NHS workforce
Published
- 1. Navigate toMain facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toThings you need to know section
- 3. Navigate toBy ethnicity section
- 4. Navigate toBy ethnicity and type of role section
- 5. Navigate toBy ethnicity and grade (non-medical staff) section
- 6. Navigate toBy ethnicity and grade (medical staff) section
- 7. Navigate toData sources section
- 8. Navigate toDownload the data section
1. Main facts and figures
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around 1.3 million people were employed by the NHS at the end of March 2020
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77.9% of NHS staff were White (out of staff whose ethnicity was known), and 22.1% were from all other ethnic groups combined
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people from each of the Asian, Chinese, Mixed and Other ethnic groups made up a larger percentage of medical staff than non-medical staff
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a higher percentage of junior doctors than senior doctors were from the Black, Chinese and Mixed ethnic groups
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among non-medical staff, there was a higher percentage of people from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic backgrounds in ‘support’ and ‘middle’ grades compared with ‘senior’ and ‘very senior manager’ grades
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows the number of NHS staff working in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups in England, and the percentage from each ethnic group.
The data is based on the number of full and part-time NHS staff at the end of March 2020.
Medical staff are junior and senior doctors, and other doctors working for hospitals and community health services.
Non-medical staff include clinical staff (for example, nurses and midwives, health visitors, and ambulance staff) and staff working in managerial, administrative and support roles.
Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.
Not included in the data
The data does not include:
- staff working in primary care, like GPs and dentists in dental practices
- staff working in NHS support organisations, and central bodies like commissioning support units and NHS Digital
- agency staff and contractors
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for the following 6 ethnic groups:
- Asian
- Black
- Chinese
- Mixed
- White
- Other
NHS staff report their own ethnicity. Ethnicity was not known for 4.7% of NHS staff.
Percentages are based only on staff whose ethnicity is known. They may be different to percentages published by the NHS.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document (PDF opens in a new window or tab) for this data.
In the data file
See Download the data for figures from 2010 to 2020.
3. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | % | Number | % working age population (2011) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asian | 10.0 | 131,446 | 7.2 |
| Black | 6.1 | 79,287 | 3.4 |
| Chinese | 0.6 | 6,929 | 0.9 |
| Mixed | 1.7 | 22,843 | 1.8 |
| White | 79.2 | 957,114 | 85.6 |
| Other | 2.3 | 31,457 | 1.1 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of NHS workforce By ethnicity Summary
The data shows that:
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around 1.3 million people were employed by NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups in England at the end of March 2020
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White people made up 77.9% of all NHS staff (out of those whose ethnicity was known)
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Asian people made up 10.7% of NHS staff, compared with 7.2% of working age people
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Black people made up 6.5% of NHS staff, compared with 3.4% of working age people
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people from the Other ethnic group made up 2.6% of NHS staff, compared with 1.1% of working age people
4. By ethnicity and type of role
| Medical | Non-Medical | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Medical % | Medical Number | Non-Medical % | Non-Medical Number |
| All | 100.0 | 126,523 | 100.0 | 1,163,358 |
| Asian | 30.2 | 34,815 | 8.7 | 96,645 |
| Black | 5.2 | 5,953 | 6.6 | 73,335 |
| Chinese | 2.6 | 2,940 | 0.4 | 3,991 |
| Mixed | 3.5 | 3,975 | 1.7 | 18,869 |
| White | 54.0 | 62,135 | 80.3 | 895,037 |
| Other | 4.6 | 5,351 | 2.3 | 26,108 |
| Unknown | N/A* | 11,354 | N/A* | 49,373 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and type of role’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and type of role’ (CSV)
Summary of NHS workforce By ethnicity and type of role Summary
The data shows that:
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around 90% of people employed by NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups in England were working in non-medical roles, and around 10% were in medical roles
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White people made up a higher percentage of non-medical staff (80.3%) than medical staff (54.0%), as did Black people (6.6% of non-medical staff and 5.2% of medical staff)
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Asian people made up 30.2% of medical staff. This was higher than the percentage of non-medical staff (8.7%) from an Asian background.
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this was also the case for people from the Chinese ethnic group (2.6% of medical staff, 0.4% of non-medical staff), the Mixed ethnic group (3.5% and 1.7%) and the Other ethnic group (4.6% and 2.3%)
5. By ethnicity and grade (non-medical staff)
| Asian | Black | Chinese | Mixed | White | Other | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specific grade | Asian % | Asian Number | Black % | Black Number | Chinese % | Chinese Number | Mixed % | Mixed Number | White % | White Number | Other % | Other Number |
| Graduate entry grades | ||||||||||||
| Very Senior Manager | 4.4 | 91 | 1.3 | 28 | 0.0 | 1 | 1.1 | 22 | 92.6 | 1,922 | 0.5 | 11 |
| Band 9 | 4.1 | 73 | 2.5 | 44 | 0.6 | 10 | 1.2 | 22 | 91.1 | 1,611 | 0.5 | 9 |
| Band 8d | 4.1 | 175 | 2.4 | 104 | 0.5 | 20 | 1.2 | 51 | 91.7 | 3,952 | 0.2 | 10 |
| Band 8c | 5.0 | 433 | 3.3 | 291 | 0.4 | 39 | 1.4 | 119 | 89.2 | 7,768 | 0.7 | 63 |
| Band 8b | 5.9 | 1,028 | 3.4 | 592 | 0.6 | 110 | 1.5 | 253 | 87.7 | 15,215 | 0.9 | 154 |
| Band 8a | 7.1 | 3,289 | 4.3 | 1,970 | 0.7 | 326 | 1.6 | 716 | 85.2 | 39,343 | 1.1 | 525 |
| Band 7 | 6.7 | 8,444 | 5.1 | 6,494 | 0.6 | 737 | 1.5 | 1,877 | 84.5 | 106,642 | 1.6 | 2,034 |
| Band 6 | 7.8 | 16,556 | 6.5 | 13,815 | 0.5 | 960 | 1.6 | 3,411 | 81.4 | 173,531 | 2.4 | 5,036 |
| Band 5 | 13.4 | 29,539 | 8.8 | 19,431 | 0.4 | 834 | 1.8 | 4,086 | 71.1 | 157,001 | 4.5 | 9,998 |
| Non-graduate entry grades | ||||||||||||
| Band 4 | 7.3 | 7,391 | 5.5 | 5,619 | 0.3 | 282 | 1.8 | 1,801 | 83.8 | 84,932 | 1.3 | 1,277 |
| Band 3 | 7.0 | 10,959 | 6.8 | 10,599 | 0.2 | 302 | 1.7 | 2,707 | 82.8 | 129,268 | 1.5 | 2,370 |
| Band 2 | 8.5 | 17,219 | 6.6 | 13,415 | 0.2 | 357 | 1.7 | 3,492 | 80.8 | 163,951 | 2.1 | 4,359 |
| Band 1 | 9.8 | 1,143 | 6.6 | 764 | 0.2 | 23 | 1.8 | 210 | 79.4 | 9,234 | 2.2 | 258 |
| Unspecified | ||||||||||||
| Other grades | 7.9 | 806 | 5.2 | 532 | 0.2 | 19 | 2.2 | 230 | 83.5 | 8,537 | 1.0 | 103 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and grade (non-medical staff)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and grade (non-medical staff)’ (CSV)
Summary of NHS workforce By ethnicity and grade (non-medical staff) Summary
The data shows that:
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people from Asian, Black, Chinese, Mixed and Other ethnic backgrounds made up 19.7% of non-medical staff overall
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within every non-medical grade, people from Asian backgrounds made up the highest percentage of ethnic minority staff, including 13.4% of the lowest graduate entry grade (Band 5)
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in graduate entry grades, staff from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups made up a smaller percentage of senior than junior grades – for example, Black people made up 1.3% of staff in the ‘very senior manager’ grade (the most senior band), compared with 8.8% of staff in band 5 (the most junior)
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in non-graduate entry grades, staff from the Asian, Black, and Other ethnic groups made up a smaller percentage of senior than junior grades – for example, Asian people made up 7.3% of staff in band 4 (the most senior band), compared with 9.8% in band 1 (the most junior)
6. By ethnicity and grade (medical staff)
| Asian | Black | Chinese | Mixed | White | Other | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade | Asian % | Asian Number | Black % | Black Number | Chinese % | Chinese Number | Mixed % | Mixed Number | White % | White Number | Other % | Other Number |
| All grades | 30.2 | 34,815 | 5.2 | 5,953 | 2.6 | 2,940 | 3.5 | 3,975 | 54.0 | 62,135 | 4.6 | 5,351 |
| Senior Doctor (Career Grade) | ||||||||||||
| Consultant | 29.1 | 14,540 | 2.9 | 1,437 | 2.1 | 1,059 | 2.4 | 1,212 | 59.9 | 29,940 | 3.5 | 1,773 |
| Associate Specialist | 41.7 | 839 | 5.2 | 105 | 0.7 | 14 | 3.0 | 61 | 40.5 | 814 | 8.9 | 178 |
| Specialty Doctor | 42.9 | 3,422 | 7.4 | 587 | 0.9 | 75 | 3.6 | 285 | 37.4 | 2,990 | 7.8 | 626 |
| Staff Grade | 39.1 | 119 | 6.9 | 21 | 1.6 | 5 | 5.3 | 16 | 39.5 | 120 | 7.6 | 23 |
| Junior Doctor (Training and equivalent) | ||||||||||||
| Specialty Registrar | 29.1 | 8,522 | 7.5 | 2,193 | 3.4 | 998 | 4.4 | 1,304 | 50.3 | 14,746 | 5.3 | 1,559 |
| Core Training | 31.5 | 3,902 | 8.0 | 992 | 2.9 | 365 | 4.7 | 582 | 47.1 | 5,844 | 5.8 | 713 |
| Foundation Doctor Year 1 | 25.3 | 1,457 | 4.4 | 254 | 4.1 | 238 | 4.3 | 250 | 58.5 | 3,372 | 3.4 | 197 |
| Foundation Doctor Year 2 | 30.2 | 1,535 | 6.1 | 310 | 3.2 | 162 | 4.3 | 219 | 51.4 | 2,613 | 4.9 | 248 |
| Other doctors | ||||||||||||
| Hospital Practitioner / Clinical Assistant | 18.7 | 273 | 2.1 | 30 | 1.0 | 14 | 1.7 | 25 | 74.8 | 1,090 | 1.8 | 26 |
| Other and Local HCHS Doctor Grades | 23.5 | 287 | 2.5 | 31 | 1.3 | 16 | 2.8 | 34 | 67.9 | 830 | 2.0 | 24 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and grade (medical staff)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and grade (medical staff)’ (CSV)
Summary of NHS workforce By ethnicity and grade (medical staff) Summary
The data shows that:
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senior doctors were more likely to be White (56.2%) or Asian (31.4%) than junior doctors (50.5% and 29.3%)
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a higher percentage of junior doctors were from Black, Chinese, Mixed or Other ethnic backgrounds compared with senior doctors
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White doctors (59.9%) made up a higher percentage of consultants (the highest senior doctor grade) compared with the other senior grades
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doctors from the Mixed ethnic group made up a higher percentage (5.3%) of doctors at staff grade (the most junior of the senior grades) than they did the other senior grades
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Asian doctors (42.9%) made up a higher percentage of specialty doctors compared with the other senior grades
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74.8% of hospital practitioner or clinical assistant roles were filled by White employees – the highest percentage of White staff in any specific medical grade
7. Data sources
Source
NHS Workforce Statistics - March 2020
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
NHS Digital
Note on corrections or updates
The data back to March 2010 has been revised by NHS Digital. There are some changes to the headcounts in the download files between 2010 and 2019.
Publication frequency
Quarterly
Purpose of data source
To monitor equality and diversity among people working for the NHS.
8. Download the data
Measure, Time, Ethnicity, Ethnicity type, Role type, Broad grade, Grade, Entry level, Value, Headcount