ECS group survey yields new sector snapshot

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ECS group survey yields new sector snapshot

A wide-ranging survey of members working in education and children’s services was completed in March.

A sign reading:

Carrying out this work allows Prospect to get a more accurate and up-to-date picture of our members working in the sector, their working lives and their professional priorities.

Ultimately, this information allows the union to offer members a better and more relevant service.

Here are some of the main findings from the survey. 

Directly employed

  • The majority of respondents are directly employed (54%) and just over three-quarters work for local authorities (76%), with two-thirds of those covered by Soulbury.
  • Most common areas of work are school improvement (48%), children’s services management (11%) and early years professional (11%).
  • Most directly employed are on full-time, permanent contracts and have been with their employer for more than 10 years.

Self-employed

  • 27% of respondents are self employed, with about half saying clients include local authorities (54%) or multi-academy trusts (48%).
  • Our self-employed respondents provide a range of services, but the three most common are school improvement (22%), teacher training/continuing professional development (15%) and advice/training for governors (13%).
  • More than half of self-employed respondents work fewer than 20 hours a week (53%) and have engagements spread throughout the year (80%).
  • The most common tax status is "sole trader" (55%), followed by PAYE (15%) and personal service company (15%).
  • The overwhelming majority of self-employed respondents are happy with their current status and do not think they are/would not want to be classed as either “dependent contractors” or ”workers”.

Retired professionals made up 16% of the respondents.

Career and union

  • Respondents get their continuing professional development from a variety of sources: most common are employer (24%), self (22%) or local authority (17%).
  • Services most valued from Prospect include news/updates (60%), individual support (43%) and pensions advice (37%).

The online survey was sent to Prospect’s nearly 3,000 professionals working in education, children’s services, early years, commissioning and children’s social care. We received 312 responses in total for a highly creditable response rate of just under 17%.