School Workforce Census (SWF)

Latest News

  • The next census will take place on the 21st January 2010. However the COLLECT live site will not be available to upload your returns until the 25th January.
  • The January 2010 census is the first statutory return. All schools must submit a return
  • The latest Sims.net update is available. This will pull in the information for the Spring 2010 census so schools will be able to perform dummy runs after they have performed this upgrade.
  • The COLLECT familiarisation site for spring 2010 is now available. The site can be accessed from the using collect software tab and used if schools wish to practice using collect before the live site is available. Please note that returns will need to be loaded and submitted to the live site in order to complete the census.
  • New – As always a new bulletin has been produced to update schools fully on the above changes – see bulletin updates for more

Welcome to the Wiltshire Council School Workforce Census web pages. This site will be used to keep schools up-to-date on the School Workforce Census requirements and timelines etc; and includes links to key documents.

The School Workforce Census (SWC) has been commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). Submission of the School Workforce Census return is a statutory requirement on schools and Local Authorities, by virtue of regulations SI2007/1264 made under Sections 113 and 114 of the Education Act 2005.

Rationale and Benefits

The School Workforce Census (SWC) was conceived as a replacement for a number of existing data collection surveys - and will thus retain information on all school workforce personnel in a single, reliable database. In addition to school teachers, the Census will collate data on support staff with regular service at one or more schools in the County.  

The majority of data to be collected through the SWC is that which many schools already hold and use. It is believed that the Census will make school databases more accurate; improve data security; and enhance data analysis conducted by both the local authority and DCSF. 

By putting the School Workforce Census on a statutory basis, schools and local authorities: i) are protected from any legal challenge that they are breaching a duty of confidence to staff members; and ii) do not need to obtain consent for the provision of information from individual members of the workforce (They must, however, meet their obligations to Data Subjects under the Data Protection Act).

There are significant benefits to both schools and local authorities from this rationalisation, both in terms of reduced efforts to provide data and the ability to analyse data with more flexibility. For example, the data will support the Local Authority with a number of human resource strategies – e.g. the aggregate data will provide staff turnover rates; and enable age profiles to be produced of both teaching and support staff, disaggregated for example by gender, ethnicity, role etc.

Contact Details

Email: thomas.cash@wiltshire.gov.uk
Telephone: 01225 718208
Fax: 01225 713172
Postal Address:
School Workforce Analyst
Shared Services,
Wiltshire Council
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN


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Last updated: 4 March 2010