Staff absences and working days lost in the School Workforce Census - Coming Soon !!

Applies to: Schools in England

Each autumn, the School Workforce Census collects staff absences from the previous academic year. Arbor derives this part of your return from the staff absences you've already recorded, following the DfE's census specification. This article explains which absences are reported, and how working days lost are worked out for the census.

Which absences are reported

Absences of less than half a day aren't reported to the DfE, whatever the absence category. The specification says that absences of less than half a day "do not need to be reported", and the DfE has confirmed, in response to a clarification question, that it expects them to be "filtered out from the return".

Training isn't reported either, as the specification states that "absence due to training is not required".

Absences aren't reported for staff whose only posts are Other support staff or Leadership non-teacher, as the census doesn't require absence for these staff. If a staff member has more than one post, for example a teacher who also has a support staff post, all their absences are reported.

You should still record absences for all staff in Arbor. This only affects what's sent in the census.

Working days lost in your census return

Your census return only includes working days lost for sickness and pregnancy-related absence. Arbor works this out for each day of the absence from the absence times and the staff member's working day, applying the specification's rules like this:

• An absence of less than half of the staff member's working day isn't reported.
• Where an absence runs over several days, a day on which less than half of their working day was missed isn't counted.
• From half up to three quarters of their working day counts as half a day.
• More than three quarters of their working day counts as a whole day.
• Staff contracted for less than half a day are never counted as more than half a day lost for each day of absence.

This means the working days lost in your census return may look different from the figures you see in Arbor. That's expected. Working days lost in Arbor is your school's own record, for monitoring, cover and your absence policy, including absences of less than half a day. Generating the census doesn't change it.

💡 If you type your own working days lost figure on an absence, it's kept in Arbor, but your census return uses the figure calculated from the absence times and the staff member's working pattern.

Examples

These rules follow Notes 25 and 26 of the census specification, supported with the DfE's answers to additional clarification questions where the specification is not clear.

Your census summary shows absences in tables O and P. To find out what each table includes, see Workforce Census Summary Inspection.

Recording staff absence

To make sure your census figures are right:

• Record each absence with its actual start and end times.
• Record working patterns that reflect the hours staff actually work, especially for part-time staff. Date each pattern from before the absences it should apply to, as a pattern doesn't change absences that happened before its start date.
• Keep recording every absence as your absence policy requires. Arbor applies the DfE's rules when your return is generated.

Related articles

• Add a staff absence
• How to set staff working periods for accurate staff absence statistics
• Workforce Census Guide
• Workforce Census Summary Inspection

If you have any questions, please get in touch with our Support team.