Scottish Government
type: Agent

poverty-working-age-adults.csv
type: Distribution
table schema: Schema
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Urban Rural Classification
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: GeographyName
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: IndicatorPoverty
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Value
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Type Of Tenure
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: DateCode
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Units
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Family Employment Status
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Measurement
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Housing Costs
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: GeographyType
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Simd Deciles
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Work Status
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: GeographyCode
access URL: https://admin.data.gov.scot/resource/67d63cf0-26da-4855-9db1-2a5e5447e288/download
description: Data file for Poverty (working age adults)
format: CSV
issued: 2026-08-13T15:55:20.556332
modified: 2026-08-13T15:55:20.550920
comment: Official Statistics of the number and proportions of working-age adults in poverty. Various poverty measures and breakdowns are available.
dictionary: Column
  column: Family Employment Status
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Measurement
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: GeographyType
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Simd Deciles
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: GeographyName
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: IndicatorPoverty
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Housing Costs
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Type Of Tenure
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Work Status
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Urban Rural Classification
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: GeographyCode
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Units
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: DateCode
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Value
  type: text

Poverty (working age adults)
type: Dataset
version notes: In 2021, previously published datasets underwent a minor methodological revision to capture all income from child maintenance. This led to small changes in household income and small adjustments to some poverty estimates. Therefore, some poverty estimates for 1994/95 to 2018/19 that were published in 2021 may not exactly match those in the previously published poverty dataset (now obsolete). The revision did not affect any trends in poverty.
contact point: Kind
contact point: Organization
theme: Community Wellbeing and Social Environment
description: National Statistics of the number and proportions of people living in private households with an equivalised household income below various poverty thresholds. For commentary and charts, please find the [full report on gov.scot](https://data.gov.scot/poverty/). The different poverty datasets refer to different subgroups of the population. Datasets are available for: * all people * children * working age adults (this dataset) * pensionable age adults * all adults * single adults More detail for each dataset and the available breakdowns follows further below. Figures are presented as three-year rolling averages to ensure robust time series analyses. Ethnicity and religion breakdowns are presented as five-year averages due to small sample sizes. Note that ethnicity and religion estimates are particularly volatile. The reason for this is that ethnic and religious composition of the population are not accounted for in the survey weighting process, and therefore the ethnic and religious composition of the population is not accurately captured. Where estimates are suppressed due to small sample size this is marked with an asterisk (\"*\"). Where estimates are between 0 and 0.5% this is marked as \"[low]\". Where estimates are missing for other reasons this is marked with a hyphen (\"-\"). Other reasons include changes in the methodology, or data being unavailable in some years. The income measure used is equivalised net disposable income before and after housing costs. The before housing costs measure is income from all sources (including earnings, benefits, tax credits, pensions, and investments) after deductions for income tax, national insurance contributions, council tax, pension contributions and maintenance payments. The after housing costs measure further deducts housing costs such as rent and/or mortgage payments. Equivalisation sums the income of all householders, adjusts it to reflect the composition of the household, and applies the resulting income to all house…
issued: 2026-08-13T15:54:04.372876
modified: 2026-08-13T15:55:20.542308
accuracy: The Family Resources Survey is a sample survey including approximately 2,000 households in Scotland in more recent years. The responses of these households are weighted and grossed up to be representative of all private households in Scotland. Coming from a sample survey, the estimates are subject to sampling error. More details about the methodology including measurement uncertainty can be found on the [poverty methodology pages on gov.scot](https://www.gov.scot/publications/poverty-in-scotland-methodology/).
comment: Official Statistics of the number and proportions of working-age adults in poverty. Various poverty measures and breakdowns are available.
completeness: Commentary about these estimates is available in the [annual poverty report](https://data.gov.scot/poverty/). For further information on the methodology used to create these statistics, please see the [poverty methodology pages on gov.scot](https://www.gov.scot/publications/poverty-in-scotland-methodology/).
confidentiality: Data is not published where the estimate would be based on a sample size less than 100. These cases are marked with an asterisk. Percentages have been rounded to 5 decimal points, and counts have been rounded to the nearest 10,000.
consistency: The estimates in this dataset can be used to identify trends over time; however, as the data is taken from a sample survey, there are confidence intervals surrounding the estimates, and year-on-year changes are unlikely to be statistically significant. Confidence intervals are published as part of the [annual poverty report](https://data.gov.scot/poverty/). For direct comparisons across the UK please refer to the relative low income measures in the [Household Below Average Incomes publication](https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/households-below-average-income-hbai--2#latest-release) published by the Department for Work and Pensions. For local child poverty data please refer to the [Children in Low Income Families publication](https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics) by the Department for Work and Pensions. The Scottish estimates in this UK-wide dataset is calibrated to the number of children in relative poverty before housing costs in Scotland.
geographical coverage: S92
license id: uk-ogl
next update: 2027-06-01
quality management: These statistics are accredited official statistics. The Office for Statistics Regulation has independently reviewed and accredited these statistics as complying with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. The designation of these statistics as National Statistics was confirmed in May 2012 following a compliance check by the Office for Statistics Regulation. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. For further information on the methodology used to create these statistics, please see the [poverty methodology pages on gov.scot](https://www.gov.scot/publications/poverty-in-scotland-methodology/).
reference period: PeriodOfTime
  end date: 2024
  start date: 1996
timeliness: These statistics will not be updated till June 2027 due to a programme of methodological improvements to the FRS data. The March 2026 poverty statistics publication contained revisions to the poverty statistics going back to 2021/22. This followed a methodological change which links FRS data with administrative records on social security benefits provided by DWP and tax credits. In March 2027 data linkage will be applied back to 2018/19 and grossing to the 2022 census will be implemented. The data will be uploaded on the open data platform thereafter, thus providing a stable time series for users once a number of changes are bedded in.
uniqueness: Not assessed
update frequency: annual
validity: The Family Resources Survey, on which these estimates are based, is the official source of Scotland's poverty, household income and income inequality statistics. The estimates are used to monitor progress in reducing poverty, child poverty and income inequality.
will be updated: true

Community Wellbeing and Social Environment
type: Concept