Psychology Workforce NHSScotland

This release by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) provides a quarterly update, as at 30 June 2021, on the Psychology Services workforce staff in post and vacant posts.

Figures are presented as headcount (actual number of staff) and whole time equivalent (WTE), which adjusts the figures to take account of part-time working.

As at 30 June 2021:

• Within Psychology Services in NHSScotland, there were a total of 1336.2 WTE (1604 headcount) clinical staff in post. This is 110.6% (701.8 WTE) higher than in September 2006, 3.3% (43.1 WTE) higher than reported 12 months previously and 2.0% (25.6 WTE) higher than the March 2021 census.
• The WTE of All Applied Psychologists decreased by 0.8% (-7.6 WTE), from 902.2 in March 2021 to 894.6 in June 2021. Conversely, the WTE of Other Clinical Staff increased by 8.1% (33.2 WTE), from 408.4 in March 2021 to 441.6 in June 2021.
• Female staff comprise 85.7% of the Psychology Services workforce. The headcount of female staff working part-time increased from 756 in March 2021 to 766 in June 2021 (1.3%, 10 headcount), while the headcount of female staff working whole-time increased from 587 in March 2021 2020 to 608 in June 2021 (3.6%, 21 headcount).
• There were a total of 186.8 WTE vacancies as at 30 June 2021, which is 18.7% (29.4 WTE) higher than in March 2021. Of these vacancies, 78.2% (146.1 WTE) had been advertised for less than three months, 17.6% (32.8 WTE) for three to six months and 4.2% (7.9 WTE) for longer than six months. 57.2% (106.8 WTE) were replacement posts, 35.6% (66.6 WTE) were new posts, and 7.2% (13.4 WTE) were maternity leave cover/unknown/other. The vacancy rate was 12.3%, compared to 10.7% in March 2021 and 6.8% in June 2020. A further 71.5 WTE vacancies were approved but not yet advertised.