As of 1st October 2019, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has taken
responsibility for some national workforce data, statistical &
intelligence functions.
NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is NHSScotland’s education and
training body. It is the authoritative source of information on the
people who work for NHSScotland. NES became an accredited provider of Official Statistics in December 2019 and as such
this release is produced in accordance with the UK Statistics
Authority’s Code of Practice for Statistics. NES voluntarily
applied the Code of Practice for the publication released on 3 December
2019.
Introduction
This publication summarises national data on the workforce providing
Psychology Services in NHSScotland, following the latest census at 31
March 2023. When describing the size of a particular staff group,
figures are presented either as headcount (actual number of staff) or
whole time equivalent (WTE), which adjusts the headcount to take account
of part-time working.
This report summarises key aspects of the data including:
- The number and characteristics of clinical staff in post
- Vacant posts
- Staff in training
The data are collected directly from Psychology services and held
within the National Services Scotland (NSS) National Psychology
Workforce Information Database. The data are verified by Psychology
Heads of Service, who work closely with NES to ensure a high level of
accuracy. The information collected and presented is used routinely by
NES, the Scottish Government and NHS Boards to support local, regional
and national workforce planning, and to support educational training and
planning.
In recent years, NHSScotland has seen a steadily increasing demand
for access to Applied Psychologists and Psychological Therapies due to
the growing evidence base, recognised in Scottish Intercollegiate
Guidelines Network (SIGN) and National Institute for Health and Clinical
Excellence (NICE) guidelines, for the effectiveness of psychological
interventions in delivering positive health change for people with a
wide range of clinical conditions. The term ‘Psychological Therapies’
refers to a range of interventions based on psychological concepts and
theory, which are designed to help people understand and make changes to
their thinking, behaviour and relationships in order to relieve distress
and to improve functioning. The skills and competences required to
deliver these interventions effectively are acquired through training
and maintained through clinical supervision and practice.
The NHS Education for Scotland- Scottish Government Report The Matrix: A Guide to Delivering Evidence-Based
Psychological Therapies in Scotland summarises and describes the
most up-to-date evidence-based psychological therapies. The Matrix
report also provides information and advice for NHS Boards on the
delivery of effective and efficient therapies and the levels of training
and supervision necessary for staff to deliver these safely and
effectively.
In conjunction with this report, comprehensive workforce data
as at 31 March 2023 are shared across the following
outputs:
Dashboards
- The psychology dashboards present quarterly data on
staff in post in NHSScotland psychology services, vacant posts and staff
in training.
- The dashboards present a breadth of data, including staff WTE and
headcount; WTE per 100,000 population; age band; target age and area of
work; gender and contract type; Agenda for Change (AfC) band; contract
length; ethnicity and disability; turnover; vacant posts; staff in
training; and the retention of trainees in the workforce.
Data Tables
The psychology background tables include:
- Supplementary long-term trend data for staff in post, vacancies and
trainees.
- Quarterly updates to staff in post tables.
- Biannual updates on Clinical Psychology training courses
- Annual updates on:
- Staff ethnicity and disability status
- Staff turnover
Due to varying sources and frequency of data collection, not all
published tables are updated at this time of year.
Staff in Post
At 31 March 2023, there were a total of 1538.4 WTE (1844 headcount)
clinical staff in post within Psychology Services across NHSScotland.
Bespoke data collection for this workforce began with an initial pilot
collection in 2001, with more complete data collection commencing in
2002.
Figure 1 shows the increase in this workforce since March 2011,
overall and split by All Applied Psychologists and Other Clinical Staff.
Since 2011, the overall workforce has increased by 78.6% (677.2 WTE). In
the past 12 months there has been an overall increase of 7.5% (107.2
WTE), and since the last quarterly census, there has been an increase of
1.8% (26.9 WTE).
Figure 1: WTE of all Clinical Staff in NHSScotland Psychology
Services

Quarterly data collection began from March 2011. Prior to this there
was only an annual census at 30 September.
Clinical and Other Applied Psychologists are also referred to as all
Applied Psychologists. Further information can be found in the Glossary
and Summary of Professional Groups.
As at 31 March 2023 there were 62.3 WTE (4.1%) staff on
maternity/paternity leave and 13.9 WTE (0.9%) on long term sick
leave.
Figure 2 illustrates the WTE of staff on maternity/long-term sick
leave, quarterly since March 2015. Numbers under 5.0 WTE have been
suppressed.
Figure 2. WTE of Staff in NHSScotland Psychology Services on
Maternity and Long-term Sickness Absence, Quarterly from March 2015 to
31 March 2023.

Whole Time Equivalent
(WTE) per 100,000 population
Figure 3 shows the Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) of all clinical staff
employed in NHSScotland Psychology Services per 100,000 population as at
31 March 2023.
NHS Borders and NHS Dumfries and Galloway currently have the largest
WTE per 100,000 population, with 35.3 and 33.4 respectively, compared to
the overall NHSScotland rate of 28.1.
The higher rates in some boards are partly due to the provision of
regional services including referrals from other boards. In some
instances, this may also involve specialist inpatient care, where
staffing requirements are higher. Health boards with higher levels of
deprivation will have a greater demand for services.
Figure 3: Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) of All Clinical Staff per
100,000 population as at 31 March 2023

Figure 4 compares the Whole Time Equivalent of all Applied
Psychologists employed per 100,000 population in NHS boards at 31 March
2011 and 31 March 2023. NHS Borders currently has the highest number of
Applied Psychologists employed per 100,000 population (20.8 WTE).
Figure 4: Whole Time Equivalent per 100,000 population of Applied
Psychologists in NHSScotland Psychology Services as at 31 March 2011 and
31 March 2023

Staff by Professional
Group
At 31 March 2023, All Applied Psychologists comprised 62% of the
workforce (953.3 WTE) and Other Clinical Staff 38% (585.1 WTE).
Figure 5 shows the WTE of different Professional Groups in
NHSScotland. Clinical Psychologists were the largest staff group,
comprising 55.9% (859.4 WTE) of the workforce. This is 1.5% (12.5 WTE)
higher than at 31 March 2022 and 0.4% (3.4 WTE) higher than the previous
quarter. The WTE of Counselling Psychologists increased from the
previous year by 4.2% (3.3 WTE), the WTE of Health Psychologists
increased by 6.6% (0.5 WTE), and the WTE of Forensic Psychologists did
not change.
The WTE of all Other Clinical Staff groups also increased between 31
March 2022 and 31 March 2023, particularly Psychology Assistants, which
rose by 38.1%, (46.5 WTE) over that year. The WTE of the Other staff
category increased by 21.6%, (19.5 WTE), Clinical Associates by 8.8% (17
WTE), Cognitive Behavioural Therapists by 10.9%, (5.6 WTE) and
Counsellors by 5.6%, (0.9 WTE).
Figure 5: WTE of Professional Groups in NHSScotland Psychology
Services as at 31 March 2022 and 31 March 2023

Other includes: Mental Health Clinicians, Self Help Workers, Peer
Support Workers, Primary Mental Health Workers, Mental Health Nurses,
Psychological Therapists and Child and Adolescent Therapists.
The professional group Clinical Associate in Applied Psychology
(CAAP) has been recorded since 31 December 2017. Previously, these staff
would have been included in either the Graduate of the MSc Psychological
Therapy in Primary Care or Graduate of the MSc Applied Psychology for
Children and Young People professional groups, which have now been
removed. While data quality checks and updates are ongoing, some CAAPs
are still being recorded in the Other professional group. Increasingly
NHS Boards are employing graduates of the MSc PTPC under roles other
than CAAP. These individuals are recorded under ‘CBT Therapist’, ‘Other
Therapist’ and ‘Other’.
Staff by Target Age
and Area of Work
This section provides further information on the specialty areas and
patient groups cared for by the psychology workforce. For more detailed
information please refer to the background tables.
Within each professional group, individual staff members may work
across several different Target Ages and Areas of Work. Target Age
refers to the age group of patients being cared for. For Psychology
Services, the distinct age groups are generally Child & Adolescent
(0-18 years), Adult (19-64 years), or Older Adult (65+ years).
Area of Work refers to the broad specialty area that the clinician
works in. For definitions of each Area of Work please refer to the
Glossary.
Target Age
Figure 6 displays the quarterly WTE of staff working across each
Target Age, between September 2006 and 31 March 2023. The largest Target
Age group continues to be Adult, which accounts for 60.1% (924 WTE) of
the Psychology workforce at 31 March 2023. The Child and Adolescent
Target Age accounts for 25.7% (395.9 WTE) of the workforce, Older Adults
5.7% (87.2 WTE) and Age Non-Specific 8.5% (131.3 WTE).
The Adult Target Age category has seen the largest growth of WTE
since March 2011, an increase of 64.5% (362.2 WTE). The largest
percentage increases were seen in the Age Non-Specific and Older Adult
categories, with increases of 166.6% (82.1 WTE) and 124.1% (48.3 WTE)
respectively. The increase within the Older Adult Target Age may partly
be due to the introduction of trainees on the Doctorate in Clinical
Psychology course having specific alignment to Older People’s Services.
The MSc Psychological Therapy in Primary Care course covers both adults
and older adults. This has enabled graduates to work in the Older Adult
Target Age on completion, an age group for which historically there have
been fewer staff assigned.
The WTE of staff working within the Child and Adolescent Target Age
has increased by 87.4% (184.6 WTE) over this time period, although the
proportion of staff has remained similar, accounting for around a
quarter of the total staff WTE.
Figure 6: Whole Time Equivalent of All Clinical Staff in Psychology
Services by Target Age between 31 December 2011 and 31 March 2023

There is a differing age range of service provision across the boards
in child services. For more details, please see the Age of Service
Provision table within the CAMHS publication, available here.
Area of Work
Area of Work refers to the broad specialty area of the services that
a clinician provides - the areas being Mental Health, Learning
Disabilities, Physical Health, Neuropsychology, Forensic, Alcohol &
Substance Misuse and Other specialty services.
Figure 7 shows the WTE for the Mental Health Area of Work, broken
down into sub-specialties (General, Mild to Moderate, Severe and
Enduring, Eating Disorders, and Early Intervention) at 31 March 2011, 31
March 2022 and 31 March 2023. Different specialty areas have different
staffing requirements. For example, the subcategory Severe and Enduring
Mental Health requires a more intensive level of staffing than Mild to
Moderate services. For definitions of each Area of Work, including the
subcategories for Mental Health, please see the Glossary.
By far the largest area of work is General Mental Health, which
accounted for 47.7% (734.5 WTE) of the workforce at 31 March 2023. Mild
to Moderate Mental Health accounted for 9.1% (139.5 WTE) of the
workforce, Early Intervention for 2.8% (43.3 WTE), Severe and Enduring
Mental Health for 2.4% (36.5 WTE), and Eating Disorders for 1% (15.8
WTE).
Figure 7: WTE of Staff in Post in the Mental Health Area of Work,
Overall and by Subcategory, as at 31 March 2011, 31 March 2022 and 31
March 2023

The WTE of the majority of Mental Health subcategories has increased
since March 2022; General Mental Health by 11.1% (73.3 WTE), Mild to
Moderate Mental Health by 14.8% (18 WTE), Severe and Enduring Mental
Health by 3.5% (1.2 WTE), and Eating Disorders by 49.1% (5.2 WTE).
Conversely, the WTE of the Early Intervention subcategory decreased by
-8.3% (-3.9 WTE)
Figure 8 shows the WTE of non-Mental Health areas of work. The
largest of these is Physical Health, accounting for 10.5%, (161.1 WTE).
The second largest is the Other category (9.8%, 150.8 WTE), which
incorporates sub-categories such as Healthcare for the Elderly and
Dementia, Academic, Teaching and Management, Trauma Services, Autistic
Spectrum Disorders, Self-help Workers, Prison Services and Gender-based
Violence. This is followed by Learning Disabilities (6.1%, 93.3 WTE),
Forensic (4.7%, 72.4 WTE), Neuropsychology (3.4%, 52.6 WTE), and Alcohol
and Substance Misuse (2.5%, 38.7 WTE).
Figure 8: WTE/Percentage of Staff in Post in the Non-Mental Health
Areas of Work, as at 31 March 2023

Characteristics of the
Workforce
Gender and Contracted
Hours
Since March 2011, the majority of the increase seen in WTE can be
accounted for by the rise in female staff working within Psychology
Services, from a total of 809 headcount in March 2011 to 1573 headcount
at the current census date (+764 headcount, a 94.4% increase). The
number of male staff has remained relatively stable: 271 headcount as at
the current census, increasing from 194 (+77 headcount, 39.7%).
Over the past 12 months, the headcount of female staff has increased
by 107 (7.3%). Female staff currently contribute 1294.3 WTE (84.1%) of
the total 1538.4 WTE within NHSScotland Psychology Services.
Overall, 50.7% of posts were part-time at the latest census compared
to 37.3% at 31 March 2011. The majority of this increase can be
attributed to the increase in part-time female staff, with 54% of
contracts for female staff being part-time at the current census date
compared to 40.2% in March 2011.
The trend for contract type and gender is illustrated in Figure 9.
For more detailed information on contract type and gender by
professional group, please refer to Table 6.1 within the background tables.
Figure 9: Trend of Contract Type and Gender for Psychology Staff
within NHSScotland from 31 March 2011 to 31 March 2023

Contract Term
At 31 March 2023, 82.1% (1262.3 WTE) of staff in NHSScotland
Psychology Services were employed on a permanent contract, 14.6% (225.2
WTE) were employed on a fixed term contract of less than two years’
duration and 3.3% (50.8 WTE) were employed on a fixed term contract of
longer than two years’ duration.
Figure 10 shows the WTE of staff employed on a permanent contract as
at 31 March 2023. While 90% (857.8 WTE) of All Applied Psychologists
held a permanent contract, this number was lower for Other Clinical
Staff (69.1%, 404.5 WTE). The percentage of Applied Psychologists on
permanent contracts has declined from 92.7% (585 WTE) at March 2011,
while the percentage of Other Clinical Staff holding permanent contracts
has increased from 57.6% (132.5 WTE).
Figure 10: WTE of Applied Psychologists and Other Clinical Staff on
Permanent and Fixed Term Contracts, as at 31 March 2023

Age Profile of
Staff
Figure 11 shows the age distribution of male and female staff as at
31 March 2023, and Figure 12 shows the mean WTE of male and female staff
by age category. These two charts show that, while the largest group of
staff by age category is female staff aged 35-39 (320 headcount), the
average wte of this group is 0.8, compared to 0.89 for male staff.
Figure 11: Age distribution of female and male staff as at 31 March
2023

Figure 12: Mean WTE of female and male staff by age band, as at 31
March 2023
