A Scottish Government Experimental Official Statistics publication
Published on 21 January 2020
Personal wealth is one of the key components of people’s standard of living. Wealth can be used as a source of finance to improve current or future living standards, to invest in opportunities such as education or entrepreneurial activities, and to provide financial resilience, reducing vulnerability to shocks such as unemployment or illness. Many people will try to grow their wealth throughout their working lives, in preparation for retirement, but households with low income and low starting wealth will find this more difficult. This reports sets out the current state of wealth and wealth inequality in Scotland and how this has changed over recent years.
This report is published under the label “Experimental Official Statistics” as it is the first Official Statistics publication on wealth published by the Scottish Government. We invite feedback on the content and presentation of this report in order to improve future releases.
The Total Wealth section gives an overview over the amount of personal wealth present in Scotland, how wealth is made up of four different components, how the relative importance of each have changed over the years, and how Scotland’s wealth compares to that of England and Wales.
The Wealth Inequality section describes how wealth is distributed across households in Scotland, how that has changed over time, and how it compares to how income is distributed across households. Furthermore, a range of measures describe wealth inequality in Scotland over time, and in comparison to Wales and England. And finally, different types of households are shown that have above or below average wealth.
The Financial Wealth and Debt section describes how financial wealth is distributed across households in Scotland, how financial wealth is more unequally distributed compared to the other components of wealth. A subsection on unmanageable debt looks at those households in Scotland at the very bottom end of the financial wealth spectrum, and another subsection on financial vulnerability identifies the kind of households that might struggle in a crisis because they have little savings.
The Property Wealth section shows the distribution of property wealth for those households that have property. It then looks at households with no property wealth whatsoever, and identifies types of households that are more or less likely to have some property wealth.
And finally, the Pension Wealth section shows how pension wealth is distributed for those people and households that have pension wealth. Pension participation is shown by age and gender. And finally, the types of households are identified that are more or less likely to have some pension wealth.
This section gives an overview over the amount of personal wealth present in Scotland, how it is made up of four different types of wealth, how wealth has changed over the years, and how Scotland compares to England and Wales.
People’s personal wealth is made up of their physical, financial, property and pension wealth, with pension wealth the biggest component of them all.
Financial wealth (net financial wealth) is calculated as the sum of all financial assets (such as bank accounts, savings accounts, stocks and shares) minus all liabilities (such as overdrafts, loans, credit card debt, and arrears on household bills). These can be formal assets, such as savings accounts or loans from banks, or informal assets, such as money held at home, or borrowing from friends and family.
Physical wealth (gross physical wealth) is the value of household goods such as appliances, computers, televisions, jewellery, collectables, vehicles, personal number plates, and other valuables. The valuations are derived from respondents’ own estimates of the value of items. Any borrowing to finance such purchases is not included in this estimate (borrowing is included in net financial wealth).
Property wealth (net property wealth) is the value of all property owned (the main residence and any other property owned) less any debt on the property ( e.g. mortgage) and equity release. It is derived from respondents’ own valuations of their properties, rather than any survey valuation.
Pension Wealth is an estimate of the value of wealth held in private (non-state) pension schemes, expressed as an equivalent ‘pot of money’. It comprises occupational and personal pensions and includes pensions of public sector workers. The estimate is based only on the pension rights accumulated to date and does not include rights which may be built up in future.
Households in Scotland had just over one trillion pounds (£1,097 billion) in total wealth in 2016-2018. The largest part of total wealth was pension wealth, which made up 53% of all wealth.
An average (median) household in Scotland had £233,400 in total wealth. An average household in England and Wales was slightly wealthier (£294,700 and £253,200), mainly driven by higher property wealth.
| Type | Share | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Financial wealth | 10% | £114 billion |
| Physical wealth | 11% | £123 billion |
| Property wealth | 25% | £275 billion |
| Pension wealth | 53% | £585 billion |
| Total wealth | 100% | £1,097 billion |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey |
| Region | Financial | Physical | Property | Pension | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | £5,500 | £39,700 | £65,000 | £70,200 | £233,400 |
| England | £7,900 | £38,000 | £116,000 | £67,200 | £294,700 |
| Wales | £6,000 | £35,800 | £89,500 | £67,400 | £253,200 |
| Great Britain | £7,400 | £38,000 | £105,000 | £67,600 | £286,600 |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | |||||
| b In this analysis, the median refers to all households, whether or not they have any wealth. |
Wealth has been growing over time, and pension wealth has been getting more important compared to other types of wealth in Scotland.
While wealth growth in Scotland and Wales is mainly driven by pension wealth, in England the drivers are pension, property and financial wealth.
In Scotland and Wales, pension wealth is getting more important, and property wealth less important over time and compared to England.
| Wealth type | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | ||||||
| Financial | £97 billion | £108 billion | £97 billion | £105 billion | £102 billion | £114 billion |
| Physical | £104 billion | £104 billion | £105 billion | £113 billion | £121 billion | £123 billion |
| Property | £281 billion | £263 billion | £247 billion | £247 billion | £264 billion | £275 billion |
| Pension | £340 billion | £341 billion | £331 billion | £437 billion | £533 billion | £585 billion |
| Total | £821 billion | £817 billion | £780 billion | £902 billion | £1,022 billion | £1,097 billion |
| England | ||||||
| Financial | £1,136 billion | £1,118 billion | £1,296 billion | £1,486 billion | £1,686 billion | £1,949 billion |
| Physical | £1,023 billion | £1,024 billion | £1,028 billion | £1,021 billion | £1,075 billion | £1,130 billion |
| Property | £3,869 billion | £3,521 billion | £3,484 billion | £3,596 billion | £4,065 billion | £4,645 billion |
| Pension | £2,992 billion | £3,493 billion | £3,370 billion | £3,948 billion | £4,565 billion | £5,193 billion |
| Total | £9,020 billion | £9,157 billion | £9,179 billion | £10,050 billion | £11,392 billion | £12,917 billion |
| Wales | ||||||
| Financial | £50 billion | £53 billion | £47 billion | £52 billion | £49 billion | £62 billion |
| Physical | £55 billion | £60 billion | £56 billion | £53 billion | £55 billion | £62 billion |
| Property | £200 billion | £168 billion | £150 billion | £154 billion | £167 billion | £171 billion |
| Pension | £218 billion | £212 billion | £181 billion | £220 billion | £265 billion | £320 billion |
| Total | £523 billion | £493 billion | £435 billion | £478 billion | £536 billion | £614 billion |
| Great Britain | ||||||
| Financial | £1,283 billion | £1,279 billion | £1,440 billion | £1,643 billion | £1,837 billion | £2,124 billion |
| Physical | £1,182 billion | £1,188 billion | £1,189 billion | £1,187 billion | £1,252 billion | £1,315 billion |
| Property | £4,350 billion | £3,953 billion | £3,881 billion | £3,996 billion | £4,497 billion | £5,090 billion |
| Pension | £3,550 billion | £4,047 billion | £3,882 billion | £4,605 billion | £5,363 billion | £6,098 billion |
| Total | £10,364 billion | £10,467 billion | £10,393 billion | £11,430 billion | £12,950 billion | £14,628 billion |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | ||||||
| b Amounts are adjusted for inflation and are in 2016-2018 prices | ||||||
| Wealth type | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | ||||||
| Financial | 12% | 13% | 12% | 12% | 10% | 10% |
| Physical | 13% | 13% | 13% | 13% | 12% | 11% |
| Property | 34% | 32% | 32% | 27% | 26% | 25% |
| Pension | 41% | 42% | 42% | 49% | 52% | 53% |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| England | ||||||
| Financial | 13% | 12% | 14% | 15% | 15% | 15% |
| Physical | 11% | 11% | 11% | 10% | 9% | 9% |
| Property | 43% | 38% | 38% | 36% | 36% | 36% |
| Pension | 33% | 38% | 37% | 39% | 40% | 40% |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Wales | ||||||
| Financial | 10% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 9% | 10% |
| Physical | 11% | 12% | 13% | 11% | 10% | 10% |
| Property | 38% | 34% | 35% | 32% | 31% | 28% |
| Pension | 42% | 43% | 42% | 46% | 49% | 52% |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Great Britain | ||||||
| Financial | 12% | 12% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 15% |
| Physical | 11% | 11% | 11% | 10% | 10% | 9% |
| Property | 42% | 38% | 37% | 35% | 35% | 35% |
| Pension | 34% | 39% | 37% | 40% | 41% | 42% |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | ||||||
Wealth inequality in Scotland is monitored within Scotland’s National Performance Framework1. This section shows how wealth is distributed across the population, and how much more the wealthiest households have compared to the least wealthy. Using a range of summary measures, we look at how wealth inequality differs for the four different components of total wealth, how overall wealth inequality has changed over the years, and compare Scotland to England and Wales. And finally, we look at the types of households in Scotland that typically have more or less wealth than the average.
Discussion on inequality often focuses on how unequally income is distributed, but wealth is even more unequally distributed than income.
The chart below splits Scotland’s population into fifty equal-sized groups, which are sorted by income and wealth on the horizontal axis, with each bar representing 2% of the population. Lower income / less wealthy households are on the left, and richer / wealthier households are on the right. The height of the bars shows each group’s share of total income / wealth.
The 2% top income households in Scotland had 9% of all income, but the wealthiest 2% of all households in Scotland had 15% of all wealth. On the other end, the bottom 20% households had 8% of all income, and only 1% of all wealth.
| Percentile | Wealth share | Income share |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 4 | 0.0% | 0.5% |
| 6 | 0.0% | 0.6% |
| 8 | 0.0% | 0.7% |
| 10 | 0.1% | 0.8% |
| 12 | 0.1% | 0.9% |
| 14 | 0.1% | 0.9% |
| 16 | 0.1% | 1.0% |
| 18 | 0.1% | 1.0% |
| 20 | 0.2% | 1.1% |
| 22 | 0.2% | 1.1% |
| 24 | 0.2% | 1.1% |
| 26 | 0.3% | 1.2% |
| 28 | 0.3% | 1.2% |
| 30 | 0.4% | 1.3% |
| 32 | 0.4% | 1.3% |
| 34 | 0.5% | 1.3% |
| 36 | 0.5% | 1.4% |
| 38 | 0.6% | 1.4% |
| 40 | 0.6% | 1.5% |
| 42 | 0.7% | 1.5% |
| 44 | 0.7% | 1.6% |
| 46 | 0.8% | 1.6% |
| 48 | 0.9% | 1.7% |
| 50 | 1.0% | 1.7% |
| 52 | 1.0% | 1.7% |
| 54 | 1.1% | 1.8% |
| 56 | 1.2% | 1.8% |
| 58 | 1.3% | 1.9% |
| 60 | 1.5% | 1.9% |
| 62 | 1.5% | 1.9% |
| 64 | 1.6% | 2.1% |
| 66 | 1.8% | 2.1% |
| 68 | 1.9% | 2.1% |
| 70 | 2.1% | 2.2% |
| 72 | 2.2% | 2.3% |
| 74 | 2.5% | 2.3% |
| 76 | 2.5% | 2.4% |
| 78 | 2.7% | 2.5% |
| 80 | 3.0% | 2.6% |
| 82 | 3.3% | 2.7% |
| 84 | 3.8% | 2.8% |
| 86 | 4.0% | 2.9% |
| 88 | 4.1% | 3.0% |
| 90 | 5.1% | 3.2% |
| 92 | 5.3% | 3.4% |
| 94 | 6.2% | 3.6% |
| 96 | 7.0% | 4.0% |
| 98 | 9.0% | 4.9% |
| 100 | 15.4% | 9.3% |
| All | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey, Family Resources Survey | ||
| b Income is disposable net household income and based on the financial years 2016/17 and 2017/18. | ||
| c Negative values of total wealth were set to 0 when producing this table. |
The wealth distribution chart below splits all households in Scotland into ten equal-sized groups (called deciles), sorted by household wealth, from the least wealthy on the left, to the wealthiest on the right. The chart shows the wealth of a typical household in each decile group, or the decile medians.
A typical household in the top decile of the household population had £1.6 million, whereas a typical household in the bottom decile had £7,500 in total wealth.
Note that the least wealthy households are unlikely to own property or have any pension savings. Most of their wealth is also not cash or savings, but rather physical wealth, the value of people’s possessions such as clothing or furniture.
| Wealth decile | Median wealth |
|---|---|
| 1 | £7,500 |
| 2 | £28,400 |
| 3 | £62,100 |
| 4 | £115,900 |
| 5 | £185,900 |
| 6 | £285,600 |
| 7 | £414,700 |
| 8 | £604,000 |
| 9 | £922,700 |
| 10 | £1,640,600 |
| All | £233,400 |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey |
While wealth distributions like the one above give a detailed picture of inequality at one point in time, summary measures of wealth inequality can track change over time and compare different regions, or compare inequality for different types of wealth. The following sections include a range of summary measures, which describe slightly different shades of inequality.
The table below shows how the extent of inequality differs for the four different components of wealth. For all of these measures, a larger value corresponds to a higher level of inequality.
Financial wealth is the most unequally distributed type of wealth. It has the highest Gini coefficient among all types of wealth. The mean-to-median ratio, which shows how skewed the wealth distribution is towards higher wealth, is largest for financial wealth. And the share of wealth that is held by the 10% wealthiest households is also largest for financial wealth.
| Wealth type | Gini | Mean-to-median ratio | Share of top 10% | No wealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial | 88 | 8.73 | 71% | 24% |
| Physical | 45 | 1.31 | 33% | 0% |
| Property | 66 | 1.78 | 45% | 34% |
| Pension | 71 | 3.51 | 50% | 18% |
| Total | 62 | 1.98 | 43% | 1% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | ||||
| b Gini: Gini coefficient of wealth inequality | ||||
| c No wealth: The proportion of households with no (or negative) wealth |
Based on most (but not all) summary measures, wealth inequality in Scotland has been either largely stable or fluctuating without a clear trend since 2010-2012. The only exception was the absolute (inflation-adjusted) wealth gap between the wealthiest 10% and the least wealthy 40%, which has widened, showing an increase in inequality. This suggests that relative wealth inequality is largely stable, but because wealth is growing, the absolute gap between the wealthiest and the least wealthy is increasing.
Previously, between 2006-2008 (when measurement started) and 2010-2012, wealth inequality had decreased, or in case of the absolute wealth gap, stalled. It appears that this previous decrease happened because what wealth share the 10% wealthiest households lost, medium-wealth households gained, with little change for the least wealthy.
Note that small differences in these estimates may not be meaningful and should be interpreted with care. This is because the estimates are based on a sample survey and could be slightly higher or lower if we interviewed a different sample of the population.
| Period | Gini | Palma | Mean-to-median ratio | bottom 40% | mid 50% | top 10% | Wealth gap | No wealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-2018 | 62 | 9 | 1.98 | 5% | 52% | 43% | £1,596,000 | 1% |
| 2014-2016 | 60 | 8 | 1.77 | 5% | 54% | 41% | £1,455,900 | 1% |
| 2012-2014 | 62 | 10 | 1.99 | 4% | 52% | 44% | £1,404,300 | 1% |
| 2010-2012 | 61 | 9 | 1.91 | 5% | 52% | 43% | £1,153,600 | 1% |
| 2008-2010 | 63 | 10 | 1.95 | 5% | 49% | 46% | £1,159,300 | 2% |
| 2006-2008 | 65 | 12 | 2.03 | 4% | 47% | 49% | £1,170,400 | 5% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | ||||||||
| b Gini: Gini coefficient of total wealth inequality | ||||||||
| c Palma: Palma ratio - the ratio of total wealth of the top 10% and the bottom 40% | ||||||||
| d Wealth gap: The difference in median wealth of the top 10% and the bottom 40% (also called ‘absolute Palma ratio’), inflation-adjusted | ||||||||
| e No wealth: The proportion of households with no (or negative) wealth |
In the charts below, we compare Scotland with England and Wales. Overall wealth inequality is broadly similar in Scotland, Wales and England, with Wales only slightly less unequal than Scotland and England on most measures.
Note that small differences in these estimates may not be meaningful and should be interpreted with care. This is because the estimates are based on a sample survey and could be slightly higher or lower if we interviewed a different sample of the population.
| Period | Gini | Palma | Mean to median ratio | bottom 40% | mid 50% | top 10% | Wealth gap | No wealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | ||||||||
| 2016-2018 | 62 | 9 | 1.98 | 5% | 52% | 43% | £1,596,000 | 1% |
| 2014-2016 | 60 | 8 | 1.77 | 5% | 54% | 41% | £1,455,900 | 1% |
| 2012-2014 | 62 | 10 | 1.99 | 4% | 52% | 44% | £1,404,300 | 1% |
| 2010-2012 | 61 | 9 | 1.91 | 5% | 52% | 43% | £1,153,600 | 1% |
| 2008-2010 | 63 | 10 | 1.95 | 5% | 49% | 46% | £1,159,300 | 2% |
| 2006-2008 | 65 | 12 | 2.03 | 4% | 47% | 49% | £1,170,400 | 5% |
| England | ||||||||
| 2016-2018 | 63 | 10 | 1.97 | 4% | 51% | 45% | £1,905,800 | 1% |
| 2014-2016 | 63 | 10 | 1.95 | 4% | 51% | 45% | £1,716,700 | 2% |
| 2012-2014 | 63 | 10 | 1.95 | 4% | 51% | 45% | £1,553,300 | 1% |
| 2010-2012 | 61 | 9 | 1.81 | 5% | 51% | 44% | £1,404,800 | 2% |
| 2008-2010 | 61 | 8 | 1.76 | 5% | 51% | 43% | £1,386,000 | 1% |
| 2006-2008 | 61 | 9 | 1.73 | 5% | 52% | 43% | £1,376,700 | 6% |
| Wales | ||||||||
| 2016-2018 | 60 | 9 | 1.89 | 5% | 55% | 40% | £1,583,500 | 1% |
| 2014-2016 | 61 | 9 | 1.83 | 5% | 54% | 42% | £1,480,100 | 1% |
| 2012-2014 | 59 | 8 | 1.70 | 5% | 54% | 40% | £1,290,700 | 1% |
| 2010-2012 | 57 | 6 | 1.57 | 6% | 54% | 39% | £1,145,800 | 1% |
| 2008-2010 | 59 | 7 | 1.63 | 6% | 51% | 43% | £1,234,800 | 1% |
| 2006-2008 | 59 | 7 | 1.64 | 6% | 51% | 43% | £1,162,200 | 4% |
| Great Britain | ||||||||
| 2016-2018 | 63 | 10 | 1.97 | 4% | 51% | 45% | £1,856,800 | 1% |
| 2014-2016 | 63 | 10 | 1.94 | 4% | 51% | 45% | £1,683,600 | 1% |
| 2012-2014 | 63 | 10 | 1.94 | 4% | 51% | 45% | £1,528,400 | 1% |
| 2010-2012 | 61 | 9 | 1.80 | 5% | 51% | 44% | £1,374,200 | 1% |
| 2008-2010 | 61 | 8 | 1.77 | 5% | 51% | 44% | £1,362,100 | 1% |
| 2006-2008 | 61 | 9 | 1.75 | 5% | 51% | 44% | £1,345,800 | 5% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | ||||||||
| b Gini: Gini coefficient of total wealth inequality | ||||||||
| c Palma: Palma ratio - the ratio of total wealth of the top 10% and the bottom 40% | ||||||||
| d Wealth gap: The difference in median wealth of the top 10% and the bottom 40% (also called ‘absolute Palma ratio’), inflation-adjusted | ||||||||
| e No wealth: The proportion of households with no (or negative) wealth | ||||||||
Some people are more likely to be wealthy than others - for example, many people nearing retirement will have accumulated a considerable amount of wealth over their working lives, and are getting ready to use it up, whereas many young people are only starting to build wealth.
While this accumulation of wealth over time and with age is natural, some groups of the population are excluded from this process, as they don’t have any income to spare for saving up, or they cannot afford to get on the property ladder, or they are not enrolled in any private pension scheme.
The charts below show the total wealth of a typical household (median wealth) for a wide range of household characteristics, comparing each group with the Scotland average. Examples of households with above average wealth are pensioner couples, married couples, home owners, or households with degree-level qualifications. Examples of households with below average wealth are lone parent households, households in social rented housing, or households where the household reference person2 is unemployed or economically inactive (but not retired).
Note that small differences in median wealth between different household types may not be meaningful and should be interpreted with care. This is because these estimates are based on a sample survey and could be slightly higher or lower if we interviewed a different sample of the population.
| Median wealth | |
|---|---|
| Household type | |
| Lone parent | £35,300 |
| Other type | £162,100 |
| Pensioner couple | £682,500 |
| Single female pensioner | £202,600 |
| Single male pensioner | £263,300 |
| Working-age couple with children | £254,300 |
| Working-age couple, no children | £407,300 |
| Working-age man, no children | £89,100 |
| Working-age woman, no children | £102,400 |
| Marital status | |
| Cohabiting | £104,100 |
| Divorced | £127,100 |
| Married | £438,000 |
| Separated | £160,700 |
| Single | £61,500 |
| Widowed | £178,200 |
| Age | |
| 16-34 | £60,300 |
| 35-44 | £174,900 |
| 45-54 | £297,100 |
| 55-64 | £468,200 |
| 65-74 | £423,200 |
| 75+ | £249,100 |
| Disability | |
| No-one disabled | £260,000 |
| Someone disabled | £168,400 |
| Tenure | |
| Buying with mortgage | £292,400 |
| Owning outright | £567,100 |
| Private renting | £44,600 |
| Social renting | £34,000 |
| Qualification | |
| Degree-level qualification or above | £396,100 |
| No qualification | £82,600 |
| Other qualification | £218,300 |
| Economic status | |
| Employed | £240,100 |
| Inactive/Unemployed | £24,400 |
| Retired | £370,000 |
| Self-employed | £292,500 |
| All households | |
| All | £233,400 |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | |
| b Marital status, age, qualification and economic status refer to the household reference person. | |
| c Note that median wealth refers to that of the whole household; therefore, the more people live in the household, the larger their wealth | |
Financial wealth is the sum of all financial assets (such as bank accounts, savings accounts, stocks and shares) minus all liabilities (such as overdrafts, loans, credit card debt, and arrears on household bills). These can be formal assets, such as savings accounts or loans from banks, or informal assets, such as money held at home, or borrowing from friends and family.
In this section, we are looking at how financial wealth is distributed across households in Scotland. We’ll look at those households at the extreme bottom of the distribution, who have debt beyond what they can manage, and those further in the middle who may be alright now, but are potentially vulnerable in case of a sudden loss of income.
A typical household in Scotland had £5,500 in financial wealth after any non-mortgage debt was deducted.
A household in the top decile ( = 10% band) of the population had on average £215,000, whereas one in the bottom two deciles had negative financial wealth, or in other words, they were in debt.
As shown in section 2.2 Wealth inequality by wealth type, financial wealth is more unequally distributed than pension, property and physical wealth.
| Financial wealth decile | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | -£8,500 | -£9,500 | -£11,400 | -£7,600 | -£9,100 | -£11,000 |
| 2 | -£900 | -£1,200 | -£1,700 | -£700 | -£600 | -£2,200 |
| 3 | £100 | £100 | £100 | £100 | £200 | £0 |
| 4 | £800 | £1,100 | £600 | £800 | £1,000 | £1,000 |
| 5 | £3,400 | £3,900 | £2,200 | £2,100 | £2,800 | £3,200 |
| 6 | £8,400 | £9,700 | £6,600 | £5,800 | £7,200 | £8,000 |
| 7 | £18,600 | £20,500 | £13,900 | £14,200 | £15,400 | £18,500 |
| 8 | £38,100 | £39,400 | £27,900 | £30,500 | £32,100 | £38,500 |
| 9 | £70,200 | £75,800 | £61,100 | £71,400 | £72,100 | £81,100 |
| 10 | £184,200 | £201,200 | £172,100 | £210,100 | £203,000 | £215,000 |
| All | £5,400 | £6,600 | £3,700 | £3,600 | £4,600 | £5,500 |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | ||||||
| b Amounts are adjusted for inflation and are in 2016-2018 prices |
Some households not only have no financial wealth, but they are debt, or even in unmanageable debt. The definition of Unmanageable Debt is identical to the Office for National Statistics’ Problem Debt definition, see their Household debt in Great Britain report3. A household is defined as being in unmanageable debt if they have liquidity problems or solvency problems, or both. Liquidity problems mean people struggle with their debt repayments and are falling behind with bills. Solvency problems mean people have a large amount of debt and feel heavily burdened by it.
Unmanageable debt in Scotland is monitored within Scotland’s National Performance Framework4.
In Scotland in 2016-2018, 2.9% of households were in unmanageable debt, and this follows a largely decreasing trend since 2010-2012, when measurement started.
Some types of households are more likely to be in unmanageable debt than the Scottish average. For example, this includes lone parent households and younger households.
Note that small differences in these estimates may not be meaningful and should be interpreted with care. This is because the estimates are based on a sample survey and could be slightly higher or lower if we interviewed a different sample of the population.
| 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All households | ||||
| All | 5.6% | 4.0% | 2.8% | 2.9% |
| Age | ||||
| 16-34 | 8.0% | 7.0% | 7.8% | 6.3% |
| 35-44 | 10.8% | 8.0% | 4.2% | 5.5% |
| 45-54 | 6.0% | 5.4% | 3.6% | 4.1% |
| 55-64 | 5.4% | 1.8% | 1.3% | 0.5% |
| 65-74 | 1.4% | 0.7% | 0.2% | 0.5% |
| 75+ | 0.3% | 1.6% | 0.6% | 0.0% |
| Household type | ||||
| Lone parent | 20.0% | 12.9% | 5.3% | 9.1% |
| Other type | 2.1% | 6.3% | 6.5% | 2.2% |
| Pensioner couple | 0.9% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| Single female pensioner | 1.3% | 1.4% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| Single male pensioner | 2.6% | 0.0% | 2.0% | 1.4% |
| Working-age couple with children | 8.4% | 4.6% | 3.8% | 3.1% |
| Working-age couple, no children | 3.9% | 3.5% | 2.5% | 2.6% |
| Working-age man, no children | 6.9% | 7.5% | 4.6% | 4.9% |
| Working-age woman, no children | 10.5% | 7.1% | 4.9% | 4.6% |
| Children in household | ||||
| With children | 10.5% | 6.6% | 4.3% | 4.5% |
| Without children | 3.9% | 3.1% | 2.3% | 2.3% |
| Disability | ||||
| No-one disabled | 4.6% | 3.2% | 2.5% | 3.2% |
| Someone disabled | 7.9% | 5.7% | 3.5% | 2.3% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | ||||
| b Time series are provided for characteristics that are included in the National Performance Framework5 | ||||
| c Age refers to the household reference person. | ||||
| Proportion in unmanageable debt | |
|---|---|
| Qualification | |
| Degree-level qualification or above | 1.5% |
| Other qualification | 3.8% |
| No qualification | 2.5% |
| Marital status | |
| Married | 1.3% |
| Cohabiting | 6.0% |
| Single | 5.7% |
| Widowed | 0.0% |
| Divorced | 3.5% |
| Separated | 8.2% |
| Tenure | |
| Owning outright | 0.5% |
| Buying with mortgage | 2.7% |
| Private renting | 5.7% |
| Social renting | 5.1% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | |
| b Marital status and qualification refer to the household reference person. | |
In this analysis, we looked at households in Scotland that are financially vulnerable. We found that 34% of households (or 810,000 households) were financially vulnerable during 2016-2018.
Most poverty analysis is focused on people’s income only and says nothing about their savings. But when a household suddenly loses a large part of their income, for example because someone loses their job, then some households are able to draw on their savings to pay the rent and shop for food until a new job is found, while other households may have no savings to draw on.
In order to understand how many households might struggle if they lost their main source of income, we looked at people’s savings. Having an emergency fund might become more important in times where the future of the Scottish labour market is uncertain, for example because of Brexit.
In this analysis, we call a household financially vulnerable when there are not enough savings to cover basic living costs for three months. We chose three months because if someone loses their job, it can often take a few months until they have started a new one or get paid benefits6.
Under basic living costs we include average costs of rent, food and fuel, such as gas and electricity. Of course, households with more adults and children have higher costs than smaller households, so we used different costs for different household sizes. On average, Scottish households spent £1,535 on basic living costs over three months in 2016-20187.
Under savings we include any kinds of savings and investments that can be turned into cash within a few days. This includes current, ISA and savings accounts, premium bonds, stocks, shares and trusts, but not fixed-term or dividend-only investment products. From this, we take off current account overdrafts, any arrears, and repayment commitments for three months from loans, credit cards, store cards, mail orders, and purchase hire.
Using the definitions above, we find that on average, 34% of households were financially vulnerable in 2016-2018. We call the remaining 66% of households financially resilient.
The chart below shows that households with lower incomes are more often financially vulnerable compared to those with higher incomes. However, vulnerable households are found in all income bands across Scotland. Even some households with the highest incomes have little savings and might struggle if their income suddenly stopped. And on the other hand, some low-income households do have enough savings to tide them over a tough spot.
| Income decile | Proportion of households |
|---|---|
| 1 | 55% |
| 2 | 45% |
| 3 | 54% |
| 4 | 39% |
| 5 | 39% |
| 6 | 24% |
| 7 | 25% |
| 8 | 22% |
| 9 | 19% |
| 10 | 12% |
| All | 34% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey; Living Cost and Food Survey | |
| b Income deciles are based on equivalised net household income |
We found financially vulnerable households across all population groups. The groups of households that are most likely to be financially vulnerable (workless, young, with children, lone parents) are often small, so the bulk of financially vulnerable households is made up of households with different characteristics: they often are working-age couples in employment and living in rented homes.
The charts below show both, how likely a group is to be financially vulnerable, and how large each group is. On the horizontal axis, the likelihood is shown, and the area of the rectangles shows how many households are in each group.
Note that small differences in these estimates may not be meaningful and should be interpreted with care. This is because the estimates are based on a sample survey and could be slightly higher or lower if we interviewed a different sample of the population.
| Proportion | Composition | |
|---|---|---|
| Household type | ||
| Single male pensioner | 16% | 2% |
| Single female pensioner | 18% | 5% |
| Working-age man, no children | 47% | 15% |
| Working-age woman, no children | 42% | 14% |
| Lone parent | 73% | 11% |
| Pensioner couple | 10% | 4% |
| Working-age couple, no children | 31% | 20% |
| Working-age couple with children | 40% | 23% |
| Other type | 43% | 6% |
| All | 34% | 100% |
| Marital status | ||
| Married | 25% | 35% |
| Cohabiting | 52% | 15% |
| Single | 48% | 26% |
| Widowed | 24% | 8% |
| Divorced | 40% | 12% |
| Separated | 42% | 4% |
| All | 34% | 100% |
| Children in household | ||
| No children | 29% | 64% |
| 1 child | 50% | 19% |
| 2 children | 41% | 12% |
| 3+ children | 57% | 5% |
| All | 34% | 100% |
| Age | ||
| 16-34 | 50% | 22% |
| 35-44 | 44% | 21% |
| 45-54 | 41% | 26% |
| 55-64 | 28% | 15% |
| 65-74 | 22% | 10% |
| 75+ | 14% | 5% |
| All | 34% | 100% |
| Economic status | ||
| Self-employed | 35% | 6% |
| Retired | 18% | 15% |
| Inactive/Unemployed | 71% | 26% |
| Employed | 34% | 53% |
| All | 34% | 100% |
| Disability | ||
| No-one disabled | 32% | 62% |
| Someone disabled | 38% | 38% |
| All | 34% | 100% |
| Qualification | ||
| Degree-level qualification or above | 20% | 18% |
| Other qualification | 38% | 57% |
| No qualification | 45% | 24% |
| All | 34% | 100% |
| Housing tenure | ||
| Owning outright | 10% | 9% |
| Buying with mortgage | 32% | 31% |
| Renting | 58% | 60% |
| All | 34% | 100% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey; Living Cost and Food Survey | ||
| b Age, economic status and qualification refer to the household reference person | ||
| c Social and private rented sectors were combined in this analysis, as living costs were based on average rents. | ||
Over £1.7 billion would be required to make every household in Scotland financially resilient.
The table below shows examples of different kinds of households and how many of them are estimated to be financially vulnerable. The households are grouped by tenure, age and work status of the household reference person, and whether there are any dependent children in the household.
The table also shows how much money the different groups would need to be financially resilient, overall as a group (total gap), and on average per household (median gap). The main reason why the average amounts differ between groups is that the groups have different household sizes. For example, households with children generally contain more people and have therefore higher costs of living. And in some cases, the median gaps are quite high because many vulnerable households not only have no savings, but they are also in debt.
Households with children and a mortgage had the largest average gap, £2,300 per household. The main reason for this is that they had higher living costs.
The largest group of financially vulnerable households were workless working-age households who rent their homes, 180,000 households. But their average gap per household (£1,400) was below the Scotland average of £1,600.
The tree map shows which groups from the table are larger or smaller.
| Group | Number of households | Total gap | Median gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renting, 65+ | 80,000 | £104.0 million | £800 |
| Renting, 16-64, Working, with children | 100,000 | £206.0 million | £2,000 |
| Renting, 16-64, Working, no children | 120,000 | £242.0 million | £1,600 |
| Renting, 16-64, Workless | 180,000 | £308.0 million | £1,400 |
| Buying with mortgage, with children | 120,000 | £306.0 million | £2,300 |
| Buying with mortgage, no children | 130,000 | £371.0 million | £1,300 |
| Owning outright | 70,000 | £157.0 million | £1,100 |
| All | 810,000 | £1,693.0 million | £1,600 |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey; Living Cost and Food Survey |
Property wealth (net property wealth) is the value of all property owned (the main residence and any other property owned) less any debt on the property (e.g. mortgage) and equity release. It is derived from respondents’ own valuations of their properties, rather than any survey valuation. If someone’s outstanding mortgage liabilities exceed the value of their property they are in property debt.
66% of households in Scotland owned some property in 2016-2018, while 34% had none.
Even so, property wealth is more equally distributed than financial and pension wealth, as shown in section 2.2 Wealth inequality by wealth type.
The average property wealth among property-owners was £120,000. A typical household in the top decile ( = 10% band) of the population that owned some property had on average £430,000 in property wealth, and one in the bottom decile had £19,700.
In recent years, property wealth appears to be slowly increasing again for all but the wealthiest property owners, after a period of property wealth decline between 2006-2008 and 2012-2014.
| Property wealth decile | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | £21,200 | £17,600 | £17,600 | £15,800 | £15,400 | £19,700 |
| 2 | £54,100 | £52,600 | £48,900 | £42,000 | £46,400 | £49,000 |
| 3 | £77,500 | £71,400 | £70,100 | £63,000 | £63,900 | £66,000 |
| 4 | £97,200 | £93,600 | £88,000 | £84,000 | £85,500 | £82,000 |
| 5 | £117,500 | £112,300 | £110,000 | £101,800 | £103,000 | £106,000 |
| 6 | £141,400 | £140,400 | £132,000 | £131,200 | £133,900 | £135,000 |
| 7 | £173,400 | £175,500 | £165,000 | £160,600 | £172,000 | £170,000 |
| 8 | £221,400 | £210,600 | £209,000 | £199,500 | £206,000 | £205,000 |
| 9 | £289,300 | £269,100 | £275,000 | £262,500 | £267,800 | £258,200 |
| 10 | £443,600 | £438,800 | £440,000 | £451,500 | £437,800 | £430,000 |
| All | £124,200 | £121,700 | £118,500 | £115,500 | £123,600 | £120,000 |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | ||||||
| b Amounts are adjusted for inflation and are in 2016-2018 prices | ||||||
| c Only households with property are included in this analysis. |
A recent report commissioned by the Poverty and Inequality Commission Scotland showed that fewer households in Scotland are now able to own any property, and property wealth is getting concentrated in fewer and wealthier households8.
Some characteristics of households that are more or less likely to have any property wealth are shown in the chart below. For example, single working-age adults, and in particular lone parents often don’t have any property wealth, whereas pensioner couples often do. Households where the reference person is young, has no (formal) qualification, or is unemployed or inactive (but not retired) are also less likely to have any property wealth compared to older households, or households with a highly qualified, retired or employed household reference person.
Note that small differences in these estimates may not be meaningful and should be interpreted with care. This is because the estimates are based on a sample survey and could be slightly higher or lower if we interviewed a different sample of the population.
| Proportion of households | |
|---|---|
| Household type | |
| Single male pensioner | 61% |
| Single female pensioner | 68% |
| Working-age man, no children | 55% |
| Working-age woman, no children | 47% |
| Lone parent | 28% |
| Pensioner couple | 89% |
| Working-age couple, no children | 72% |
| Working-age couple with children | 78% |
| Other type | 46% |
| Marital status | |
| Married | 83% |
| Cohabiting | 52% |
| Single | 48% |
| Widowed | 63% |
| Divorced | 45% |
| Separated | 58% |
| Age | |
| 16-34 | 48% |
| 35-44 | 69% |
| 45-54 | 64% |
| 55-64 | 71% |
| 65-74 | 75% |
| 75+ | 71% |
| Economic status | |
| Employed | 71% |
| Self-employed | 76% |
| Inactive/Unemployed | 23% |
| Retired | 74% |
| Disability | |
| No-one disabled | 71% |
| Someone disabled | 56% |
| Qualification | |
| Degree-level qualification or above | 80% |
| Other qualification | 66% |
| No qualification | 43% |
| All households | |
| All | 66% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | |
| b Age, economic status and qualification refer to the household reference person. | |
Private pension wealth is an estimate of the value of wealth held in private (non-state) pension schemes, expressed as an equivalent ‘pot of money’. It comprises occupational and personal pensions and includes pensions of public sector workers. The estimate is based only on the pension rights accumulated to date and does not include rights which may be built up in future.
The most common private pension schemes are:
For the first two, benefits are determined by the contributions paid into the scheme, the investment return on those contributions and the type of annuity (if any) purchased upon retirement. For the last one, the benefits to be paid are salary related and based on number of years of pensionable service and accrual rate.
More detail about how pension values are determined and current trends in pension schemes and distributions can be found in the Office for National Statistics’ Pension Wealth in Great Britain publication9.
Wealth is generally accumulated over a person’s lifetime, and this link between age and wealth is particularly relevant for pension wealth. Working-age adults generally increase their pension pots (active or preserved pensions10), while pensioners have pensions in payment.
The sections below consider the pension wealth distributions of households, individual adults who have some pension wealth, and the household types that are more or less likely to have any pension wealth.
82% of households in Scotland had some private pension wealth in 2016-2018, and 18% had none. Of those households that did, their pension wealth was on average £125,500. The bottom 10% households with pension wealth had on average £1,500, and the top 10% households had more than £1 million in pension wealth.
Over time, average pension wealth steadily increased, except for the last period (2016-2018), where the increase stalled or reversed for all but the households with the highest pensions wealth.
| Pension wealth decile | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | £3,700 | £2,900 | £3,900 | £4,100 | £2,600 | £1,500 |
| 2 | £10,900 | £12,800 | £12,100 | £14,700 | £15,200 | £10,500 |
| 3 | £22,300 | £23,400 | £26,100 | £34,100 | £35,300 | £27,000 |
| 4 | £36,700 | £39,300 | £42,500 | £58,700 | £71,500 | £59,400 |
| 5 | £57,100 | £62,500 | £62,800 | £95,700 | £111,400 | £99,700 |
| 6 | £91,300 | £94,000 | £95,400 | £145,400 | £184,000 | £156,700 |
| 7 | £138,700 | £139,500 | £151,700 | £210,000 | £254,900 | £259,300 |
| 8 | £209,900 | £219,700 | £243,200 | £318,200 | £374,600 | £397,600 |
| 9 | £335,800 | £356,600 | £400,100 | £508,000 | £581,900 | £640,200 |
| 10 | £703,100 | £737,400 | £820,800 | £1,010,600 | £1,080,300 | £1,142,400 |
| All | £72,700 | £76,100 | £76,700 | £117,100 | £140,400 | £125,500 |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | ||||||
| b Amounts are adjusted for inflation and are in 2016-2018 prices | ||||||
| c Households with no pension wealth are excluded from this analysis. |
The proportion of Scottish households with some private pension wealth was 82% in 2016-2018. In many of these households, adults are continuing to add to their pension pots, while in other, generally older households, adults are already receiving private pension payments. Where someone has more than one private pension, it is also possible to have a pension in payment, and another one that is not in payment yet.
To distinguish between these two types of pension wealth, the following sections separately look at pensions not yet in payment, and pensions that are in payment.
Note that this section shows individual adults with private pensions, whereas the previous and the following sections are about households - the household pension wealth distribution, and the types of households that are more or less likely to have any pension wealth.
More men than women had a private pension that is not yet in payment (51% of men versus 46% of women), and this gap was caused by adults aged 55 and older.
Over time, the proportion of adults with pension wealth (not yet in payment) has been increasing as more and more people are automatically enrolled into workplace pension schemes11, and the gender gap has been closing.
| Age group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | ||||||
| 16-34 | 29% | 32% | 36% | 29% | 38% | 42% |
| 35-44 | 69% | 70% | 61% | 61% | 69% | 76% |
| 45-54 | 73% | 76% | 77% | 74% | 73% | 73% |
| 55-64 | 51% | 57% | 53% | 56% | 64% | 66% |
| 65-74 | 19% | 14% | 4% | 8% | 9% | 17% |
| 75+ | 17% | 3% | 1% | 1% | 4% | 1% |
| All | 46% | 46% | 44% | 41% | 47% | 51% |
| Women | ||||||
| 16-34 | 30% | 34% | 34% | 29% | 37% | 44% |
| 35-44 | 61% | 62% | 70% | 62% | 68% | 76% |
| 45-54 | 62% | 64% | 63% | 66% | 70% | 72% |
| 55-64 | 32% | 33% | 39% | 39% | 48% | 51% |
| 65-74 | 11% | 9% | 5% | 7% | 6% | 9% |
| 75+ | 7% | 3% | 4% | 6% | 5% | 1% |
| All | 37% | 38% | 39% | 36% | 41% | 46% |
| All adults | ||||||
| All | 41% | 42% | 41% | 38% | 43% | 48% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | ||||||
More older men than women had pensions in payment (for example, 75% of men aged 65-74 versus 57% of women in the same age group). This gap, too, appears to be closing slowly.
| Age group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | ||||||
| 16-34 | 0% | 0% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 35-44 | 1% | 0% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 0% |
| 45-54 | 4% | 5% | 4% | 4% | 2% | 3% |
| 55-64 | 31% | 29% | 33% | 33% | 36% | 36% |
| 65-74 | 73% | 69% | 72% | 78% | 74% | 75% |
| 75+ | 76% | 80% | 78% | 77% | 73% | 75% |
| All | 19% | 18% | 20% | 24% | 23% | 20% |
| Women | ||||||
| 16-34 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 35-44 | 2% | 1% | 0% | 1% | 1% | 2% |
| 45-54 | 3% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 2% | 3% |
| 55-64 | 27% | 30% | 30% | 34% | 29% | 28% |
| 65-74 | 48% | 54% | 51% | 48% | 54% | 57% |
| 75+ | 47% | 48% | 53% | 51% | 56% | 57% |
| All | 16% | 17% | 17% | 19% | 20% | 19% |
| All adults | ||||||
| All | 17% | 17% | 19% | 21% | 21% | 20% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | ||||||
Some characteristics of households who are more or less likely to have private pension wealth are shown in the charts below.
For example, single adult households, in particular lone parents, are less likely to have any pension wealth compared to couples. Also, households in the social rented sector, or where the reference person has no (formal) qualification, or is unemployed or inactive (but not retired) are less likely to have any pension wealth, compared to home owners and households with an employed or highly qualified reference person.
Note that small differences in these estimates may not be meaningful and should be interpreted with care. This is because the estimates are based on a sample survey and could be slightly higher or lower if we interviewed a different sample of the population.
| Proportion of households | |
|---|---|
| Household type | |
| Single male pensioner | 78% |
| Single female pensioner | 72% |
| Working-age man, no children | 74% |
| Working-age woman, no children | 74% |
| Lone parent | 58% |
| Pensioner couple | 88% |
| Working-age couple, no children | 87% |
| Working-age couple with children | 92% |
| Other type | 78% |
| Marital status | |
| Married | 91% |
| Cohabiting | 81% |
| Single | 69% |
| Widowed | 79% |
| Divorced | 71% |
| Separated | 70% |
| Age | |
| 16-34 | 79% |
| 35-44 | 86% |
| 45-54 | 82% |
| 55-64 | 84% |
| 65-74 | 81% |
| 75+ | 76% |
| Economic status | |
| Employed | 93% |
| Self-employed | 78% |
| Inactive/Unemployed | 40% |
| Retired | 80% |
| Disability | |
| No-one disabled | 86% |
| Someone disabled | 73% |
| Qualification | |
| Degree-level qualification or above | 92% |
| Other qualification | 82% |
| No qualification | 64% |
| Tenure | |
| Owning outright | 90% |
| Buying with mortgage | 94% |
| Private renting | 73% |
| Social renting | 55% |
| All households | |
| All | 82% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey | |
| b Age, economic status and qualification refer to the household reference person. | |
| Period | Proportion of households |
|---|---|
| 2016-2018 | 82% |
| 2014-2016 | 77% |
| 2012-2014 | 73% |
| 2010-2012 | 74% |
| 2008-2010 | 72% |
| 2006-2008 | 71% |
| a Source: Wealth and Assets Survey |
The methodology used for this report is based on the Office for National Statistics’ methodology for the Wealth in Great Britain National Statistics publication series12. Further detail on methodology can be found on ONS’s webpages.
The analysis in this report is based on data from the Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS), which is a valuable source of information on the economic well-being of households in Great Britain. WAS is managed by the Office for National Statistics.
The survey has a large sample size and almost complete coverage of Great Britain. The sample of private households in Scotland however excludes households north of the Caledonian Canal and the Scottish islands. While there are some estimated numbers of households in Scotland included, it should be noted that these numbers are for illustrative purposes only, and may not necessarily be representative of households north of the Caledonian Canal and on the Scottish islands.
WAS is a sample survey and any numbers shown here are estimates only and could be slightly higher or lower if we interviewed a different sample of the population.
Data is collected over waves of two years, with the first wave data collected between July 2006 to June 2008. The survey period changed from a June-July pattern to an April-March pattern in 2014. Therefore, estimates for 2012-2014 and for 2014-2016 are both based on data from a partially overlapping time period (April to June 2014).
The latest estimates are based on data collected from April 2016 to March 2018.
Wealth estimates and income estimates have been deflated to April 2016 to March 2018 prices using the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH). The table below shows the deflators used for each period.
| Period | Deflator |
|---|---|
| 2006-2008 | 1.23 |
| 2008-2010 | 1.17 |
| 2010-2012 | 1.10 |
| 2012-2014 | 1.05 |
| 2014-2016 | 1.03 |
| 2016-2018 | 1.00 |
| a Source: ONS Total wealth in Great Britain: April 2016 to March 2018 |
Household income was adjusted for household size using the modified OECD equivalence scale.
Official and National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Both undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs and are produced free from any political interference.
These statistics are currently being developed and have been published to involve users and stakeholders in their development, and to build in quality and understanding at an early stage.
As this is the Scottish Government’s first Official Statistics publication on wealth, we welcome feedback on the content and presentation in order to improve future releases.
For enquiries or feedback about this publication please contact:
Communities Analysis Division
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e-mail: statistics.enquiries@gov.scot
The data collected for this statistical bulletin cannot be made available by Scottish Government for further analysis as Scottish Government is not the data controller. Source data may be accessed through the UK Data Service: www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/
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Scotland’s National Performance Framework: https://nationalperformance.gov.scot/measuring-progress/national-indicator-performance↩
The household reference person (HRP) is the person that is the sole or joint householder or is responsible for household affairs. Where there are joint householders, the HRP will be the person with the highest income. In cases where income is the same for a joint householder, the eldest person is assigned as the HRP.↩
Household debt in Great Britain report: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/ personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/ householddebtingreatbritain/latest↩
Scotland’s National Performance Framework: https://nationalperformance.gov.scot/measuring-progress/national-indicator-performance↩
Scotland’s National Performance Framework: https://nationalperformance.gov.scot/measuring-progress/national-indicator-performance↩
The three months period is a rule of thumb used for emergency or rainy day funds in a number of reports: three months’ essential outgoings (Money Advice Service), three to six months’ worth of regular expenses (Barclays), six months’ worth of bills (MoneySavingsExpert.com in a BBC article), three months of usual wages (money.co.uk).
Money Advice Service article: https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/emergency-savings-how-much-is-enough
Barclays article: https://www.barclays.co.uk/savings/guides/saving-for-the-unexpected
BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35801951
Money article: https://www.money.co.uk/guides/do-you-really-need-an-emergency-fund.htm↩
We calculated basic living costs using the Office for National Statistics’ Family Spending in the UK publication for 2016/17 - 2017/18. £1,535 is the total weekly Scottish median expenditure on housing, fuel and power, food and non-alcoholic drinks, averaged over three years, multiplied by 52 (weeks) and divided by 4 (quarters). We adjusted for different household types by looking at median expenditure by household type relative to the average (UK level). This adjustment means that basic living costs range between £832 for a household with a single retired person and £2,082 for a household with two adults and three or more children. Note that we didn’t adjust for any other extra costs some households have due to their individual circumstances, but used an average for each different size of household.
Publication: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/ personalandhouseholdfinances/expenditure/bulletins/ familyspendingintheuk/financialyearending2018↩
Housing inequality report: https://povertyinequality.scot/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Poverty-and-inequality-housing-wealth-inequality-summary-report.pdf↩
Pension Wealth in Great Britain: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/ personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/ pensionwealthingreatbritain/april2016tomarch2018↩
Preserved pensions are private pensions that are no longer being contributed to but are not yet in payment.↩
Under reforms brought in by the Pensions Act 2008, with updates in the Pensions Acts 2011 and 2014, automatic enrolment was introduced in October 2012 stating employers must enrol all eligible employees (who are not already participating in a qualifying workplace pension scheme) into a qualifying workplace private pension. Staged automatic enrolment is based on the size of the employer’s Pay As You Earn (PAYE) scheme and began in October 2012 with larger employers and completed in 2018. Workers can opt out but will be re-enrolled every three years.↩
ONS Wealth in Great Britain report: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/ personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/ totalwealthingreatbritain/april2016tomarch2018↩