Joiners and leavers 2018 to 2024

FOI REF: FOI-2024-1961

You asked

Please can you provide the following information:

1. For each quarter from Q1 2018 to Q1 2024, the number of joiners and leavers at each grade in each ONS office (e.g. London, Newport, Titchfield, etc.) 

2. The number of joiners and leavers in each quarter over this period who were hired on short-term contracts to complete work for the Census

We said

Thank you for request.

The additional demands of the pandemic and 2021 census required the ONS to expand its operations and headcount significantly. We are now returning to a sustainable long-term operating model that prioritises the economic and population statistics for which the ONS is best-known. That includes world-leading innovation in the use of data as well as good progress on survey responses; an issue affecting most of our peers internationally.

It should also be noted that:

• Our workforce remains stable with 95% of analytical roles, and 93% filled across the organisation.

• Our organisational turnover remains stable and in line with pre-pandemic levels, with even lower turnover in senior grades. 

In response to your first request, the first two worksheets of the associated download provide the breakdowns of the joiners and leavers of our core workforce on our standard terms and conditions.

In response to your second request, it is not possible to determine which short-term hires (interpreted as fixed-term appointments on standard terms and conditions) were employed to complete work for the Census. Census activity spanned multiple job roles and business areas across ONS.

However, we employed a large non-office based Census workforce separate to our core workforce, spread geographically across England and Wales. This workforce was employed via a third-party, just to work on the Census, on short-term contracts with very specific terms and conditions of employment.  Our response to your second request is based on this specific and separate Census workforce, and a breakdown is provided in the third worksheet of the associated download.