Tackling child poverty - fourth year progress report 2021 to 2022: annex A - measurement framework

Footnotes

1. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of exams and external coursework in 2020 and 2021, and the use of alternative approaches to the certification of SQA qualifications. This change in certification will have affected the attainment of some school leavers. Caution should be used when comparing data for 2019/20 and 2020/21 to that from previous years.

2. Figures for 2018 and 2019 reflect the affordability of childcare for households with a child aged between 0 and 11 years old and are paying for some type of childcare. They do not include, for example, households who do not pay for additional childcare because they cannot afford it. This information refers to household childcare costs, so the costs may cover multiple children. In 2020, this questions was asked of all households.

3. Day care is care provided for infants and toddlers, pre-schoolers and school-aged children in a centre-based facility, such as a nursery, playgroup or afterschool club.

4. Fuel running costs are modelled using a theoretical model (BREDEM) which estimates energy requirements from the characteristics of the dwelling, the heating system, fuel type, and external temperatures. Space heating requirements are based on 2 types of heating regimes - standard and enhanced. Households that include a person aged 75 or over or suffering a long term illness of disability are considered vulnerable and their running costs are based on an enhanced heating regime (23C in living rooms and 20C in other rooms for 16 hours each day). All other households are assessed based on the standard regime (living rooms heated to 21C and bedrooms to 18C for 9 hours on week days and 16 hours per day at weekends). No information about actual fuel running costs have been used. This is consistent with the new definition of fuel poverty in Scotland, following amendments agreed at Stage 2 of the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) Bill.

5. Unmanageable debt is defined as having at least one of the following three problems:

a) household debt repayments represent at least 25% of net monthly income AND at least one adult in the household reports falling behind with bills or credit commitments

b) at least one adult in the household is currently in two or more consecutive months arrears on bills or credit commitments AND at least one adult in the household reports falling behind with bills or credit commitments

c) household debt represents at least 20% of net annual income AND at least one adult considers their debt a heavy burden

6. High cost credit is defined as including: catalogues or mail order schemes; hire or rental purchase agreements (like BrightHouse); cash loan from a company that comes to your home to collect payments; loan from a pawnbroker/cash converters; loan from a pay day lender.