from autumn 2010. The census will take place on 3rd November, 2011

Move to an annual collection from autumn 2010

The Department has decided to change the SWF from a termly to an annual collection, starting in Autumn 2010. This decision has been made in response to feedback that collecting SWF data three times a year is excessive and that Spring is not the best time for the largest collection of school workforce data.

LAs who make a full SWF return (complete data for all schools and centrally employed staff) authorised by the Department will not be required to make a 618g return. Keeping this schedule in place will also help schools and LAs in their preparations for the annual collection in Autumn 2010.

The annual collection will be an amalgamation of the data items specified in the termly pilot collections. Its scope will reflect the coverage of the termly collections and will not be expanded any further for Autumn 2010.

This change has been discussed in principle with software suppliers who have agreed to implement it subject to the technical specification being issued by October 2009. We are aware that there may be some concerns about the quality of data collected on an annual rather than a termly basis, but we are urging LAs to encourage schools to maintain their data on an event driven basis throughout the year to ensure the quality of the data, to keep the burden of submitting the return to a minimum, and to enable the data to be of value to schools and LAs themselves.

LAs were informed of the change at the Data Collection Sub-ICES events on 30 June and 2 July. Emails were also sent to our SWF contacts in LAs and academies on 16 and 20 July respectively. A letter was sent in the Department's weekly email to the Directors of Children’s Services on 23 July informing them of this change - see  the DfE's School Workforce Census: data collection schedule

When more information is sent by either the DfE or Capita we will update this section of the website.

Last updated: 11 November 2011