School Workforce Annual Census data: background, quality and methodology information

The School Workforce Annual Census (SWAC) is an electronic collection of individual level data on the school workforce in local authority-maintained settings in Wales. The collection was introduced in 2019 and collects information in November of each year.

The SWAC collection is split into two parts: SWAC school and SWAC pay, HR and absences. 

The SWAC School return is completed by local authority-maintained school settings in Wales, including Pupil Referral Units (PRUs). Schools record and update data on the workforce throughout the year in their Management Information System (MIS) software. The majority of data items collected in the SWAC School return are snapshot data items as at the census date. This means they reflect the workforce at Census date. Recruitment, retention and supply modules were introduced for the 2021 collection. These modules collect historical information over the academic year prior to the census date. The SWAC School return collects information on workforce:

• characteristics (sex, ethnicity, national identity etc.)
• roles
• Welsh language (Welsh ability and teaching/working through the medium of Welsh)
• subjects taught
• recruitment and retention
• supply

The SWAC Pay, HR and Absences return is completed by local authorities, as well as schools which have opted-out of payroll and/ or human resource (HR) service level agreements with their local authority. The data is maintained throughout the year in their HR and payroll systems.  Unless stated below, data items collected in the SWAC Pay, HR and Absences return are snapshot data items as at the census date. This return collects information on workforce:

• post
• pay range
• base pay
• Full-time equivalence (FTE)
• allowances (received in the year to Census date)
• absences (that have occurred in the previous academic year)

The data is collated into an electronic SWAC return and submitted to the Welsh Government through the Data Exchange Wales Initiative (DEWI), a secure online data transfer system developed by the Welsh Government. Various stages of automated validation and sense checking are built into the process to ensure a high quality of data to inform policy making.

The privacy notice for school workforce members covered by SWAC provides details about what information is collected and what we do with their information.

Further information on SWAC, including technical completion notes, are available on the School Workforce Annual Census page.

Accuracy

The statistics in this release are based on information collected in the sixth SWAC collection and are published as official statistics (ONS). This data has undergone various stages of automated validation and sense-checking have been built into the process to ensure the collection of high-quality of data to inform policy making. A final validation period is intended to be introduced for future collections.

In 2019, 4 of 1,502 schools did not submit a SWAC school return (99.7% return rate). For these schools, the breakdown of staff by role was estimated using information collected for schools with similar characteristics in the same local authority, and information collected in the Pupil Level School Census (PLASC). Other workforce information (e.g. age, sex) has been recorded as ‘unknown’. For all years since 2020, 100% of schools submitted a SWAC School return.

In 2021, Rhondda Cynon Taf was unable to submit complete allowance payment amounts as part of the SWAC Pay, HR and Absences return. Allowance payment amounts for this local authority have been excluded from the published figures for that year.

In 2021, Wrexham was unable to submit teacher sickness absence data as part of the SWAC Pay, HR and Absences return.

SWAC school return

Three new fields were introduced to the SWAC School collection in 2020: FTE, Status and Third Party. The ‘FTE’ field was introduced to replace ‘hours worked per week’. The Status field was introduced to record individuals on long-term absence (e.g. maternity, secondment). To avoid overcounting (counting those absent on Census date and those covering that absence), individuals on long-term absence and/or zero FTE have been excluded from published figures for 2020 to 2024. The ‘Third Party’ field was introduced to identify non-local authority staff (e.g. staff employed through supply agencies) to support the validation of data between SWAC returns. For this reason, SWAC School figures for 2020 to 2024 are not directly comparable with 2019.

Tables 1 and 2 show total staff numbers collected in SWAC School between 2019 and 2024.

Source: SWAC School

. Data item not available.

Source: SWAC School

. Data item not applicable.

Description of Tables 1 and 2: Tables 1 and 2 show the breakdown of the headcount of teachers and support staff included in the SWAC School returns and how many are excluded from the published figures due to being recorded as being on a long term absence or having a zero FTE. Overall, the published total count of individuals included in the SWAC School returns for teachers increased between 2020 and 2021, but has been decreasing each year since. The headcount of support staff increased between 2020 and 2022 before falling in 2023 and again in 2024. These patterns may be due in part to the Welsh Government funding provided to schools under the “recruit, recover and raise standards” (RRRS) plan to recruit extra staff to support pupils during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Welsh Government provided the RRRS funding to schools during the COVID pandemic and the recovery period up to 2023-24, though the amount distributed decreased since the initial funding in 2020-21. Most of the staff funded as part of the RRRS scheme should have been employed on a temporary basis and this is impacting the reported changes in school workforce. Further information on the RRRS funding is available in the Evaluation of the Recruit, Recover and Raise Standards (RRRS) Programme.

Definitions

SWAC school: roles

There are three measures used to show the distribution of the school workforce: headcount, full-person equivalent (FPE) and full-time equivalent (FTE). Please see below a definition of each of these measures.

Headcount

The headcount is a count of individuals in their most senior role. At the local authority level, individuals are counted once for each local authority they work in. At the Wales level, individuals are counted once, regardless of how many local authorities they work in. For this reason, the local authority breakdown may not sum to the Wales total.

Full-Person Equivalent (FPE)

The FPE shows the proportion of each individual’s working time they spend in each role and local authority. The sum of the local authority breakdown is equal to the Wales total.

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)

The FTE shows the proportion of each individual’s  full-contract time they spend in each role and local authority. Like the FPE, the sum of the local authority breakdown is equal to the Wales total.

Here is a worked example to show the difference between the three measures (at the Wales level).

A teacher works 2.5 days a week. For 1 day a week they work as an Assistant headteacher and for the remaining 1.5 days, they work as a classroom teacher.

In the Headcount, this individual would be counted as 1 in the Assistant headteacher category (Headcount sums to 1).

In the FPE, this individual would be counted as 0.4 in the Assistant headteacher category and 0.6 in the classroom teacher category (FPE sums to 1).

In the FTE, this individual would be counted as 0.2 in the Assistant headteacher category and 0.3 in the classroom teacher category (FTE sums to 0.5).

While the FPE and FPE are directly comparable, these measures cannot be directly compared to the headcount.

SWAC school: Welsh language

Teachers record their Welsh linguistic skills measured against the Welsh Language Competency Framework for education practitioners. Figures below provide a measure of how many teachers have Welsh language skills at intermediate, higher or proficient as this indicates that the individuals possess the necessary skills to teach through the medium of Welsh but some may need to develop their skills and confidence in using Welsh in their work. More detailed information including number of staff by Welsh language ability level is available on StatsWales.

SWAC school: subjects taught

Information on subjects taught relates to a typical two-week timetable. The published figures include teaching delivered to pupils in years 7 and above only. The three measures available for this data are: headcount, Full-Person Equivalent (FPE) and hours.

Headcount

In the subject breakdown, teachers are counted once for each subject they teach. In the total, teachers are counted once, regardless of how many subjects they teach. This means the sum of the subject breakdown will not equal the total.

Full-Person Equivalent (FPE)

The FPE shows the proportion of each individual’s teacher’s teaching time they spend teaching a particular subject.

If a teacher spent half of their teaching time teaching English and half of their time teaching Drama, in the FPE, they would be counted as 0.5 against each subject and as 1 in the total. In the headcount, this teacher would be counted as 1 against each subject and 1 in the total. If an individual spends a high proportion of time teaching a particular subject, they may be more likely to be a specialist in that subject.

Hours

This reflects the total hours taught in the two-week timetable. All three measures are directly comparable.

SWAC pay, HR and absences return

The SWAC Pay, HR and Absences return is typically completed by the local authority. Most members of the workforce will be recorded in both collections, however there are some exceptions. Teachers that are centrally employed by the local authority will be recorded in the SWAC Pay, HR and Absences return but not the SWAC School return. These individuals are recorded in the ‘Other’ sector on StatsWales. Additionally, individuals employed through supply agencies or other third-party organisations may be recorded in the SWAC School return but not the SWAC Pay, HR and Absences return. For these reasons, headcount and FTE figures published on teachers‘ pay and sickness absence will differ from those from the SWAC School return.

Figures published from the SWAC pay, HR and absences return exclude those:

• with zero FTE or base pay
• recorded in a non-teaching post
• paid on a daily rate
• on a service level agreement with the local authority
• without an open contract at Census date ^{[footnote 1] [footnote 2]}

Additionally, figures relating to teacher sickness absence exclude absences that:

• were not opened or closed within the academic year ^{[footnote 3]}
• lasted less than 0.5 or more than 195 working days

SWAC pay, HR and absences: teachers by pay range

Headcount

Individuals are counted once for each pay range they are paid on (this differs to the headcount for SWAC School data where individuals are counted in their most senior role only). In the total, individuals are counted once, regardless of how many pay ranges they are paid on. For this reason, the sum of the breakdown may not equal the total.

FTE

Individuals are counted for the proportion of full-contract time they are paid on a particular pay range. Where an individual holds multiple contracts on the same pay range, the FTE has been summed. Teachers that are centrally employed by the local authority will be recorded in the SWAC pay, HR and absences return but not the SWAC school return. As part of the SWAC HR, Pay and Allowances return FTE shows individuals counted for the proportion of full-contract time they are paid on a particular pay range and will differ to the FTE figures for teacher characteristics data from the SWAC School return.

SWAC pay, HR and absences: allowances

Allowances information relates to allowances received in the year to Census date.

Headcount (and proportion)

Individuals are counted once for each allowance type they receive. Individuals recorded as receiving multiple payments for the same allowance type have been counted once. In the total, individuals are counted once, regardless of how many allowance types they receive. For this reason, the sum of the allowance type breakdown is not equal to the total.

Average (mean and median) payment amount

Average payment amount is based on the number of individuals that have received an allowance. Where an individual has received multiple payments for the same allowance type, the maximum payment amount has been extracted.

SWAC pay, HR and absences: sickness absence

Sickness absence data relates to absences recorded in the previous academic year. Information is only published for those that held an open contract, in the same local authority, at the previous Census date.

Headcount (and proportion)

The count of individuals that have taken a sickness absence. Where an individual has taken multiple absences throughout the year, working days lost have been summed. A teacher that took two sickness absences, each lasting 5 days, would be counted once in the ‘Between 6 and 10 days’ category.

Count of absences

The count of sickness absences that have been recorded. A teacher that took two sickness absences, each lasting 5 days, would be counted twice in the ‘5 days or less’ category.

Linking SWAC pay, HR and absences and SWAC school returns

Information relating to sector (for example, primary, secondary) is not collected in the SWAC pay, HR and absences return. To provide a sector breakdown of information collected in the SWAC pay, HR and absences return, records are linked on the National Insurance number and local authority code to the SWAC school return. If an individual works in more than one sector in the same local authority, information has been linked to the sector in which that individual works in their most senior role.

Post

This reflects the post a teacher is recorded against in the payroll data. It may differ to the staff roles collected in SWAC school which is based on the roles undertaken (on a permanent or temporary basis) at Census date.

Tenure (full-time and part-time)

In the teachers by pay range table published on StatsWales, the tenure split reflects an individual’s tenure on a particular pay range. If an individual holds multiple contracts on the same pay range, their tenure will reflect this (i.e. if a teacher holds two 0.5 FTE contracts on the main pay range they would be recorded as full-time). If an individual holds a 0.5 FTE contract on the main pay range and a 0.5 FTE contract on the leadership pay range, they would be recorded as part-time in each pay range category and the pay range total.

The tenure split is calculated differently for allowances and teacher sickness absence tables. Here, if an individual holds multiple contracts, the maximum FTE has been extracted. This means an individual that holds two 0.5 FTE contracts would be recorded as part time.

FTE is a snapshot data item that reflects an individual’s working pattern at Census date. As allowances data relates to the year to Census date, and sickness absence data relates to the academic year, the FTE may not reflect an individual’s working pattern at the time of receiving an allowance/taking a period of absence.

2024/25 teachers’ pay award

The teachers’ pay award for academic year 2024/25 was not finalised and implemented until after the SWAC census date in November 2024.

Due to the timing of the agreement of the teachers’ pay award not all local authorities were able to apply the pay award prior to submitting their SWAC return. As a result, figures on teachers’ pay do not fully reflect the pay uplift for 2024/25.

Further information

Written Statement: Teachers’ Pay Award 2024 (6 November 2024)

School Language Categories

The guidance for categorising schools according to Welsh medium provision has been updated. The aim of the new arrangements for categorising schools according to Welsh medium provision is to help local authorities and schools to plan their Welsh medium education provision in such a way that supports the Curriculum for Wales as well as the national goal of one million Welsh speakers, as set out in Cymraeg 2050. This is the first year that data using the new categorisation system has been published. The data is not comparable with the previous categorisation system.

Relevance

These official statistics in development are used both within and outside the Welsh Government. Some of the key users are:

• ministers and the Senedd Research in the Senedd
• members of the Senedd Cymru/Welsh Parliament
• education policy in the Welsh Government
• other areas of the Welsh Government
• Estyn
• the research community
• local authorities
• trade unions
• students, academics and universities
• individual citizens and private companies

These statistics are used in a variety of ways. Some examples of these are:

• provide evidence to the Independent Wales Pay Review Body (IWPRB) inform discussions and considerations as part of the annual teachers’ pay review
• resource allocation in the Professional Learning Grant
• advice to ministers
• to inform the education policy decision-making process in Wales including school reorganisation
• educational research

Comparability with PLASC

The Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) collects aggregated data on teachers and support staff at January of each year. The latest information on the school workforce, collected via PLASC, is available in the Schools' census results as at January 2024  statistical release and StatsWales. At this time, PLASC should continue to be used as the official source of statistics on the school workforce for trends over time. Once SWAC data has undergone full quality assurance, it will replace PLASC as the official source of school workforce statistics.

We have started to investigate the differences between school workforce data collected in PLASC and SWAC and intend to undertake more detailed analysis following the publication of 2025 PLASC data on 23 July 2025.

Comparison of SWAC and PLASC: qualified teachers

The differences between SWAC and PLASC headcount and FTE figures can be largely explained by the difference in scope of teachers included in the returns and by the Welsh Government funding provided to schools under the “recruit, recover and raise standards” (RRRS) plan to recruit extra staff to support pupils during the COVID pandemic and the recovery period up to 2023-24. All staff funded as part of the RRRS were employed on a temporary basis. SWAC includes staff who are employed on a contract of 28 days or more whereas PLASC includes staff employed on a contract of a term or more. In addition, SWAC is collected at an individual level and allows for the removal of duplication of staff working in multiple schools and staff who are on long term absence who may be included in PLASC data which collects teacher and support staff data at an aggregated level only. Therefore, it is not possible to rule out the duplication of some teachers and support staff in PLASC numbers.

Headcount

One key difference between PLASC and SWAC is the data collection process. There is limited validation of workforce data submitted in PLASC, whilst automated validation and sense-checking is built into SWAC. School workforce data collected through SWAC is therefore likely to be higher quality due to more robust data collection methods. Also, the two returns are collected at different points in the year, SWAC in November and PLASC in January, which may account for some of the differences seen.

Source: SWAC School return

. Data item not available.

In 2023/24, there were 25,060 qualified teachers in SWAC compared to the 26,465 recorded in PLASC. This difference may largely be due to better scrutiny and validation of SWAC workforce data. In SWAC, an error is triggered if an individual is recorded in a qualified teacher category without qualified teacher status. In PLASC, it is not possible to determine if an unqualified teacher has mistakenly been recorded in a qualified teacher category.

The validations built into SWAC can also identify instances where individuals on long-term absence have been mistakenly recorded as present. Individuals recorded as being on long-term absence are then excluded from the published SWAC headcount. Although the PLASC technical completion notes specify that data should not be returned for individuals on long-term absence, it is not possible to determine whether there may be instances were data is returned for these individuals.

Full-time equivalents (FTE)

In 2023/24, the FTE of qualified teachers in SWAC was 23,400 compared to the 24,295 shown in the January 2023 PLASC.

Source: SWAC School return

. Data item not available.

This difference could also be explained by variation in how FTE is calculated in the two collections. The SWAC collection of individual level information provides greater consistency in analysing the data and requires that FTE values be submitted for each workforce member, with the FTE reflecting the proportion of full-contract time worked. The PLASC collection collects information on tenure (full-time/part-time) and hours worked. Where an individual is recorded as part-time, the number of hours worked is divided by 32.5 to give an indication of FTE. This method assumes that all full-contract time is equivalent to 32.5 hours, but this may not be true for every role. This means that an individual that works 20 hours a week, in a role that deems full-time equivalence to be 25 hours, would be recorded with an FTE of 0.8 in SWAC and 0.6 in PLASC.

Further analysis of the differences between workforce data in SWAC and PLASC will be undertaken following the publication of the latest PLASC data at the end of July.

Teacher recruitment and retention

Recruitment

The teacher recruitment and retention data modules were introduced to the SWAC collection in 2021. Prior to this recruitments and retention information had been collected as part of PLASC since 2007. As part of the review of school workforce information we collect and the aim to remove the duplication of information collected and reducing the burden and workload for schools and local authorities the teacher recruitment and retention elements were removed from the PLASC 2025 collection.

Retention

In 2023/24, SWAC recorded 1,315 teachers that had left the profession (excluding those that retired at normal retirement age). Comparatively, in January to December 2023, PLASC recorded a substantially lower figure of 1,004 and 756 in 2022. 

The increase will largely be due to the coverage of SWAC and the fact that it is a school workforce specific collection. In the 2024 SWAC collection, 81% of schools completed the teacher retention section. This compares to 73% of schools completing the teacher retention section in 2023 and only 37% of schools completing the teacher retention section in the PLASC 2023 collection.

Education Workforce Council (EWC)

The Education Workforce Council (EWC) is the independent regulator for the education workforce in Wales. The EWC publish data collected through the Register of Education Practitioners in the ‘EWC Annual Education Workforce Statistics for Wales’. The EWC register includes supply teachers, peripatetic workers and others who provide education or training in a school as well as other education settings. EWC data therefore provides an overview of wider education workforce supply in Wales. However, the EWC does not hold information on all school staff including some support staff categories such as administrative staff, business managers, technicians and librarians amongst others. The SWAC data gives a more detailed picture of teachers and support staff working in schools at Census date.

Comparisons with other UK nations

The Department for Education (DfE) publishes information annually from the School Workforce Census in England. Going forward, we will work closely with colleagues at DfE to better understand the similarities and differences between our datasets and improve the coherency of our statistics. We also intend to work with Scottish and Northern Ireland Governments to better communicate data on the school workforce for the UK as a whole. Please see below for more information on the school workforce across the UK:

England

School Workforce statistics for England

Scotland

Education statistics for Scotland

Northern Ireland

Education statistics for Northern Ireland

Respondent burden

The Code of Practice for Statistics advises public bodies that collect data that the burden for respondents competing collections should be proportionate to the benefits arising from use of the data collected. To understand the burden associated with SWAC collection, SWAC School respondents were asked to submit the hours taken to complete the return.

Source: SWAC School return

In 2019, the average (median) time taken to complete the SWAC School return was 8 hours, falling to 4 hours in 2020. In 2024, the median time taken to complete the return was 5 hours, unchanged since 2021. In 2024, support staff (a) accounted for 82.9% of the total time taken to complete the return. Teachers in leadership accounted for 8.0% of the time, a slight decrease on 2023 (9.8%).

Source: SWAC School return

[Note 1] Including business managers, data managers and administration staff.

Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) compliance check

In response to discussions and commitments agreed between Welsh Government and key stakeholders, including unions, the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and the Education Workforce Council (EWC) amongst others, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) were asked to complete a Compliance Check of SWAC against the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The OSR considered SWAC against the ‘value’ pillar of the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into consideration the value of the information provided by SWAC that no other sources can offer. They found several strengths of the SWAC statistics as well as ways in which the quality and value of the statistics could be further enhanced. These included extending engagement to wider users to enable the gathering a wider range of views on the statistics which will help to maximise public value and continuing to investigate and explain differences to alternative data sources. We have expanded on the differences between the SWAC and PLASC data sources in this publication and will continue to engage with users and explore other data sources to inform future releases.

The OSR’s response following the compliance check of SWAC is available at: OSR compliance check of SWAC.

Timeliness and punctuality

The SWAC data in this release relate to Tuesday 7 November 2023.

DEWi was available for uploading files from 7 November 2023 and was originally due to close for the collection on 20 December 2023.  This was extended to the end of January 2024 to ensure that all schools and local authorities were able to complete and submit their SWAC return.

Accessibility and clarity

This report has been pre-announced and then published on the Statistics and Research section of our website.

National Statistics status

These statistics are not National Statistics. However, as far as has been practicable, they have been collected and validated in accordance with the pillars and principles within the Code of Practice for Statistics. We continue to develop the data collection and quality assurance process to improve the data.

Well-being of Future Generations Act

The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 is about improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of Wales. The Act puts in place seven wellbeing goals for Wales. These are for a more equal, prosperous, resilient, healthier and globally responsible Wales, with cohesive communities and a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language.

Under section (10)(1) of the Act, the Welsh Ministers must (a) publish indicators (“national indicators”) that must be applied for the purpose of measuring progress towards the achievement of the wellbeing goals, and (b) lay a copy of the national indicators before Senedd Cymru. Under section 10(8) of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, where the Welsh Ministers revise the national indicators, they must as soon as reasonably practicable (a) publish the indicators as revised and (b) lay a copy of them before the Senedd. These national indicators were laid before the Senedd in 2021. The indicators laid on 14 December 2021 replace the set laid on 16 March 2016.

Information on the indicators, along with narratives for each of the wellbeing goals and associated technical information is available in the Wellbeing of Wales report.

Further information on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

The statistics included in this release could also provide supporting narrative to the national indicators and be used by public services boards in relation to their local wellbeing assessments and local wellbeing plans.

We want your feedback

We welcome any feedback on any aspect of these statistics which can be provided by email to educationworkforcedata@gov.wales.

[1] This does not apply to allowances information.

[2] For teacher sickness absence, this relates to the previous Census date.

[3] For absences opened by month, absences that were closed (but not opened) within the academic year have been excluded.

Statistician: Gareth Thomas
Email: educationworkforcedata@gov.wales

Media: 0300 025 8099