Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2012/13

Changes to statistics 2012/13:

This publication includes changes to the statistics compared with previous publications:

1. Following publication of the 2011 census results, population totals for Scotland and the UK have been updated for years following the previous census in 2001. As such, the previously published statistics for 2002/03 to 2011/12 have been revised to better reflect the make-up of the population over this period. The effect of this revision is small and does not affect the overall trends seen in poverty and income inequality over this period. Please see Annex 3 for more details.

2. Pensioners are defined as all those adults above State Pension age. Working age adults are defined as all adults up to the state pension age. Prior to April 2010, women reached the state pension age at 60. Between April 2010 and March 2016 the state pension age for women is increasing to 63 and will then increase to 65 between April 2016 to November 2018. The changes do not affect the state pension age for men, which remains at 65. Therefore, as with the previous two reports, the age groups covered by the analysis of working-age adults and pensioners will change for the 2012/13 report. The material deprivation statistics will continue to be based on pensioners aged 65 and over.

3. Small improvements made to the calculation of bonus and property tax in the 2012/13 HBAI data, largely affecting those on higher incomes, will have had an effect on top incomes and measures of income inequality.

Full details of all methodological changes can be found on the DWP website.