Important: Information for Academies

The submission of the census is a statutory requirement on Academies by virtue of the regulations SI2007/1264 made under Sections 113 and 114 of the Education Act 2005.

Academies are responsible for providing the Department for Education (DfE) with robust and good quality data which includes all the information that is required by the DfE as set out in the Guidance Notes which can be found on the DfE website.

Academies must ensure that a School Workforce Census (SWC) file is submitted to the DfE via the DfE’s database COLLECT. There is on-line help available but it's our understanding that the DfE will not be providing training to Academies on the COLLECT database.

The DfE expect zero errors on the data and the SWC file and reports must be checked and authorised by the responsible officer at The Academy. The file must be formatted as set out in DfE Technical Specification which can also be found on their website. COLLECT will only accept .xml files; files in any other format must be re-formatted to. xml. For further information please see the CSV to XML conversion tools on the DfE Website …. However, we are pleased to offer ...

A New Data Loading and Checking Service Autumn 2011:

The SWC Team can offer a complete Data Loading and Checking Service. The service would comprise:

• Agreeing a secure file transfer method with The Academy
• Uploading the file to a secure area on Kent County Council’s (KCC) server from where the file will be uploaded to COLLECT.
• Cleansing the data:
• Checking that there is no missing data in the Staff Details Module;
• Checking that there is data present for:
  • Absence
  • Qualifications
  • Allowances (or agree with the Academy that an explanatory note should be added)
  • Teachers Vacancies (or agree with the Academy that an explanatory note should be added)
  • Occasional teachers (or agree with the Academy that an explanatory note should be added)
  • Third Party Staff (or agree with the Academy that an explanatory note should be added)
  • Curriculum Data (if Secondary)
• Adding notes to COLLECT in respect of all “OK-able” Errors as defined by the DfE.

Benefits of buying this service from the School Workforce Census Team

• You will receive a locally delivered service with a designated point of contact.
• You will benefit from the expertise of a skilled and qualified team of professionals who have well established links with the DfE.
• You will have access to the latest advice and information with regards to the SWC requirements and a team who have extensive knowledge of the interpretation of those requirements.
• Within the SWC team there is access to detailed knowledge of teacher and other relevant national pay terms and conditions.

About the School Workforce Census Team

The service will be provided by an experienced School Workforce Census team who have been involved in the data collection since its inception in 2007.The team includes personnel professionals who are familiar with school data and possess in depth knowledge of the School Teachers’ terms and conditions and individuals who are experts in data manipulation and file management.They also have significant knowledge of COLLECT and considerable experience in data cleansing.

Fees and Charges

The rates are effective from September 2011

• Arranging for the secure transfer of the file and loading to COLLECT:£50.00
• Data Cleansing (including one free test file – see SLA for more detail)
  • £150 (minimum) for Academies with staff numbers not exceeding 150.
  • Where the number of staff exceeds 150 there will be an additional cost of £1 per member of staff above 150.
  • Staff numbers are counted as all the staff employed by the school (at the start of the relevant Academic Year) including relief staff and supply teachers.  LA funded staff are not included for the purpose of determining numbers of staff unless also employed directly by the school.

NB: If the files need to be ‘Matched and Reconciled’ in COLLECT there will be an additional fee. 

Re-submission of ‘live’ files and additional data cleansing: £130 per hour (minimum charge half an hour). The SWC Team will endeavour to give the Academy an estimate of the time involved in the additional data cleansing.

The data provided for the School Workforce Census (SWC) is owned by the Academy and the Academy has the responsibility to ensure that the data is robust and of good quality. The SWC Team is only in a position to undertake the credibility checks.

NB:

• The SWC Team can not be held liable for any anomalies or technical issues due to software or other issues at the DfE
• The Academy must enter into an Agreement with Kent County Council and must update their Privacy Notice
• The charges shown do not include value added tax which shall be payable in addition by the Academy in the manner and at the rate from time to time prescribed by law.

If you would like to know more please contact:

Ann.Lewis@kent.gov.uk (01622 221721)  / Steve.Tait@kent.gov.uk (01622 221720), Helen.Hogan@kent.gov.uk (01622 221722)  / Deirdre.Steele@kent.gov.uk (01622 221741)   or swc@kent.gov.uk

For Postal enquiries please address your correspondence to: Ann Lewis, SWC Team County Council, Room 1.04, Sessions House, County Hall, Maidstone Kent ME14 1XQ

If you do not want to take advantage of this offer you MUST contact the Department for Education immediately their contact information is:

Data and Statistics Division (DSD) Helpdesk
1st Floor Mowden Hall
Staindrop Road
Darlington
DL3 9BG Telephone: 01325 392626
Email: dsd.helpdesk@education.gsi.gov.uk
Website: http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/schooladmin/ims/datacollections/requestform