Version 1

FE Workforce Vacancy Data Collection 2023/2024

Updated:

06 March 2025 Summary of changes

Published:

01 April 2024

Overview Vacancy

Introduction

This specification provides FE education providers with the data collection requirements for the FE workforce vacancy data collection.

It is produced to assist providers in collecting and submitting FE workforce vacancy data collection data via an online form for 2023/2024.

Note: as part of the 2023/2024 FE Workforce Data Collection, providers will also be expected to submit data for individual staff members including personal characteristic data, job roles, qualifications and contract data. The specification for this collection can be accessed here

This staff data is not included in this specification and will be available to be submitted either via an XML file or an online form via the Submit Learner Data Service. Data definitions for staff data are provided in a separate document.

Terminology

The terms ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’ and ‘DfE’ all refer to the Department of Education.

The terms ‘you’ or ‘providers’ refer to colleges, training organisations and local authorities who receive funding from the Department of Education or through a loans facility or contract for apprenticeships, to deliver education and training.

Use of FE Workforce Vacancy Data

The FE and skills sector in England will use the FE Workforce Data Collection to collect data about staff and recruitment in the sector. This will bring our knowledge of the workforce in FE on a par with that of schools and higher education. The workforce collection will include demographic and personal characteristics, such as ethnicity and disability data, which will enable us to plan better and understand the impact of our policies on diversity in FE staffing and leadership.

It will support the delivery of technical education reforms crucial to individual and national prosperity and be used to plan, implement, and evaluate FE workforce policy.

In addition, it will provide the ability to assess and analyse the capacity of the FE workforce and generate valuable outputs for providers for planning, analysis, bench marking and skills gaps.

Scope of the FE Workforce Vacancy Data Collection

Providers should complete a return if they accessed any of the funding streams specified below during the 2023/2024 academic year (1 Aug 2023-31 July 2024) and do not return the Schools Workforce census or the HESA staff record.

• Adult education budget
• Apprenticeships (including carry-in, procured, non-levy and levy funded)
• 16 to 19 study programme
• 16 to 18 traineeships
• Skills bootcamps (including devolved/delegated contracts)
• Devolved/delegated adult education budget

This will include:

• FE Colleges
• Sixth Form Colleges
• Special Post-16 Institutions
• Local Authorities
• Independent Training Providers
• Third Sector and Voluntary organisations
• 16-19 Academy Convertors
• 16-19 Free Schools

The following providers are not in scope for the collection: 
• Employer Provider: an employer that pays the apprenticeship levy and is listed on APAR as either an Employer Provider or Main Provider
• Schools and academies (including multi-academy trusts) who’s staff are included in the Schools Workforce Census
• HE institutions who return the HESA staff record

You should complete a staff record for an individual if they had one or more contracts of employment with you, the provider, during the 2023/2024 academic year (1 Aug - 31 July).    You do not need complete a staff record for an individual for the following types of staff:
• Agency staff
• Self-employed or freelance staff
• Staff working for a provider through an intermediary, such as a personal service company

You do not need to complete a staff record for an individual in a support role that is not directly supporting learning, e.g., catering, maintenance, or other such service support roles

Vacancy data should only be provided for staff members that would contribute to the delivery of ESFA funded further education or training provision. Include staff members that would spend any of their time working on ESFA funded training regardless of their main job role.

Frequency of the Vacancy Collection

The data is collected annually for the academic year specified. There will be a collection window at the end of each academic year allowing reasonable time to return data

Completing the Vacancy Data Collection

The FE workforce data collection facility is hosted within the Submit Learner Data (SLD) secure platform. Providers must have a Department for Education (DfE) Sign-in account and associated profile to access the FE workforce data collection.

Begin the data return process from the SLD start page: Submit learner data. Users will then sign into DfE account

You will need a DfE sign in account to access Submit Learner Data.

Organisations with a DfE sign-in account and a user assigned with the ‘Submit Learner Data – FE Workforce’ role, can access the FE Workforce data collection using the Submit learner data sign in process: Submit learner data.

User can log in or self-registered for a DfE Sign-in account .

Users will need to request the ‘Submit Learner Data – FE Workforce’ role from their organisation’s super user to access the collection.

Users who do not have account, refer to gov.uk for details on how to create DfE Sign-in account.

Users who are unable to access their account need to complete the Contact us form for assistance from Service Desk

FE Workforce Tile

Organisations with users setup or assigned with the ‘Submit Learner Data - FE Workforce role’ will see the FE Workforce data collection ‘tile’ after logging into the SLD portal.

The tile has 2 functions:

• to confirm the FE workforce profile has been assigned to the user

• provides the link to the ‘FE Workforce data collection’ start page

Collection Start Page

On the Collection start page the user should click the user should click continue to proceed to the 'Select an Option' page

Select an Option Page

On the 'Select an Option' page the user should select the Record vacancy and recruitment data option and click continue to proceed to the Vacancy and recruitment collection start page

Vacancy and Recruitment Start Page

On the Vacancy and recruitment start page the user should click 'Start Now' to proceed to the first question page in the collection:

Vacancy and recruitment for senior leader and management roles page

The Vacancy and recruitment for senior leader and management roles page is the first question page of the collection. The user should provide the data for the answers and click on 'Save' and continue to proceed through all the question to complete their return. On completing all the question pages the user will be presented with the 'Check your Answers' page

Check your answers page

On answering all the collection questions the user will be presented with the 'Check your Answers' page. The user can click on the plus sign next to each page title to expand and see the answers provided. To change an answer the user should click on 'Edit Answers' and can step through the online form again.

When you are happy that the FE workforce Vacancy and Organisation data collection is finished and correct, you should click on the 'Complete Collection' link on 'Check your Answers' page to confirm the collection is complete.

A complete confirmation email would be sent to you.

Should you need to update the FE Workforce Vacancy and Organisation data collection, you can do so by entering or editing data, but you will need to re-confirm that the collection is complete

Further Assistance

If you have any queries, please can you contact us using the customer help portal

Content of the Return

Entities and Fields: Technical Requirements for Submitting Valid Data