NHS workforce

Published 13 April 2023

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• in June 2022, over 1.3 million people were employed by the NHS

• out of NHS staff whose ethnicity was known, 74.3% were white and 25.7% were from ethnic minority groups (not including white minority groups)

• 68.7% of professionally qualified clinical staff were white, and were 15.9% were Asian

• ethnic minority staff made up 15.0% of people in managerial level positions, and 11.3% of senior managerial level positions

• ethnic minority staff made up 49.9% of hospital and community health services (HCHS) doctors

• Asian staff made up the highest percentage of HCHS doctors working in staff grade, specialty doctor, and associate specialist positions

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data shows the number of NHS staff working in NHS trusts and other core organisations 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 June 2022.

The broad areas of the NHS workforce are:

• Professionally qualified clinical staff
• Support to clinical staff
• NHS infrastructure support staff
• other staff or those with unknown classification

Data is shown for the following roles:

• ambulance staff, nurses and midwives, and hospital and community health services (HCHS) doctors – these are from the professionally qualified clinical staff group of roles

• hotel, property and estates (including domestic and estates services, such as cleaning and maintenance), and managers and senior managers – these are from the NHS infrastructure support group of roles

Data is also shown for individual grades of HCHS doctors. Download the data for breakdowns of different roles and grades.

Percentages and rates 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 4.4% of NHS staff. This includes staff whose ethnicity was unknown, refused, not stated, and staff who used discontinued ethnicity codes for categories used by the NHS.

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 for this data.

3. By ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: June 2022
• Source: NHS Workforce Statistics - June 2022

Number and percentage of NHS workforce by ethnicity and time

	All		Asian		Black		Chinese		Mixed		White		Other		Unknown
Time	All %	All Number	Asian %	Asian Number	Black %	Black Number	Chinese %	Chinese Number	Mixed %	Mixed Number	White %	White Number	Other %	Other Number	Unknown %	Unknown Number
Sep 2009	100.0	1,094,907	7.3	79,872	5.1	55,364	0.5	5,915	1.1	12,506	84.1	921,112	1.8	20,138	N/A*	57,583
Sep 2010	100.0	1,111,645	7.5	83,738	5.1	56,832	0.5	6,004	1.2	13,205	83.8	931,328	1.8	20,538	N/A*	51,695
Sep 2011	100.0	1,091,028	7.7	84,061	5.2	56,746	0.5	5,921	1.2	13,166	83.5	910,640	1.9	20,494	N/A*	49,364
Sep 2012	100.0	1,068,225	7.9	84,842	5.3	56,384	0.6	5,907	1.3	13,463	83.1	887,451	1.9	20,178	N/A*	48,102
Sep 2013	100.0	1,062,071	8.1	86,098	5.4	56,903	0.5	5,790	1.3	14,074	82.7	878,861	1.9	20,345	N/A*	48,424
Sep 2014	100.0	1,082,790	8.4	90,450	5.4	58,242	0.5	5,842	1.4	15,160	82.4	892,447	1.9	20,649	N/A*	48,403
Sep 2015	100.0	1,100,383	8.6	94,741	5.4	59,729	0.5	5,956	1.5	16,120	82.0	902,622	1.9	21,215	N/A*	50,316
Sep 2016	100.0	1,121,964	9.0	100,620	5.5	62,264	0.5	6,076	1.5	17,244	81.4	913,586	2.0	22,174	N/A*	53,309
Sep 2017	100.0	1,140,254	9.4	106,926	5.8	65,586	0.5	6,263	1.6	18,489	80.6	919,343	2.1	23,647	N/A*	52,490
Sep 2018	100.0	1,159,700	9.8	113,907	6.0	69,104	0.6	6,488	1.7	19,686	79.8	924,957	2.2	25,558	N/A*	56,688
Sep 2019	100.0	1,197,137	10.3	123,868	6.3	74,868	0.6	6,792	1.8	21,448	78.6	940,810	2.5	29,351	N/A*	59,229
Sep 2020	100.0	1,251,155	10.8	135,304	6.6	82,601	0.6	7,187	1.9	24,090	77.5	969,394	2.6	32,579	N/A*	58,401
Sep 2021	100.0	1,297,230	11.7	151,397	7.0	90,751	0.6	7,730	2.1	26,607	75.8	983,671	2.9	37,074	N/A*	58,451
Jun 2022	100.0	1,315,562	12.5	164,701	7.4	97,106	0.6	8,088	2.1	27,767	74.3	977,837	3.0	40,063	N/A*	61,170

^* Not applicable

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Summary of NHS workforce By ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• in June 2022, over 1.3 million people were employed by the NHS

• out of NHS staff whose ethnicity was known, 74.3% were white – by comparison, 80.7% of the working age population in England was white at the time of the 2021 Census

• Asian staff made up 12.5% of the NHS workforce, and 10.1% of the working age population

• black staff made up 7.4% of the NHS workforce, and 4.4% of the working age population

• between 2009 and 2022, the percentage of NHS staff who were white went down from 84.1% to 74.3%

• the percentage of NHS staff who were Asian went up from 7.3% to 12.5% – the biggest increase out of all ethnic groups

4. By ethnicity and staff group

• Location: England
• Time period: June 2022
• Source: NHS Workforce Statistics - June 2022

Number and percentage of NHS workforce by ethnicity and staff group

	Professionally Qualified Clinical Staff		Support To Clinical Staff		NHS Infrastructure Support		Other Staff Or Those With Unknown Classification		All Staff Groups
Ethnicity	Professionally Qualified Clinical Staff %	Professionally Qualified Clinical Staff Number	Support To Clinical Staff %	Support To Clinical Staff Number	NHS Infrastructure Support %	NHS Infrastructure Support Number	Other Staff Or Those With Unknown Classification %	Other Staff Or Those With Unknown Classification Number	All Staff Groups %	All Staff Groups Number
All	100.0	681,565	100.0	418,870	100.0	216,319	100.0	457	100.0	1,315,562
Asian	15.9	108,361	9.0	37,557	8.7	18,810	29.3	134	12.5	164,701
Black	8.0	54,848	7.1	29,897	5.7	12,413	13.6	62	7.4	97,106
Chinese	0.9	6,300	0.2	1,009	0.4	782	0.4	2	0.6	8,088
Mixed	2.2	14,943	2.1	8,735	1.9	4,104	2.6	12	2.1	27,767
White	68.7	468,407	79.5	333,176	82.0	177,402	37.2	170	74.3	977,837
Other	4.2	28,706	2.0	8,496	1.3	2,808	16.8	77	3.0	40,063
Unknown	N/A*	33,764	N/A*	16,613	N/A*	10,816	N/A*	51	N/A*	61,170

^* Not applicable

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Summary of NHS workforce By ethnicity and staff group Summary

The data shows that:

• around 52% of NHS staff were employed in roles in the ‘professionally qualified clinical staff’ group (around 680,000 people)

• 68.7% of professionally qualified clinical staff were white – 15.9% were Asian, and 8.0% were black

• white people also made up the highest percentage of staff in infrastructure support (82.0%) and clinical support (79.5%) groups

5. By ethnicity (professionally qualified clinical staff)

• Location: England
• Time period: June 2022
• Source: NHS Workforce Statistics - June 2022

Number and percentage of NHS workforce by ethnicity and time (professionally qualified clinical staff)

	All		Asian		Black		Chinese		Mixed		White		Other		Unknown
Role	All %	All Number	Asian %	Asian Number	Black %	Black Number	Chinese %	Chinese Number	Mixed %	Mixed Number	White %	White Number	Other %	Other Number	Unknown %	Unknown Number
Sep 2009	100.0	563,367	10.1	56,803	5.7	32,384	0.8	4,754	1.2	6,979	79.5	448,028	2.6	14,419	N/A*	30,807
Sep 2010	100.0	574,831	10.3	59,098	5.8	33,300	0.8	4,811	1.3	7,425	79.2	455,486	2.6	14,711	N/A*	27,466
Sep 2011	100.0	575,630	10.4	59,852	5.8	33,648	0.8	4,731	1.3	7,562	79.1	455,163	2.5	14,674	N/A*	26,601
Sep 2012	100.0	568,275	10.6	60,042	5.9	33,315	0.8	4,739	1.4	7,794	78.8	447,882	2.6	14,503	N/A*	26,029
Sep 2013	100.0	574,659	10.6	60,851	5.9	33,732	0.8	4,692	1.4	8,257	78.7	452,534	2.5	14,593	N/A*	26,603
Sep 2014	100.0	582,683	10.8	62,668	5.8	33,687	0.8	4,670	1.5	8,753	78.7	458,345	2.5	14,560	N/A*	26,986
Sep 2015	100.0	588,591	10.9	64,246	5.7	33,371	0.8	4,743	1.6	9,166	78.6	462,389	2.5	14,676	N/A*	27,880
Sep 2016	100.0	596,908	11.2	66,956	5.7	33,987	0.8	4,830	1.6	9,692	78.1	466,167	2.6	15,276	N/A*	29,650
Sep 2017	100.0	605,900	11.6	70,264	5.8	35,325	0.8	4,961	1.7	10,255	77.4	468,848	2.7	16,247	N/A*	29,611
Sep 2018	100.0	614,839	12.1	74,605	6.1	37,199	0.8	5,168	1.8	10,902	76.3	469,362	2.9	17,603	N/A*	31,188
Sep 2019	100.0	625,064	12.9	80,865	6.5	40,352	0.9	5,389	1.9	11,731	74.6	466,278	3.3	20,449	N/A*	33,014
Sep 2020	100.0	654,558	13.7	89,476	6.9	44,975	0.9	5,732	2.0	13,192	73.0	477,987	3.5	23,196	N/A*	32,210
Sep 2021	100.0	674,619	14.8	99,908	7.4	50,225	0.9	6,132	2.1	14,423	70.8	477,363	3.9	26,568	N/A*	32,355
Jun 2022	100.0	681,565	15.9	108,361	8.0	54,848	0.9	6,300	2.2	14,943	68.7	468,407	4.2	28,706	N/A*	33,764

^* Not applicable

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Summary of NHS workforce By ethnicity (professionally qualified clinical staff) Summary

The data shows that, between 2009 and 2022:

• the number of professionally qualified clinical staff employed by the NHS went up from 563,367 to 681,565

• the percentage of professionally qualified clinical staff who were white went down 79.5% to 68.7%

• the percentage who were Asian went up from 10.1% to 15.9%

In June 2022:

• staff from ethnic minority groups (excluding white minorities) made up 49.9% of hospital and community health services (HCHS) doctors – 32.0% were Asian and 5.9% were black

• staff from ethnic minority groups made up 32.6% of nurses and health visitors – 14.5% were Asian and 10.7% were black

• staff from ethnic minority groups made up 4.2% of ambulance staff

6. By ethnicity and grade (hospital and community health services doctors)

• Location: England
• Time period: June 2022
• Source: NHS Workforce Statistics - June 2022

Number and percentage of NHS workforce by ethnicity and grade (hospital and community health service doctors)

	All		Asian		Black		Chinese		Mixed		White		Other		Unknown
Grade	All %	All Number	Asian %	Asian Number	Black %	Black Number	Chinese %	Chinese Number	Mixed %	Mixed Number	White %	White Number	Other %	Other Number	Unknown %	Unknown Number
All Grades	100.0	125,568	32.0	40,162	5.9	7,440	2.7	3,448	3.9	4,875	50.1	62,853	5.4	6,790	N/A*	10,633
Foundation Doctor Year 1	100.0	5,952	29.6	1,762	5.7	340	5.0	297	5.2	307	49.9	2,972	4.6	274	N/A*	628
Foundation Doctor Year 2	100.0	5,656	31.9	1,806	6.9	388	4.1	233	4.7	266	47.4	2,680	5.0	283	N/A*	727
Core Training	100.0	16,318	34.8	5,676	10.0	1,629	3.1	513	5.3	869	39.2	6,389	7.6	1,242	N/A*	1,730
Specialty Registrar	100.0	30,786	30.6	9,435	8.3	2,540	3.4	1,036	5.0	1,527	46.6	14,361	6.1	1,887	N/A*	3,013
Hospital Practitioner / Clinical Assistant	100.0	1,466	21.6	317	2.7	39	1.0	14	1.7	25	71.1	1,042	2.0	29	N/A*	190
Staff Grade	100.0	314	40.1	126	8.6	27	2.2	7	5.1	16	32.8	103	11.1	35	N/A*	41
Specialty Doctor	100.0	8,551	44.2	3,777	8.3	707	0.9	74	3.9	334	34.0	2,910	8.8	749	N/A*	723
Associate Specialist	100.0	2,085	43.5	907	5.1	107	0.9	19	3.5	74	39.5	823	7.4	155	N/A*	164
Consultant	100.0	53,594	30.1	16,143	3.0	1,630	2.3	1,242	2.7	1,438	57.9	31,009	4.0	2,132	N/A*	3,343
Other And Local HCHS Doctor Grades	100.0	1,203	25.9	311	3.2	38	2.1	25	2.3	28	64.6	777	2.0	24	N/A*	109

^* Not applicable

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Summary of NHS workforce By ethnicity and grade (hospital and community health services doctors) Summary

Hospital and community health services (HCHS) doctors work within the ‘professionally qualified clinical staff’ group of roles in the NHS. They do not include GPs and dentists.

The data shows that:

• in June 2022, there were 125,568 HCHS doctors in the NHS, with around 67% of them working at consultant or specialty registrar grades

• Asian staff made up the highest percentage of HCHS doctors working in staff grade (40.1%), specialty doctor (44.2%), and associate specialist (43.5%) grades

• white staff made up the highest percentage of HCHS doctors working in all other grades, with Asian staff the second largest ethnic group in every case

• the grades with the largest percentages of black doctors were core training (10.0%), staff grade (8.6%), and specialty doctor and specialty registrar (both 8.3%)

7. By ethnicity and role (hotel, property and estates)

• Location: England
• Time period: June 2022
• Source: NHS Workforce Statistics - June 2022

Percentage and number of NHS workforce by ethnicity and role over time (hotel, property and estates)

	All		Asian		Black		Chinese		Mixed		White		Other		Unknown
Time	All %	All Number	Asian %	Asian Number	Black %	Black Number	Chinese %	Chinese Number	Mixed %	Mixed Number	White %	White Number	Other %	Other Number	Unknown %	Unknown Number
Sep 2009	100.0	69,174	4.9	3,380	4.7	3,284	0.3	183	0.9	647	87.6	60,584	1.6	1,096	N/A*	4,437
Sep 2010	100.0	69,363	4.9	3,393	4.7	3,276	0.2	160	1.0	686	87.6	60,730	1.6	1,118	N/A*	4,108
Sep 2011	100.0	67,378	5.1	3,452	4.8	3,221	0.2	141	1.0	662	87.3	58,794	1.6	1,108	N/A*	3,651
Sep 2012	100.0	65,629	5.4	3,560	4.8	3,183	0.2	133	1.0	681	86.9	57,002	1.6	1,070	N/A*	3,448
Sep 2013	100.0	63,408	5.6	3,532	4.9	3,109	0.2	129	1.1	670	86.5	54,877	1.7	1,091	N/A*	3,216
Sep 2014	100.0	62,043	5.9	3,634	5.0	3,080	0.2	120	1.1	685	86.2	53,496	1.7	1,028	N/A*	2,890
Sep 2015	100.0	60,688	6.1	3,692	5.3	3,201	0.2	112	1.2	731	85.6	51,924	1.7	1,028	N/A*	3,191
Sep 2016	100.0	62,051	6.4	3,986	5.4	3,378	0.2	110	1.3	802	85.0	52,722	1.7	1,053	N/A*	3,938
Sep 2017	100.0	62,351	7.1	4,411	5.8	3,588	0.2	117	1.4	843	83.9	52,299	1.8	1,093	N/A*	3,234
Sep 2018	100.0	62,951	7.4	4,672	6.0	3,750	0.2	114	1.5	920	83.2	52,362	1.8	1,133	N/A*	4,955
Sep 2019	100.0	65,569	7.7	5,041	6.1	4,032	0.2	117	1.5	986	82.5	54,122	1.9	1,271	N/A*	4,525
Sep 2020	100.0	67,954	7.9	5,402	6.4	4,318	0.2	118	1.6	1,084	81.9	55,677	2.0	1,355	N/A*	4,753
Sep 2021	100.0	69,900	8.3	5,769	6.8	4,736	0.2	117	1.7	1,176	81.0	56,622	2.1	1,480	N/A*	4,769
Jun 2022	100.0	70,204	8.7	6,129	6.8	4,792	0.2	130	1.7	1,214	80.3	56,395	2.2	1,544	N/A*	5,112

^* Not applicable

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Summary of NHS workforce By ethnicity and role (hotel, property and estates) Summary

Staff in hotel, property and estates roles are part of the ‘infrastructure support’ group of roles in the NHS. They include:

• domestic services, which help to keep NHS hospitals and health centres clean and hygienic

• estates services, which maintain NHS buildings and grounds

• support services, which help to secure and transport patients and equipment

The data shows that:

• in June 2022, there were around 70,204 staff working in roles within hotel, property and estates in the NHS

• 80.3% of staff in these roles were white, 8.7% were Asian, 6.8% were black, and 2.2% were from the ‘other’ ethnic group

• between 2009 and 2022, the percentage of hotel, property and estates staff who were white went down from 87.6% to 80.3%

• the percentage who were Asian went up from 4.9% to 8.7%

• the percentage who were black went up from 4.7% to 6.8%

8. By ethnicity and grade (managers and senior managers)

• Location: England
• Time period: June 2022
• Source: NHS Workforce Statistics - June 2022

Number and percentage of NHS workforce by ethnicity over time (managers and senior managers)

	Managers		Senior Managers
Ethnicity	Managers %	Managers Number	Senior Managers %	Senior Managers Number
All	100.0	23,482	100.0	12,461
Asian	7.3	1,711	5.7	709
Black	4.6	1,089	3.4	420
Chinese	0.4	103	0.2	29
Mixed	1.9	451	1.4	179
White	85.0	19,959	88.7	11,049
Other	0.7	169	0.6	75
Unknown	N/A*	950	N/A*	559

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of NHS workforce By ethnicity and grade (managers and senior managers) Summary

The data shows that, in June 2022:

• there were around 35,943 staff in managerial and senior managerial roles in the NHS

• ethnic minority staff made up 15.0% of positions at managerial level, and 11.3% at senior managerial level

• for every ethnic minority group, there was a higher percentage of staff in manager roles than there were in senior manager roles

• for white staff, there was a higher percentage of staff in senior manager roles than manager roles

9. Data sources

Source

NHS Workforce Statistics - June 2022

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

Official statistics

Publisher

NHS Digital

Publication frequency

Quarterly

Purpose of data source

To monitor equality and diversity among people working for the NHS.

10. Download the data

NHS Workforce Data June 2022 - Spreadsheet (csv) 3 MB

This file contains the following: Measure, Time, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_type, Staff_Group, Role_Group, Grade, Value, Value_type, Numerator, Denominator

Publication release date: 13 April 2023

full page history

1. 13 April 2023 Updated with data for 2022 including disaggregation by different grades and roles.

From: NHS Digital

Previous editions:

1. 7 August 2020
2. 14 May 2019
3. 8 October 2018

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