Q. How do we treat changes in contracts? e.g. an employee has had additional hours or a new allowance or an increment between 1st April and 31st August, what are you expecting to be reported? Is it the situation as at the end of August? Or are you expecting one set of contract records for each change to the terms and conditions of employment?
One-off payments also present a problem, e.g. would you expect to get details of any one-off payments which were made in the previous term, or the previous year. How do we decide what is a ‘current’ one-off payment? By definition it will already be in the past and will not form part of the employee’s current contract.
A. All items (including pay) are collected as a snapshot at the time of the census. Therefore the employee’s current contract will be included and any other contract that you might have issued that ended during the previous academic year.
Additionally, non-pay items are collected at each census but only for contracts which have a start or end date during the previous academic year.
The pay details required for the census include the annual amount (or actual amount, depending on spot allowances) of all allowances paid since the previous census, i.e. all additional payments from 08/11/19 to 05/11/20.
Q. We have a member of staff whose contract started on 5th November and we are getting error 4376 service agreements and temporary contracts that have lasted less than 28 days will be picked up in the next year’s census if they go on to last 28 days or more
A. This may appear for any non-permanent contract that started within 27 days of the census. It is not necessary to include it in the current census as it will be picked up on next year’s census. If this is the only contract for this member of staff, simply untick them to exclude them from the census. If they have another contract(s) that needs to be included, email the details of this one to census@devon.gov.uk requesting it be deleted.
Q. Is the additional payment amount included only if the additional payment is active on the census date when it comes to one-off payments?
A. All additional payment amounts should be included if the associated contract is active on the census date and the payment was made after the previous census date (07/11/19).
Q. Is a snapshot of the annual salary rate on the census date itself required, or a salary rate history?
A. Base pay should reflect the annual salary of a member of staff at the time of the census. It should not include any additional payments or allowances.
Q. Is Base Pay the same as Total Pay?
A. ‘Total Pay’ was renamed to ‘Base Pay’ to better reflect the underlying definitions.
Q. How are benefits in kind treated?
A. Benefits in kind are not included.
Q. If a teacher has a permanent full time appointment at school 1 but is seconded full time as temporary head of school 2 for one term (Jan to March), which school returns which information and how?
A. The teacher is recorded as seconded in school 1 (with a secondment absence record) and is returned as a head teacher in school 2.
Q. If a teacher has a permanent full time appointment at school 1 but then becomes a part time teacher at school 1 AND is seconded as a part time acting head at school 2, how is this returned?
A. Assuming the full time contract hasn’t been closed, it should be returned as seconded. The two part time contracts should also be returned with the appropriate hours etc on each. So in this example, the teacher will have 3 contract records returned: two from school 1 and one from school 2.
Q. Where do we record contracts linked to Pupils with EHCPs? We record an end date for administrative purposes and call the contract ‘Fixed Term’. Should they be counted as ‘Temporary’?
A. “Temporary” is used for all short term contracts without a fixed end date. “Fixed term” is used for contracts with a definite span and a fixed end date. In this case the contract has an end date and is called ‘fixed term’, then the advice is to return it as such.
Q. When we have contracts starting in August but the employee does not start in school until September, which census should the new starter be included on? e.g. for some employees their contract will start in August but they are not required to attend school until the first pupil day in September.
A. This depends on what the contract says – it is the contract start date which matters, not when they start actual work. If the contract start date is in August then it will appear in the return in the current November census.
Q. Is it correct that no payment data is required for any support staff (other than TAs)?
A. No, basic pay data is required for all support staff not paid a daily rate.
Q. We have a member of staff whose contract was due to finish on 12th April however this has been extended to September. Should we set up a new contract or can we just change the end date of the current contract?
A. The School Workforce Census would not see this as a new contract, merely an extension, so the end date of the current contract can just be changed.
Q. Is ‘Weeks per year’ the weeks actually worked as opposed to full time weeks? (For Part time staff?)
A. The ‘weeks per year’ is the number of weeks for which a person is paid, including any paid holiday. Where payment for contracted hours is spread over the full academic year, it is the contracted hours in weeks that needs to be recorded. For example, a full-time teacher would be paid for 52 weeks per year whereas a full-time term time only teacher would be contracted to work 39 weeks per year. If they receive their pay in 12 monthly instalments it’s still the 39 weeks that should be recorded
Q. How should a school record the situation where an individual is employed on a contract which has no fixed hours? e.g. flexible ‘zero hours’ contracts. For example, an individual works as a classroom teacher as and when the school needs them. They’re paid on a daily rate which is (loosely?) based upon a main scale spine point. It’s like a supply agency arrangement but the contract lies with the school.
A. The DfE advise that where staff are employed on flexible ‘zero hours’ arrangements and the hours worked cannot be determined they should not be included as a named record in the Workforce Census. If the teacher on a ‘zero hours’ contract is in school on census day they should only be included in the occasional teacher count.