Psychology Workforce NHSScotland

This release by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) provides a quarterly update, as at 30 June 2025, 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.

At 30 June 2025:

• There were a total of 1740.7 WTE (2092 headcount) clinical staff in post. This is an increase of 0.8% (13.2 WTE) since the previous quarter, a decrease of 0.1% (2.4 WTE) since the previous year, and an increase of 62.2% (667.4 WTE) since the previous decade. Of the total staff in post, 3.8% were on maternity/paternity leave and 0.9% were on long-term sick leave.
• Applied Psychologists were the largest staff group in this workforce, accounting for 61.7% (1073.5 WTE) of clinical staff in post. Since last year, this staff group has grown by 32 WTE (3.1%). Other Clinical Staff, comprising Clinical Associates in Applied Psychology, Psychology Assistants and other therapists, accounted for 38.3% (667.2 WTE) of clinical staff in post. Since last year, this staff group has decreased by -34.4 WTE (-4.9%).
• The vacancy rate was 2.9% (52.8 WTE), a decrease of -42.5 WTE over the last year and an increase of 10.8 over the last quarter. A further 16.2 WTE vacancies were approved for recruitment but not yet advertised and 43.2 WTE had not yet been approved for recruitment. The majority of advertised vacancies, 71%, had been advertised for less than three months, 26.9% for three to six months, and 2.1% for longer than six months.