Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many occupational therapists are (1) employed by the NHS, (2) self-employed, (3) working for private sector employers, and (4) working for public sector employers.

To practice in the United Kingdom, occupational therapists must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). As of 20 September 2018, there were 39,197 occupational therapists registered with HCPC.

NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in primary care or in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers.

NHS Digital monthly workforce statistics shows that as at 31 August 2018, the latest data available, there are 14,989 full time equivalent (FTE) clinically qualified staff with a care setting of occupational therapy employed by the National Health Service in England.

Since September 2015, NHS Digital has been collecting Independent Healthcare Provider Workforce Statistics. These statistics are collected biannually and published as experimental statistics. There are 744 FTE clinically qualified staff with a care setting of occupational therapy that are employed by those Independent Healthcare Providers in England who respond to the survey, as at 31 March 2018 which is the latest data available.

We do not hold data on occupational therapists who are self-employed or those working for public sector employers other than the NHS.