About public sector employment statistics

Background

1. Scottish Public Sector Employment Statistics presents quarterly headcount and full-time equivalent data for public sector employees in Scotland. The Scottish Government uses the Office for National Statistics definitions of public sector organisations and works with them to collect the data.

Classification

2. The public sector comprises central government, local government, and public corporations as defined for the UK National Accounts. The Sector Classifications Guide provides information on the classification of organisations and institutions in the National Accounts.

3. The National Accounts are compiled based on an internationally comparable framework and describe activities in the National Economy. Further details can also be found in the relevant sections below.

Headcount and full-time equivalent

4. This publication publishes headcount and full-time equivalent estimates.

5. Headcount estimates are based on the number of employees with an employment contract who are being paid by the organisation. Employees can be permanent, on a fixed-term contract or employed on a casual basis. Self-employed, contract workers, and agency workers are excluded.

6. Number of employees on a full-time equivalent (FTE) basis are based on converting part-time employees' hours into a full-time employee equivalent. This provides a better indicator of total labour input than a simple headcount.

7. The commentary presented in this publication focuses on headcount number and changes, particularly over the last year.

Presentation of Public Sector Financial Institution Estimates

8. Public Sector Financial Institutions are included in the series from Q4 2008 to Q2 2024.

9. The size of these banking groups can influence the total public sector employment statistics. Changes can be seen in the series between Q4 2008 and Q4 2013 as a result.

10. The public corporations and public sector financial institutions categories and public bodies have been combined into an ‘other public sector’ category to ensure individual organisation employment figures are not disclosed.  These categories have been merged to produce a backseries prior to reclassifications to allow for the calculation of year on year changes.

11. A separate public sector series excluding the effects of major reclassifications has been included in this publication to show the impact of the reclassifications on the number of people employed in the public sector. More details on major reclassifications are available.

Publication Policy

12. The quarterly statistics publication is an Accredited Official Statistics Publication. For clarity the tables in this report present only selected quarters for the last seven years and also for 1999.  Statistics prior to Q1 2008 are estimates as regional data has only been collected from Q1 2008 onwards.  These have been calculated using the total UK reserved public sector employment figure and applying to Scotland on a pro-rata basis.

13. The Public Sector Employment web tables include a complete time series of every quarter available back to Q1 1999. A time series is also shown for individual local authorities. The Public Sector Employment web tables can be accessed at the following link:

Public sector employment in Scotland: web tables - gov.scot

14. Pre-release access is not granted prior to publication of these statistics. This is in line with the Office for National Statistic’s decision to end pre-release access to their official statistics.

Timeliness

15. We publish quarterly data in March, June, September and December each year. The data is published around 11 weeks after the period to which they refer (see timetable below). The information is published at the same time as an equivalent ONS publication for the UK.

16. The Scottish Government announces the month of publication a year in advance, and the actual date of release one month before the release.

Publication Month	Time period
March	December (Q4 of year before)
June	March (Q1 of current year)
September	June (Q2 of current year)
December	Sept (Q3 of current year)

Revisions

17. See our revisions policy outlining the timings of the different planned and unplanned revisions.

18. Some statistics may be revised to take into account late information from public bodies or revised data. There may also be revisions to take into account classification changes, improvements in methodology, and revisions to coverage.

Coverage

19. Public Sector Employment covers those organisations included in the public sector based on National Accounts definitions, see: Public sector classification guide and forward work plan - Office for National Statistics

Data Sources

20. The statistics published here are derived from the relevant departments and devolved governments plus comprehensive quarterly surveys of Scottish Civil Service, Non-Departmental Public Bodies, and Public Corporations, carried out by ONS. The following list shows the data sources used to calculate total public sector employment. Further details with regard to each source are available in the relevant sections below.

Sources of Public Sector Employment estimates

Sector	Source	Reference Date
Devolved Civil Service	Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey, ONS	Last day in quarter
UK Central Government Departments	Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Ministry of Defence (MOD) - Scottish Government Quarterly Survey, Scotland Office Other Central Government consist of estimates provided by Civil Service Statistics and ONS	Last day in quarter
NHS	NHS Education for Scotland (NES)	Last day in quarter
Further Education	Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey, ONS	Last day in quarter
HM Forces	Ministry of Defence	July each year
NDPBs	Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey, ONS
Local Government	Joint Staffing Watch Survey	Second Saturday in last month of quarter
Public Corporations	Inter-departmental Business Register, ONS
Private Sector Employment	This is derived as the difference between the ONS Labour Force Survey employment workforce based estimate for the whole of Scotland (not seasonally adjusted) and the public sector estimate.

How we make sure the data is accurate and reliable

21. The accuracy of the estimates produced within the PSE series rely on HR departments reporting accurately employment to SG and ONS (who collect estimates for the majority of public bodies). The data is validated to ensure it is as accurate as possible: https://www.gov.scot/publications/about-public-sector-employment-statistics/pages/data-collection-and-validation/

A copy of the questionnaire guidance used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is available here.

Estimated information 

22 Public sector data prior to Q4 2005 are based partly on estimates as actual data for all quarters is not available. Estimates are calculated based on available data for the following areas and time periods:

• Quarters 2, 3 and 4 of each year prior to 2005 for the Civil Service excluding Ministry of Defence
• Prior to Q3 2008, Quarters 1, 2 and 4 of each year for the NHS
• Quarters 1, 3 and 4 of each year prior to 2005 for the armed forces
• All quarters prior to Q4 2004 for NDPBs and Public Corporations

Further details in relation to each source are available in the relevant sections below.

Using the data

23. This series is not seasonally adjusted and therefore it is not recommended that quarter on quarter comparisons are made. For example, it is acceptable to compare data from Q4 2019 and Q4 2020 but comparing Q3 2020 with Q4 2020 is not recommended. For this reason the tables in main publication show the same quarter for 1999 and the last 7 years.

Comparability

ONS Annual Civil Service Statistics Publication

24. Information on employment in the Scottish Government and Agencies is published by Cabinet Office in their Annual Publication for Q1 in each year. This provides more detailed information by ethnicity, gender, disability, age and earnings etc for Q1. This publication was previously produced by ONS. It is recommended that the Quarterly Public Sector Employment statistics should be used when seeking to measure the size of the civil service over time.

ONS Labour Force Survey

25. While the LFS is the primary measure of the number of people in employment as a whole, it does not provide a fully reliable measure of the total number of employees in the public sector. This is because the LFS is a social survey, based on responses and self-classification from individuals in private households. It is widely agreed that when interviewed for the LFS, individuals on some occasions will incorrectly classify themselves as working in the public or private sector. The LFS tends to overestimate public sector employment.

NHS

26. The information presented in the PSE series is consistent with NHS employment statistics for the number of staff directly employed by NHS Scotland published by NHS Education for Scotland (NES).

Local Government

27. The PSE series provides total local government employment by local authority. The principal source of information on number of teachers, social workers and police should be obtained from: teacher census, social work and quarterly police strength statistics respectively.

Further Education

28. Annual information is collected by the Scottish Funding Council on number of staff employed in further education colleges in Scotland. It should be noted that due to differing definitions these figures are not directly comparable with the information collected for the PSE series.

Collection

29. The Office for National Statistics identifies public sector bodies and classifies them in the National Accounts. Once a body has been classified as a public sector body located in Scotland (or that has employees located in Scotland), its headcount and full-time equivalent data is included in the Public Sector Employment publication. Depending on how each public body has been classified determines how it is grouped within the collection, as explained in the sections below.

National Accounts Central Government

Civil Service

30. Employment in the civil service is shown for devolved and reserved bodies. The devolved civil service includes: Scottish Government Core Departments, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal, Scottish Government Agencies and Non-Ministerial Departments. The reserved civil service includes Ministry of Defence, HM Revenue and Customs, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for International Development, Scotland Office and other smaller reserved government departments.

See series reclassification guide in the Public Sector Employment tables for more detail on changes to the civil service.

Other Public Bodies

31. Information is also shown in the publication for Other Public Bodies. This includes Non-Departmental Public Bodies and Other Public Bodies which do not fall into any of the other sub categories used in this publication.

32. Audit Scotland is included in the other category of the Scottish PSE estimates as this is consistent with SG classification. In the UK publication, based on National Accounts definitions, it was classed as a Public Corporation and in October 2019 was reclassified to Central Government. .

See series reclassification guide in the Public Sector Employment tables for more detail on changes to public bodies.

NHS employment

33. NHS employment data are provided by NHS Education for Scotland (NES). Information on staff directly employed is sourced from each NHS Board’s human resources and payroll systems. Further information is available from Official Statistics on the workforce of NHS Scotland.

Publications prior to 3 December 2019 can be accessed via the ISD Workforce publication page.

See series reclassification guide in the Public Sector Employment tables for more detail on changes to the NHS employment series

Further Education

34. Information for further education colleges in Scotland was included in the Public Sector time series for the first time in the June 2011 publication. Information is included from Q1 1999 onward. This follows the Office for National Statistics reclassification of colleges of further education in Scotland to the Central Government sector. Actual information has been collected for Q4 2010 and Q1 2011. Information has been modelled prior to this.

Public Corporations

35. Public corporations are companies or quasi-corporations controlled by government. An example is Scottish Water. These companies receive more than half their income from sales of goods or services into the market place. Public Corporations within this publication include Public Corporations based wholly in Scotland and UK wide Public Corporations with a presence in Scotland. Data for the UK wide Public Corporations with a presence in Scotland are estimated based on UK data and business survey information. This business survey information is updated in our series each year in Q3 which may result in step changes in the series.

36. The Public Corporations, as currently defined by the Office for National Statistics for National Account purposes, can be found in the Public sector classification guide.

See series reclassification guide in the Public Sector Employment tables for more detail on changes to Public Corporations.

Public Sector Financial Institutions

37. On 19 February 2009, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced that the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group plc (previously Halifax Bank of Scotland plc and Lloyds TSB Group plc) would be classified as public corporations to take effect from 13 October 2008. As a result RBS and Lloyds Banking Group were included in UK wide public corporations for the first time from Q4 2008 estimates. Lloyds Banking Group plc. (Q1 2014) and Direct Line Group (Q3 2013) have been reclassified back to the private sector.

38. Northern Rock was included in the series from Q4 2007 following its earlier nationalisation. It was then removed from Q2 2012 following its reclassification to the Private Sector on 1st April 2012.

39. On 21 August 2024, ONS announced the reclassification of NatWest Group plc and its subsidiaries (including Royal Bank of Scotland plc) from the public sector to the private sector with effect from 1 June 2024. This ONS Economic statistics classifications and developments in public sector finances: July 2024 article has more information on this classification decision. The ONS also published a media statement and a blog to accompany this re-classification.  This reclassification was implemented in the Public Sector Employment Statistics from Q2 2024.

40. The inclusion of financial institutions in the public sector employment estimates are as a result of recapitalisation agreements (support provided by the government) and the resulting control which the government gained in these organisations, including decisions on: restrictions on the declaration and payment of any dividends or distributions; restrictions on Directors' remuneration; and obligations relating to lending. These decisions are consistent with international statistical guidelines on national accounts. National accounts classification decisions relate to control rather than ownership. The decisions have been authorised by the National Statistician.

41. Information included in the series for Public Sector Financial Institutions is based on 2 sources:

1- A quarterly survey of employment in each financial institution (across the UK), carried out specifically for the Public Sector Employment Series by ONS.

2- The proportion of employees for each financial institution located in Scotland as at September (Q3) in each year, obtained from the Inter-departmental business register (ONS).

42. Employment in Public Sector Financial Institutions in Scotland is obtained by applying the annual proportion figures from IDBR (2 above) to quarterly employment figures for the UK (1 above). The proportion figure is usually updated in the PSE series in Q3 in each year and is applied to Q2 onward, until it is updated again in the next Quarter 3 publication. For Example:

The employment in Financial Institutions for Scotland for Q1 2011 is based on the proportion of employees located in Scotland for each financial institution (from Sept Q3 2010) applied to the overall UK employment for each Public Sector Financial Institution (from March 2011).

A table below shows a further demonstration on the calculations used to calculate employment in Scotland’s Public Sector Financial Institutions.

UK Banking Estimate		IDBR Scotland Ratio		Scotland Banking Estimate Calculation
Quarter		Quarter
2010 Q2	A			A x H
2010 Q3	B	2010 Q3	H	B x H
2010 Q4	C			C x H
2011 Q1	D			D x H
2011 Q2	E			E x H in Q2, Revised to E x I in Q3
2011 Q3	F	2011 Q3	I	F x I
2011 Q4	G			G x I

43. The banking sector information for Q1, Q2 & Q4 for Public Sector Financial Institutions in Scotland should therefore be treated with some caution, as the proportion of employees based in Scotland may not be up to date for that quarter. If there has been a change in employment within a Financial Institution in these quarters which has not been uniform between Scotland and the rest of UK, this will not be fully captured until Q3 in the following year.

Local Government Employment

44. Local Government employment includes Local Authorities, Valuation Joint Boards, Regional Transport Partnerships and Cosla. 

For more information please see the Local Government Employment page.

See series reclassification guide in the Public Sector Employment web tables for more detail on changes to local government.​

Private Sector Employment

45. The private sector estimate is obtained by taking the difference between the workforce based Labour Force Survey estimate of people employed in Scotland and the public sector total of people employed in Scotland. The PSE figures are best estimates and in line with National Accounting Principles. They are based on administrative records and surveys of public sector organisations. 

46. Estimates for total employment and private sector employment are based on the Labour Force Survey, ONS.  ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates for January to March 2019 onwards were reweighted in December 2024, causing a step change discontinuity. Therefore, the LFS reweighting exercise creates a break in the series between December 2018 to February 2019 (PSE time period Q4 2018) and January to March 2019 (PSE time period Q1 2019) estimates for regional total employment and regional private sector employment.

Further details of the reweighting of the ONS Labour Force Survey estimates can be found in the ONS Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators article.

47. PSE estimates relate to the number of people employed according to returns from relevant organisations, however this could include workers with a second job in the public sector whose main job is in the private sector or in separate public sector organisations. This would only affect a very small percentage of employees.

Users and Uses

48. The PSE estimates and data produced for the quarterly publication receive a relatively high level of interest and are widely disseminated through media. They are used across government and feed into a wider number of publications and outputs. They are used by:

• Parliament – PSE statistics are used in the Scottish Parliament and inform debate on this subject. They are used by departments within the Scottish Government to inform analysis of the Economy and Labour Market and inform policy in this area.
• Office for National Statistics – The Scottish estimate for PSE is published in the Office for National Statistics Publication with published UK public sector employment on the same day that the Scottish Publication is published.
• Other external organisations – Public Bodies and External Organisations