Psychology Workforce NHSScotland

This release by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) provides a quarterly update, as at 31 December 2024, 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 31 December 2024:

• There were a total of 1726.0 WTE (2075 headcount) clinical staff in post. This is an increase of 0.7% (11.5 WTE) since the previous quarter, an increase of 5.6% (91.7 WTE) since the previous year, and an increase of 63.3% (668.8 WTE) since the previous decade. Of the total staff in post, 3.9% were on maternity/paternity leave and 1.3% were on long-term sick leave.
• Applied Psychologists were the largest staff group in this workforce, accounting for 62.0% (1070.2 WTE) of clinical staff in post. Since last year, this staff group has grown by 83.0 WTE (8.4%). Other Clinical Staff, comprising Clinical Associates in Applied Psychology, Psychology Assistants and other therapists, accounted for 38.0% (655.8 WTE) of clinical staff in post. Since last year, this staff group has grown by 8.7 WTE (1.3%).
• The vacancy rate was 3.3% (58.1 WTE), a decrease of -103.8 WTE over the last year and of -39.8 over the last quarter. A further 46.0 WTE vacancies were approved for recruitment but not yet advertised and 85.6 WTE had not yet been approved for recruitment.
• The majority of advertised vacancies, 36.8% (21.4 WTE), had been advertised for less than three months, 35.1% (20.4 WTE) for three to six months, and 28.1% (16.3 WTE) for longer than six months.