Public sector employment, UK: March 2026

• Labour market overview, UK

• Average weekly earnings in Great Britain

• Earnings and employment from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information, UK

• Employment in the UK

• Labour market in the regions of the UK

• Vacancies and jobs in the UK

• Employment in the public sector was estimated at 6.19 million in March 2026, an increase of 2,000 (0.0%) compared with December 2025, and an increase of 37,000 (0.6%) compared with March 2025.

• Of those in employment, it is estimated that 18.0% were employed in the public sector in March 2026; this is unchanged on the quarter from December 2025 and down 0.1 percentage points compared with March 2025.

• Employment in central government was at a record high, at an estimated 4.07 million in March 2026, an increase of 6,000 (0.1%) compared with December 2025 and an increase of 46,000 (1.1%) compared with March 2025; the main contributors to the increase since the previous year were some local authority schools becoming academies, the NHS and the Civil Service.

• The Civil Service employed 558,000 people in March 2026, an increase of 3,000 (0.5%) compared with December 2025, and an increase of 8,000 (1.5%) compared with March 2025.

• Employment in the NHS was an estimated 2.07 million in March 2026; this was a decrease of 1,000 (0.0%) compared with December 2025 but an increase of 6,000 (0.3%) compared with March 2025.

• Employment in local government was at a record low, at an estimated 1.96 million in March 2026; this was a decrease of 3,000 (0.2%) compared with December 2025 and a decrease of 13,000 (0.7%) compared with March 2025.

• The estimated transfer of employment from local government to central government because of academy conversions in March 2026 was 5,000 on the quarter, and 26,000 on the year.

• Employment in public corporations was an estimated 159,000 in March 2026, a decrease of 1,000 (0.6%) compared with December 2025 but an increase of 4,000 (2.6%) compared with March 2025; part of the annual increase is affected by a minor reclassification between March 2025 and June 2025.

Executive non-departmental public bodies

We collect data from all public bodies set out in our Public sector classification guide and forward work plan (if they have 20 or more employees), and therefore all executive non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) meeting these criteria are included in our overall public sector employment estimates. However, our estimates of employment in executive NDPBs in Table 10 of our accompanying Public Sector Employment dataset may not include all executive NDPBs included in the overall estimates. We are currently reviewing this methodology and aim to provide data for a definitive list of executive NDPBs shortly.

Labour Force Survey

Estimates of total employment and private sector employment are derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) as part of this release.

Ongoing challenges with response rates and levels mean that LFS-based labour market statistics will be badged as official statistics in development, and we advise caution when using the data, until further review. For more information, please see the Data sources and quality section of our Employment in the UK: June 2026 bulletin.

Sources

Public sector employment (PSE) statistics are derived from a range of sources. The primary source is the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (QPSES), which comprises three separate data collections: the home Civil Service, local authorities in England and Wales, and Great Britain public corporations and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), which is supplemented by data from external sources. Further information can be found in our PSE quality and methodology information (QMI) report.

The QPSES response rate for each separate collection is:

• 100% for Civil Service

• 95% for local authorities

• 93% for public corporations and NDPBs

Full-time equivalents

While this bulletin focuses on headcount estimates of PSE, full-time equivalent estimates (based on the number of hours worked divided by the standard full-time hours) are available in our accompanying PSE datasets.

Data collected for our public sector employment estimates are collected from a range of providers. These include through Office for National Statistics (ONS) surveys, devolved administration surveys, and admin sources, a full list of which can be found in our PSE QMI report.

Data collected through the ONS Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (QPSES) ask organisations for total headcount estimates and full-time equivalent (FTE) estimates based on an employee's contracted hours, regardless of contract type. However, some data collected by other agencies include FTE estimates based on an employee's actual worked hours during the survey reference period. We are working with suppliers to investigate the impact and next steps.

Seasonal adjustment

All PSE data time series in this release, with the exception of the regional series, are seasonally adjusted to aid interpretation. Relationships that hold in the unadjusted series do not necessarily hold for the seasonally adjusted series. For example, total PSE equals the total of all public sector industry estimates before seasonal adjustment, but this is not necessarily true after seasonal adjustment.

Reclassifications between the public and private sectors

Comparisons of public and private sector employment over time are complicated by several major reclassifications. This is where bodies employing large numbers of people have moved between the public and private sectors. We produce estimates of public and private sector employment excluding the effects of major reclassifications to help you understand underlying trends in employment. We publish these alongside estimates of total public and private sector employment in Tables 5, 6a, and 7a of our accompanying PSE datasets.

More quality and methodology information

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our PSE QMI report.

Accredited official statistics

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in April 2022. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled "accredited official statistics".