The Gender Equality Act 2020 (the Act) requires defined entities to submit a progress report to the Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner in every second year after submitting a GEAP. The first progress report is due on 20 February 2024.

Progress reports must address the following 4 elements outlined in section 19 of the Act:

1. Gender impact assessments (GIA): report on the policies, programs and services that were subject to a GIA and the outcomes of those GIAs.
2. Gender Equality Action Plan (GEAP): report your organisation’s progress in relation to the strategies and measures listed in their GEAP.
3. Workplace gender equality indicators: demonstrate your organisation’s progress in relation to the workplace gender equality indicators.
4. Gender equality targets and quotas: demonstrate your organisation’s progress towards meeting any prescribed gender equality targets or quotas. Please note there are currently no prescribed gender equality targets or quotas in place, so you are not required to report on this in the current round of progress reporting. Guidelines to report on progress against targets and quotas will be published if they are prescribed by regulation.

Conducting a progress audit will help you to understand and demonstrate where you have made progress in relation to the workplace gender equality indicators (item 3 from the list above).

A progress audit is defined as:

1. Collecting updated information in relation to the workplace gender equality indicators.
2. Comparing the updated information to the information submitted in 2021 as part of your workplace gender audit.

This guidance sets out how to conduct a progress audit, and the data measures to include in your organisation’s progress audit. The guidance should be read with:

1. the workforce reporting template
2. the employee experience reporting template
3. the progress reporting guidelines
4. the progress reporting template.

The workforce reporting and employee experience templates are located on the progress audit page.

The progress reporting guidance and template can be found on the progress reporting page.

Overview of your progress audit

Under section 19 of the Act, a defined entity must submit a progress report to the Commissioner every second year after submitting a Gender Equality Action Plan (GEAP). In the progress report, a defined entity must (among other things) demonstrate progress in relation to the workplace gender equality indicators (described below). The progress audit is used to help you do this.

You must plan to review the information you collected as part of the 2021 workplace gender audit, compare it with the information you collect as part of your 2023 progress audit described in this guidance, and submit the results of this comparison in your progress report.

Progress report guidance can be found on our website.

Workplace Gender Equality Indicators

As defined under section 3 of the Act, workplace gender equality indicators means:

1. gender composition of all levels of the workforce
2. gender composition of governing bodies
3. equal remuneration for work of equal or comparable value across all levels of the workforce, irrespective of gender
4. sexual harassment in the workplace
5. recruitment and promotion practices in the workplace
6. availability and utilisation of terms, conditions and practices relating to family violence leave, flexible working arrangements and working arrangements supporting workers with family or caring responsibilities
7. gendered segregation within the workplace.

There are no other prescribed workplace gender equality indicators for 2023 progress reporting.

The relevant period for reporting

The relevant period for the 2023 progress report is 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2023 (or 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2023 for universities).

Different components of a progress report may have different reporting periods that fall within the relevant period. The reporting period for a progress audit is 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 (or 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 for universities).

The Commissioner acknowledges that entities received an extension on the submission of their first GEAP, which has shortened the period for implementing GEAP strategies and measures ahead of reporting on progress. As such, the change your organisation has been able to achieve in the relevant period may be impacted.

Privacy and confidentiality

It is important to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of your workforce throughout the progress audit process.

The Commission’s responsibilities

We are required to comply with the Information Privacy Principles (IPPs) in the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) (PDP Act). The IPPs regulate the way personal information is handled, from collection to use and disclosure, security, accessibility and disposal.

We are also required to comply with the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) (HR Act) when we collect and handle health information. When dealing with a systemic gender equality dispute under the Act, the Commission is also required to comply with the secrecy provisions at clause 46-46A of the Act. We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information to:

• undertake our functions under the Act
• help to resolve gender inequality disputes that arise under the Act
• communicate updates to defined entities and the general public
• perform research and data analysis to achieve our functions under the Act
• promote ourselves and our functions
• obtain products and services for our organisation.

We may also collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for other purposes explained at the time of collection or for purposes:

• which are required or authorised by or under law or
• for which you have provided your consent.

Information provided through progress audit results will be de-identified (employees’ names and personal identifiers such as employee numbers are not included). However, depending on the size of the defined entity, it may still be possible for people with access to this information to ascertain an individual’s identity based on all the information that is collected. If this is the case, this means we may collect sensitive information and personal information about employees.

We will remove any personal information from progress audit results and Gender Equality Action Plans before they are further distributed or published, in accordance with the Act.

For further information on our privacy policy including why and how we collect information, who we may share personal information with, data quality and security, and other matters, please view the privacy policy on our website.

Your organisation's responsibilities

Your organisation is responsible for your own compliance with relevant privacy obligations, including under the PDP Act and HR Act, which requires you to collect, use, and disclose personal and health information in accordance with the IPPs and Health Privacy Principles (HPPs).

It is recommended that you seek and refer to your own organisation’s guidance around privacy, confidentiality, and data protection to ensure that you maintain the privacy and confidentiality of your workforce and that you are compliant with relevant laws and regulations.

Visit the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC) website for further privacy considerations for your organisation to comply with your obligations under the Act.

Other Victorian and Commonwealth laws

When conducting a progress audit, your organisation must have regard to your legal obligations under relevant Commonwealth and state legislation and industrial instruments, including but not limited to:

• The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and other Commonwealth workplace relations legislation
• The Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) and the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic)
• The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) and the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (Cth)
• enterprise agreements, workplace determinations and modern awards.

Requirements under the regulations

• Require your progress report to be submitted in the format approved by the Commissioner. The approved format has been published on the Commissioner’s website. This means that you will be required to use the progress reporting templates published alongside these guidelines.
• Require you to demonstrate your progress in relation to the workplace gender equality indicators by completing a progress audit. A progress audit requires you to collect, compare, and submit workplace gender equality information to the Commissioner.

You can refer directly to the specific wording of the Gender Equality Amendment Regulations 2023 via the Victorian legislation website.

Conducting a progress audit requires working closely with data custodians (that is, people who define, collect and manage the data in a business context) to gather data from various systems or parts of your organisation.

For example, HR data, recruitment data and payroll data may all have separate processes to extract the required information for the progress audit.

It is important that everyone involved in the data collection process is aware of the sensitivities of collecting gender-disaggregated and intersectional data. For more information on how to maintain your employees’ privacy, please refer to section Privacy and Confidentiality above.

The Commissioner recommends the following process is undertaken to complete your progress audit.

• Stage 1 – prepare for your progress audit by designing your collection process.
• Stage 2 – complete the collection of your progress audit data.
• Stage 3 – analyse your progress audit data to determine your audit results.

The stages and high-level steps are outlined in the following figure.

This multi-stage process is like what you used to complete a workplace gender audit in 2021 in support of your Gender Equality Action Plan.

However, in 2023, the Commissioner has changed and improved the method for collecting, analysing and submitting your progress audit data. The changes aim to make it easier and quicker for you to analyse data by using tools within the reporting platform, rather than requiring you to develop your own offline analysis.

As indicated in the figure above, in 2021 your organisation collected and analysed data using a combination of your own tools and the Commission’s workforce reporting template. Populating the audit required significant effort and doing so without introducing errors was difficult.

In 2023, the Commission has revised the audit process and the capabilities of the reporting platform so that the platform can convert your data into data measures for your progress audit. This will allow you to review and analyse your data using the inbuilt reports. Once reviewed and approved by your organisation, the results can be formally submitted to the Commission.

Stage 1 - preparation

In this stage you will design the process and plan for what and how you’ll collect your progress audit data. This will include:

• Identifying people who will be involved or responsible.
• Communicating to your workforce and executive if required.
• Identifying where the progress audit data is coming from.
• Deciding how you will convert your data to match the required format.
• Deciding how you will review your data so that it is correct and complete.
• Identifying and resourcing the necessary skills to support the process.
• Documenting and agreeing your process with people who will be involved.

When designing this process, consider the following:

1. Nominate a process owner that will be the main point of contact. They will manage the process for completing the audit and will be the owner of the progress audit data while the process is underway.

2. Prepare your systems and processes so that your progress audit data will be securely managed. Do this while it is being prepared for submission using the Commission’s reporting platform.
3. Decide whether and how to communicate to your workforce about why you are doing a progress audit and how it will be conducted.
4. Determine what workforce data you need to collect. Appendix B: progress audit handbook provides the detail to help you understand what data is required and how it is defined.

5. Decide where your workforce data will come from. Consider both existing systems (such as workforce management, recruitment, training and payroll) and existing gender equality data sets (such as workplace equality and respect self-assessments, Athena SWAN or information from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency).
6. Identify and engage with the owners of these systems and existing data sets to decide how the workforce data will be extracted and prepared, including how you will check that the data is complete and correct.
7. Determine if you need to collect employee experience data. See Collecting employee experience data for your progress audit below for more information.
8. Identify any risks or challenges with collecting progress audit data and how you will address them.
9. Identify and resource the skillsets you will need to complete the process.

10. Document the steps you will follow, the responsibilities for completing those steps, their duration and order to complete. Provide opportunities for stakeholders involved to review and confirm the process and plan.

Collecting employee experience data for your progress report

Data about your employee experiences forms part of a progress audit. This data is obtained from an employee experience survey and complements the workforce data to help you better understand gender inequality in your organisation.

There are two sources of this data:

1. For organisations that participate in the Victorian Public Sector Commission’s (VPSC) 2023 People Matter Survey (PMS), including the People matter survey for local government, the VPSC will collect and provide the employee experience data to the Commission on behalf of your organisation.
2. Organisations that do not participate in the 2023 PMS will be responsible for providing employee experience data to the Commission.

Organisations that do not participate in the 2023 PMS can administer the survey in-house (not recommended) or through a third-party provider. The survey questions and guidance on collecting employee experience data (including safety and anonymity protocols, survey methodology, specifications, organisational response, and referral protocols) are available on our progress audit page of our website.

Stage 2 - data collection

In this stage, you will run the process you designed in stage one and gather the data into the necessary templates. The completed templates can be uploaded to the Commission’s reporting platform to help you analyse the data and to determine your results from your progress audit.

1. After 30 June 2023, work with the relevant people and teams (using the process you designed in Stage 1 above) to collect and/or extract the data. The data you extract should be as at the last pay run immediately prior to the end of the reporting period i.e. 30 June 2023 (31 March 2023 for universities)
2. Perform data quality assurance, such as checking for duplicates or abnormal figures, so that the data is as accurate as possible.

3. Load the data into the progress audit collection templates.
   1. All defined entities must populate the workforce reporting template.
   2. Defined entities that do not participate in the 2023 PMS should also populate the employee experience reporting template.

4. Before uploading or publishing your progress audit data, you must remove any unnecessary personal information such as employee names.

Stage 3 - data analysis

1. Upload your progress audit data using the reporting platform. Follow the instructions in the reporting platform user guide.

2. Once uploaded, use the reporting platform to change the status of your progress audit to ‘review’. The data you uploaded will be processed and compiled into reports. These will include:
   1. Indicator reports: presents the data measures associated with each of the workplace gender equality indicators.
   2. A data quality report: helps you assess if your progress audit data meets our requirements.
   3. Benchmarking and other reports: may help you to analyse your progress audit data and compare it with your previous audit data or against your industry sector.
3. Using the reporting platform user guide, review your data quality report and address any data quality issues that have been highlighted.

4. Using the following section (gender equality indicator data measures) and the reporting platform user guide, analyse your data to assess the state and nature of gender inequality in your workplace.

5. Finalise and submit the results of your progress audit and use this information in your progress report.

Categories of data

There are 2 categories of data for your progress audit: workforce data and employee experience data.

• Workforce data is taken from your internal data collection systems.
• Employee experience data is taken from your organisation’s employee experience survey (see below for further guidance). The employee experience data will complement your workforce data to help you better understand gender inequality in your organisation.

Source of employee experience data

Organisations participating in the VPSC's 2023 People Matter Survey

The relevant questions for your progress audit have been included in the 2023 PMS. The Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) will provide you with the relevant employee experience data for your progress audit.

In 2023, local councils can access an abridged version of the 2023 PMS for local government. The Commission will provide participating councils with the relevant employee experience data for your progress audit.

The VPSC will collect and provide the employee experience data to the Commission on behalf of your organisation. This means participating organisations will not need to complete and upload the employee experience reporting template.

Organisations not participating in the VPSC's 2023 People matter Survey

For organisations who will administer the survey in-house (not recommended) or through a third-party provider, the survey questions and guidance on collecting employee experience data (including safety and anonymity protocols, survey methodology, specifications, organisational response and referral protocols) are available on our progress audit page.

For these organisations, you can submit your data to the Commission using the employee experience reporting template available on our progress audit page.

Data measures

Below is a summary of the data measures taken from the workforce data. The data measures are categorised by the workplace gender equality indicators. The 'recommended' data relating to intersectional gender inequality is optional, but you are encouraged to include it where available.

The employee experience data measures, which will complement the workforce data, are available on our progress audit page.

You may wish to collect and analyse additional workforce data to inform your progress report, beyond the data measures below.

Refer to appendix A and appendix B for definitions of terms used in this section.

Workplace gender equality indicator data measures for 2023 (workforce data measures only)

Indicator 1 – gender composition of the workforce

• Gender composition at each level by employment basis as at the end of the audit reporting period.

Recommended

Gender composition at each level by employment basis, and by:

• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander identity
• age
• cultural identity
• disability
• religion
• sexual orientation

as at the end of the audit reporting period.

Indicator 2 – gender composition of the governing body

• Gender composition of the governing body as at the end of the audit reporting period.

Recommended

Gender composition of the governing body by:

• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander identity
• age
• cultural identity
• disability
• religion
• sexual orientation

as at the end of the audit reporting period.

Indicator 3 – gender pay equity

Equal remuneration for work of equal or comparable value across all levels of the workforce, irrespective of gender.

• Mean and median base salary and total remuneration gender pay gap for the whole organisation, at each level, and for each employment basis, as at the end of the audit reporting period.

Recommended

The average (mean and median) annualised full-time equivalent salary gap between genders (for both annualised base salary and total remuneration) by classification and employment basis across the whole defined entity, and by:

• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander identity
• age
• cultural identity
• disability
• religion
• sexual orientation.

Indicator 4 – sexual harassment in the workplace

• Total number of sexual harassment complaints submitted during the audit reporting period.
• The number of sexual harassment complainants recorded during the audit reporting period, by gender and type of complainant.
• The number of sexual harassment complainants recorded during the audit reporting period, by gender and relationship to incident.
• The number of respondents to sexual harassment complaints submitted during the audit reporting period, by gender and workplace relationship to complainant.
• The outcomes of any sexual harassment complaints submitted during the audit reporting period, including any settlement and/or non-disclosure agreements, by gender of complainant.
• Actions your organisation has taken during the audit reporting period to prevent future incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace.
• The number of sexual harassment complaints submitted during the audit reporting period that were handled internally, externally or both, by gender of complainant.
• Level of complainant satisfaction with the outcomes of each complaint submitted during the audit reporting period, by gender of complainant.

Recommended

The number of sexual harassment complainants recorded during the audit reporting period, by gender and:

• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander identity
• age
• cultural identity
• disability
• religion
• sexual orientation.

Indicator 5 – recruitment and promotion practices in the workplace

• Gender composition of people recruited during the audit reporting period, by level and employment basis.
• Gender composition of employees who had a permanent promotion during the audit reporting period, by level and employment basis.
• Gender composition of employees who participated in career development training during the audit reporting period, by level and employment basis.
• Gender composition of employees who were awarded higher duties during the audit reporting period, by level and employment basis.
• Gender composition of employees who were awarded internal secondments during the audit reporting period, by level and employment basis.
• Gender composition of employees who exited the defined entity during the audit reporting period, by level and employment basis.

Recommended

Gender composition of recruitment and promotion data by level, employment basis and:

• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander identity
• age
• cultural identity
• disability
• religion
• sexual orientation.

Indicator 6 – leave and flexibility

Availability and utilisation of terms, conditions and practices relating to:

1. family violence leave
2. flexible working arrangements
3. working arrangements supporting workers with family or caring responsibilities.

• Gender composition of employees with and without formal flexible work arrangements, by level and employment basis, as at the end of the audit reporting period.
• Gender composition of senior leaders working with flexible work arrangements, by type of flexible work arrangement, as at the end of the audit reporting period.
• Gender composition of employees whose parental leave ended during the audit reporting period, by level, length of leave and by type of leave (paid or unpaid).
• Gender composition of employees who exited the defined entity during parental leave during the audit reporting period, by gender.
• Gender composition of employees accessing family violence leave during the audit reporting period.
• Gender composition of employees accessing carers leave during the audit reporting period.

Indicator 7 – gendered segregation within the workplace

• Gender composition of ANZSCO occupation groups as at the end of the audit reporting period.

Workplace gender equality indicator – survey questions

Please note that not every workplace gender equality indicator has associated survey questions. Indicators with survey questions are listed below.

Indicator 1 – gender composition of the workforce

• How do you describe your gender?
• What is your age range?
• Are you trans, non-binary or gender diverse?
• How do you describe your sexual orientation?
• Are you a person with disability?
• In which country were you born?
• How would you describe your cultural identity?
• Do you identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander?
• Do you speak a language other than English with your family or community?
• What is your religion?
• What have been your main places of work over the last 3 months?
• How many years have you been employed in your current organisation?
• Do you work full-time or part-time?
• What is your current employment status?
• What is your gross annual salary (non-executive) or total annual remuneration package (executive)?
• Are you the manager of one or more employees?

Indicator 4 – sexual harassment in the workplace

• I feel safe to challenge inappropriate behaviour at work.
• My organisation takes steps to eliminate bullying, harassment and discrimination.
• My organisation encourages respectful workplace behaviours.
• During the last 12 months in your current organisation, have you experienced any of the following behaviours at work?
• Who behaved in that way?
• How often have you experienced the behaviour(s)?
• How did you respond to the harassment?
• What was your reason for not submitting a formal complaint?
• Were you satisfied with the way your formal complaint was handled?

Indicator 5 – recruitment and promotion practices in the workplace

• I am satisfied with the way my learning and development needs have been addressed in the last 12 months.
• I am satisfied with the opportunities to progress in my organisation.
• During the last 12 months in your current organisation, have you experienced any barriers to your success at work due to any of the following?
• During the last 12 months in your current organisation, have you witnessed any barriers to the success of other employees related to any of the following?
• I believe the recruitment processes in my organisation are fair.
• I believe the promotion processes in my organisation are fair.
• I have an equal chance at promotion in my organisation.

Indicator 6 – leave and flexibility

Availability and utilisation of terms, conditions and practices relating to:

1. family violence leave;
2. flexible working arrangements; and
3. working arrangements supporting workers with family or caring responsibilities

• I am confident that if I requested a flexible work arrangement, it would be given due consideration.
• My organisation would support me if I needed to take family violence leave.
• My manager supports working flexibly.
• Do you have responsibility for caring for any of the following people?
• Do you use any of the following flexible work arrangements?
• Have you requested any of the following adjustments at work?
• Why did you make this request?
• What was your experience with making this request?

Indicator 7 – gendered segregation within the workplace

• I can be myself at work.
• I feel culturally safe at work.
• I feel as if I belong at this organisation.
• My organisation uses inclusive and respectful images and language.
• In my workgroup work is allocated fairly, regardless of gender.
• People in my workgroup treat each other with respect.
• My manager treats employees with dignity and respect.
• During the last 12 months in your current organisation, have you personally experienced bullying at work?
• What type of bullying did you experience?
• Who behaved in that way?
• Did you tell anyone about the bullying?
• What was your reason for not submitting a formal complaint?
• Were you satisfied with the way your formal complaint was handled?
• During the last 12 months in your current organisation, have you personally experienced discrimination at work?
• What type of discrimination did you experience?
• Why were you discriminated against?
• Who behaved in that way?
• Did you tell anyone about the discrimination?
• Were you satisfied with the way your formal complaint was handled?
• What was your reason for not submitting a formal complaint?
• What is the single most important thing your organisation could do to create a more inclusive and respectful workplace?

Audit reporting period

The progress audit reporting period is the last 12 months of the relevant period.

For all defined entities except universities, the current audit reporting period is 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.

For universities, the current audit reporting period is 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, to align with Workplace Gender Equality Agency reporting periods.

Defined entity

The Act applies to certain organisations that have 50 or more employees, including:

• public service bodies
• public entities
• special bodies
• local councils
• universities
• Court Services Victoria
• Office of Public Prosecutions (s5(1))

View our full list of defined entities. Throughout this guidance, defined entities are also referred to as ‘organisations’.

Gender-disaggregated data

Gender-disaggregated data is data that is separated for people of different genders.

Your progress audit should be based on gender-disaggregated data, as this data is critical to assess the progress of gender equality in relation to each of the workplace gender equality indicators.

Gender Equality Action Plan (GEAP)

A Gender Equality Action Plan is a key requirement under the Act which includes strategies and measures that promote gender equality in the workplace of a defined entity, based on the results of a workplace gender audit. Find more information about GEAPs.

Gender pay gap

The gender pay gap is the difference between women’s earnings or people of self-described gender’s earnings and men’s earnings, expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings.

The formula for the gender pay gap is expressed as follows:

A gender pay gap that is positive (greater than 0%) means that men were paid more than women or people of self-described gender. A gender pay gap that is negative (less than 0%) means that women or people of self-described gender were paid more than men.

The reporting platform’s indicator reports will use these formulas to calculate your organisation’s gender pay gap automatically from your employee dataset.

The reporting platform will calculate the gender pay gap based on both mean (average) and median pay.

Intersectional data

Intersectional data (in this context) is data that is separated by gender as well as attributes other than gender, such as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander identity, age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, race, religion or sexual orientation.

Looking at data in this way is important. It helps us to understand how someone’s experience of gender inequality might be worsened by the discrimination or disadvantage they may experience based on other attributes.

This concept, referred to in this guide as intersectional gender inequality, recognises that the experiences of an employee who is, for example, an Aboriginal woman, may differ from a non-Aboriginal woman or a woman with disability. Similarly, the experiences of an Aboriginal woman with disability, may differ from a non-Aboriginal woman without disability.

If available, it is recommended that you include intersectional data in relation to the workplace gender equality indicators.

Collecting and analysing this information in your progress audit will help you with preparing your progress report that considers the different systemic barriers that exist in your organisation.

In collecting, analysing and reporting this data, your organisation will need to be sensitive to employee safety, privacy considerations and allow employees the discretion to self-identify attributes. To learn more about intersectional gender inequality and intersectionality, please refer to the leading practice resources page on our website.

Mean

The mean, or average, of a set of values is found by adding all the values and dividing by the total number of values in the set.

Mean remuneration is commonly used in gender pay analysis. It can be skewed by one or a few individuals who have very high or very low salaries, especially for small groups.

Median

The median of a set of values is the middle value when the set is ordered from least to greatest. Half of the set of values are below the median, and half are above the median.

Median remuneration is not used in gender pay analysis as often as mean remuneration, but it can be useful when there are very high or very low salaries in your dataset.

Relevant period

Relevant period means the previous two financial years or other prescribed period prior to the original due date of the progress report. In the case of this progress report, the relevant period is 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2023 (or 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2023 for universities).

Different parts of a progress report will relate to different reporting periods that fall within the relevant period. The progress audit reporting period is the last 12 months of the relevant period.

For all defined entities except universities, the current progress audit reporting period is 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.

For universities, the current progress audit reporting period is 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, to align with Workplace Gender Equality Agency reporting periods.

Reporting platform

The Gender Equality Act reporting platform (the reporting platform) is how organisations use to submit and view their obligations including Gender Equality Action Plans, audit results and progress reports.

Access to the reporting platform is restricted to registered users.

In 2023, a progress audit is made up of 5 datasets of workforce data and an employee experience data set. The first section of this appendix describes what information belongs in each of the 5 workforce datasets. The second section of this appendix describes the fields within each of the 5 workforce datasets.

The full progress audit handbook is available in the downloadable progress report guidance. You can download this on the right-hand side of this page, or below. Appendix B of the document contains all of the information relating to the above datasets.

Items in both sections are tagged to help you understand what’s changed since 2021.

Progress audit 2023: guidance for defined entities