Arbor School Workforce Census 2024 guidance
Here’s your update on the latest guidance for the 2024 School Workforce Census from Arbor.
What is the Workforce Census?
The Workforce Census (sometimes abbreviated to SWC or SWFC) is a statutory requirement for all state-funded schools in England to complete and submit once a year. Independent schools and schools in the Isle of Man do not need to complete this Census.
For two weeks before the day specified by the DfE as Census day, Arbor allows you to carry out what we call a ‘dry run’.
- The dry run lets you generate a mock Census and work through clearing the errors and completing gaps in required data.
- The Census and dry runs can be generated as many times as you wish.
- When you do run your Census, Arbor will output data as if it were Census day. For example, staff who have joined your school after census day would be excluded.
Unless specific instructions are given by your local authority, you do not have to submit the Census on census day. The DfE sets a Census deadline, which is visible on your Census page.
Important Key Dates
| Key Dates | What you need to do |
|---|---|
| Census Dry run is now open |
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| Census Day is Thursday 7thNovember 2024 |
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Census Submission Deadline is Friday 6th December 2024 Unless told otherwise by your LA |
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Changes this Census
There are three changes this year:
- The Gender field has been replaced by Sex in Arbor. Please see our guidance here: Sex, Gender and Gender Identity in Arbor and statutory returns. Schools can choose to record Gender Identity but this is not returned in the census. Please note that the Census Summary (e.g Table A) will still refer to Gender.
- You can record Positions with the Position Category (also referred to as Post) of School Business Professional (SBP). Anyone with this Post will need their Professional Qualifications recording, and a Destination and Leaving reasons when their contracts end: Set up your School Business Professionals (SBP) for the Workforce Census
- There's a new flag to identify members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) - this can be input while completing your census.
For full guidance from the DfE on what data your school must return in the census, Click here
Below are some useful links for completing your School Workforce Census
Preparing for the School Workforce Census
Click here
School Workforce Census Check List
Click here
Additional Guidance from the DFE
Click here
Our Census Webinars and videos
Join one of Arbor’s live census webinars to see a demo of how to complete your census. Click here to sign up for the next session, or here to watch back recordings of our past webinars.
We've also got some quick videos for filling in specific data and errors - click here to watch.
