Publication, Part of NHS workforce statistics
NHS Workforce Statistics - April 2026
Official statistics
Official Statistics in Development - release of data on the Community workforce
We have released data for the first time relating to the Community workforce within this publication. This is based on the NHS workforce as recorded on the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). A new table and CSV can be found under “Resources”.
For clarity, this publication therefore does not cover Community Healthcare Providers not using ESR.
We have worked with a range of stakeholders within this field to refine a definition for the Community workforce. This definition draws on a selection of Occupation Codes, Areas of Work, and Trust types. The full definition listing all the Occupation Code, Area of Work, and Trust type inclusions has been made available to accompany the data release.
Defining this section of the workforce is difficult owing to the way that staff are categorised and recorded within ESR; as such these data have initially been classed as Official Statistics in Development. As with all such releases, we will review feedback and introduce changes if required. If you have any feedback, please contact [email protected].
Our intention is to refresh and publish the data monthly.
25 June 2026 09:30 AM
Methodology
There are several steps taken to add value, improve data quality and assist classification of staff groups prior to publication.
- Only staff who have a contracted full time equivalent (FTE) greater than zero are extracted from ESR.
- The data are divided into a separate non-medical dataset and a medical and dental dataset using medical pay scales as the initial determining field.
- Successive tests using corroborative fields within the data confirm or reclassify records between the medical and non-medical sets.
- Fields within the data are used to determine the grade of the medical staff.
- Occupation codes are used to classify non-medical staff into staff groups, and these are checked to ensure that the grades of staff are appropriate to their role. Where it is not, a new staff group is assigned based on other information within the person’s record. Where that is not possible the person is classed as having an unknown staff group.
- Each job of each person is allocated to the organisation where they work. This can differ to the trust holding their record.
- The data are matched against earnings data. Where a person is not earning, and they are not a recent starter in post, the record is not included in statistics showing staff who provide services.
- These steps are to ensure only substantive contracted staff are included in published outputs, which therefore exclude bank or agency staff.
- The data are split into classifications based on the organisation staff work in. This determines whether a job is shown as at an NHS Trust or other core organisation, at an NHS support organisation or central body, or is an Independent Healthcare Provider that is using ESR. This also determines which publication a record is included in.
Last edited: 25 June 2026 2:11 pm