School workforce census: dates and who to include

Find out when to complete your school workforce census return and which members of staff you should include.

Last reviewed on 25 August 2023See updates
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 45875
Contents
  1. The school workforce census happens annually
  2. Who to include
  3. Who not to include
  4. What about staff working in multiple schools?

The school workforce census happens annually

The 2023 census date is 2 November and the deadline for returning your census file to the DfE is 1 December

Maintained schools: you'll likely be required to submit files to your local authority (LA) before the DfE's annual deadline, so check with your LA when you need to do this each year.

Multi-academy trusts (MATs): you'll need to submit a separate census return for each academy in your trust.

Read the DfE's guide to submitting data for more details.

Who to include

The census covers all full-time and part-time staff employed by your school (including pupil referral units).

MATs: this includes staff employed by your trust who work in schools that are part of your trust.

There are 2 levels of data collection

School workforce level data for all staff members who are in 'regular service' at your school. This means submitting