Public sector personnel

People employed in central and local government, and public corporations, including second jobs in the public sector. Includes Civil Service employment with regional and diversity analyses.

Spotlight

Public Sector Employment by Sector; Central Gov; UK; HC; SA; Thousands

3,350 000's

2020 Q2

Release date:
15 September 2020
Next release:
15 December 2020
View this data
More data

Public sector employment, UK: June 2020

What's in the bulletin?

  • Total public sector employment (PSE) increased by 39,000 (0.7%) between March and June 2020, mainly because of an increase in employment in the National Health Service in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
  • The National Health Service employed an estimated 1.78 million people in June 2020, an increase of 34,000 (1.9%) on March 2020 and 88,000 (5.2%) on June 2019, the highest since records began in 1999; it accounted for 32.4% of all people employed in the public sector and 5.4% of all people in paid work in the UK.
  • Employment in central government increased to an estimated 3.35 million for June 2020, up 45,000 (1.4%) compared with March 2020 and 133,000 (4.1%) compared with June 2019; the main contributors to this increase were the NHS, the Civil Service and local authority schools becoming academies.
Read this statistical bulletin
More publications

Is pay higher in the public or private sector?

How has public and private sector pay changed over the last 10 years?

Back to top

Time series related to Public sector personnel

View all time series related to Public sector personnel Back to top

Datasets related to Public sector personnel

  • Public sector employment

    Quarterly estimates of UK and regional public sector employment, made up of central government (including Civil Service), local government and public corporations. The estimates also include an industrial breakdown.

  • Civil Service statistics

    Annual data on Civil Service employment in the UK, including gender, ethnicity, disability status, earnings and location of the Civil Service workforce. This dataset has now been transferred to the Cabinet Office.

  • Civil Service statistics data summary tool

    An interactive tool allowing users to compare government departments and the Civil Service average, including the split between men and women, full-time and part-time employees, permanent and temporary appointments and regional analysis.

  • Public sector employment time series

    Seasonally adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted quarterly time series of UK public sector employment, containing the latest estimates.

  • Civil Service statistics

    Annual data on Civil Service employment in the UK, including gender, ethnicity, disability status, earnings and location of the Civil Service workforce. This dataset has now been transferred to the Cabinet Office.

  • Civil Service statistics data summary tool

    An interactive tool allowing users to compare government departments and the Civil Service average, including the split between men and women, full-time and part-time employees, permanent and temporary appointments and regional analysis.

View all datasets related to Public sector personnel Back to top

Publications related to Public sector personnel

Statistical bulletins

View all related statistical bulletins

Articles

View all related articles
Back to top

Methodology related to Public sector personnel

View all related methodology

Looking for local statistics?

A handy guide to let you know where to find local statistics.