DAPB1067: National Workforce Data Set

The National Workforce Data Set (NWD) is a reference data standard comprising standardised definitions to facilitate the capture of nationally consistent information relating to the NHS and wider healthcare workforce. NWD data items support a variety of workforce collections and are also embedded within operational HR/workforce IT systems, including the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) and NHS Jobs.

This information standard is published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. An Information Standards Notice (see below) provides an overview of scope and implementation timescales, and the other listed documents provide further detail for those who have to implement the information standard.

1 March 2025

Routine annual minor updates to the reference data set used in ESR and HR systems.  Below is a high-level summary of the changes:

• Job Role – new value/change to existing value 

• Occupation Code – changes to existing values/retire a value 

• Area of Work – new values/changes to existing values 

• Fixed Term/Temporary Contract Reason – Changes to existing values/retire a value 

• Inclusion of a new element relating to Socio-economic Background Information at the request of the Secretary of State 

• Presentational / guidance updates to the NWD specification and guidance documents which do not materially impact the individual values described by the NWD 

Review the NWD archive page for previous releases approved by the Data Coordination Board since 2017.

Documentation from earlier releases approved by the Standardisation Committee for Care Information (SCCI) and the Information Standards Board (ISB) is available on request from the Data Standards Assurance Service - email: [email protected]  

28 May 2024: Publication of an updated Change Specification for Amd 71/2023 Version 3.5, amending one data value as named below

• NWD v3.5 Data Set Specification – Summary of Changes tab, Proposal Number 159
• NWD_v3.5_Implementation Guidance_Final – Page 79
• NWD 3.5 Change Specification_Final – Page 26

30 June 2021: Publication of an updated Change Specification for Amd 69/2020 Version 3.2, amending one code on page 8, section 2.1, as described below. No changes have been made to any other documents

[05039] Nursing and Midwifery Registered | Surgical Care Practitioner has been corrected to [03022] Nursing and Midwifery Registered | Surgical Care Practitioner

3 June 2021: Publication of the supporting NHS Data Model and Dictionary Change Requests, following incorporation of version 3.2 in the Dictionary at the end of May 2021.

24 February 2021: Publication of Corrigendum in respect of Version 3.2, supported by changes to Change Specification, Data Set Specification and Implementation Guidance (all uplifted to document version 1.1). See Corrigendum above for full details.