Final report of the Access Data Short-Life Working Group

SIMD

Overview of SIMD

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is an area-based measure of deprivation that covers 6,976 data zones in Scotland. Deprived areas are identified as such according to the characteristics of the make-up of that area, e.g. the proportion of people on low incomes or who have limited access to different resources.

SIMD looks at 38 indicators across seven domains (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)):

• Income
• Employment
• Education, skills and training
• Health
• Access to services
• Crime
• Housing

Data zones are ranked based on these indicators from most deprived to least deprived and are usually grouped into either deciles or quintiles. The most deprived 20% of data zones is often referred to as ‘SIMD20’ in shorthand.

What do we know about SIMD and poverty?

Over half of people on low income do not live in the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland (SIMD20). Using SIMD to identify individuals experiencing deprivation will not work as well in some areas, such as remote rural areas and the islands (Please see Section 1 where HESA exploratory analysis is mentioned for context). Related to this, there is a lower proportion of SIMD deprived areas in the North East of Scotland and the Highlands and Islands compared to the rest of Scotland.

Advantages and limitations of SIMD as a widening access measure

Advantages:

• Well established, with 20 years of refinement to the measure.
• Updated regularly.
• Used across Scotland in many policy areas.
• Used by all higher education institutions and across the education sector, including by schools.
• Simple to use and available for anyone to check their location and ranking.
• As an area-based measure, it captures any deprivation and disadvantages linked to living in an area of deprivation. This includes other domains that individual-level measures may not capture such as access to services and housing, which may affect a young person’s attainment and outcomes.

Limitations:

• Individuals who reside in an SIMD20 area but are not experiencing high levels of deprivation themselves could be considered deprived under this measure, thereby benefiting from widening access targets, which does not align with the policy intent.
• Conversely, individuals who are living in poverty or deprivation but do not live in an SIMD20 deprived area may be missed out under this measure.
• Data zones in rural areas tend to cover a more mixed picture of individuals living in these areas.

Current targets

As outlined in the CoWA final report (A Blueprint for Fairness: Final Report of the Commission on Widening Access - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).), SIMD was considered to be a valid marker of deprivation – despite its limitations – and that it should be used for tracking, monitoring and targets relating to fair access.

The targets set by the CoWA as part of Recommendation 32 (below) were therefore expressed in SIMD, and this continues to be the main national measure of progress on widening access.

• By 2030, students from the 20% most deprived backgrounds should represent 20% of entrants to higher education. Equality of access should be seen in both the college sector and the university sector.

To drive progress toward this goal:

• By 2021, students from the 20% most deprived backgrounds should represent at least 16% of full-time first degree entrants to Scottish universities as a whole.
• By 2021, students from the 20% most deprived backgrounds should represent at least 10% of full-time first degree entrants to every individual Scottish university.
• By 2026, students from the 20% most deprived backgrounds should represent at least 18% of full-time first degree entrants to Scottish universities as a whole.
• In 2022, the target of 10% for individual Scottish universities should be reviewed and a higher level target should be considered for the subsequent years.