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School workforce census

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How to submit your school workforce census file

The DFE have provided guidance and information regarding the School Workforce Census (SWC) which is available at School workforce census: guide to submitting data.

Submitting your school workforce census

Academies submit their census directly to the DfE via the COLLECT system.

Maintained schools submit their data via the COLLECT system. The data is then verified by the local authority (LA) before it is submitted to the DfE via the COLLECT system.

The deadline for returning the census information to the DfE is 6 December 2024.

Under the regulations, it is the headteacher's responsibility to ensure that the return is both submitted on time and contains accurate data, particularly with reference to the correct pay details being held in your system and that the pay increases for all staff have been applied for 2024, together with increases if applicable to allowance values.

After producing the SWC xml file from your MIS, log into the DfE COLLECT system and upload your xml file using the 'Upload return from file' button. Note that COLLECT is accessed via DfE Sign in.

If you require assistance with DfE Sign In, local authority teams will unfortunately be unable to assist as the system is maintained by the DfE. This system should now be familiar as it is the same system used to access Key to Success and School to School (s2s) and you will have previously used it to access COLLECT when you submitted your school census file.

The approver within your school will be able to resolve any access issues (speak to your headteacher who should be able to advise who has the approver role within your school). They will be able to add COLLECT to your list of applications if you don't already have it.

If you are an approver and require assistance, you will need to contact the DfE. There is user guidance documentation which can assist you and help troubleshoot your issue.

Reviewing and amending errors and queries

Once your SWC file has been uploaded and validated in COLLECT, please open the return and click on the grey 'All Errors' button to review any queries or errors in your data. Any errors or queries that are generated in COLLECT must be investigated by the school and the data amended as necessary, either by manually editing or adding missing data items using the 'Edit' button within COLLECT, or by amending the data at source within your MIS and uploading a new census file. If specific queries cannot be resolved and have a valid reason, then schools may use the notes facility in COLLECT to write explanatory text, which must be detailed and worded as per the DfE guidance. Schools will also need to record explanations for validation queries relating to changes from previous returns.

Finalising your census submission

Once you are satisfied with your return, remember to click the 'Submit Return' button to finalise your submission.

For maintained schools, your file will be checked once it has been submitted in COLLECT and you will be contacted if there are any data quality issues that need to be addressed before the file can be authorised by the local authority.

The DfE have provided guidance for schools on how to use the COLLECT system.

Useful links

The following are some useful links for completing the school workforce census:

Last updated 15 August 2024

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