Income and employment: household income

Incomes and financial concerns are inequitably distributed in Scotland

• Weekly incomes in Scotland in 2020-23 (after housing costs) varied from £231 in the poorest percentile of households to £1087 in the richest percentile (Chart 1).
• In 2022, single parent, single adult and large family households were most likely to report they did not manage well financially (Chart 2). 
• The percentage of households in Scotland reporting they did not manage well financially fell between 2012/13 and 2016. Progress has stalled since for single adults and single parents and may have reversed for larger families with three or more children (Chart 2).
• In April/May 2022, 26% of adults in Scotland reported they were very worried about the rising costs of living in the past two weeks, with 49% somewhat worried.
• Worries about rising living costs were more pronounced for women, disabled adults, parents, Asian British compared to white British adults, those who can’t afford an unexpected expense of £850 or more. (Office for National Statistics)

Rising living costs make it difficult for households to meet the Minimum Income Standard

In January 2024, 49% of adults in Great Britain, reported that their cost of living had increased over the last month. This has fallen from 67% of adults in January 2023.

Worries about rising living costs were more pronounced for women, disabled adults, parents, Asian British compared to white British adults, those who can’t afford an unexpected expense of £850 or more. (Office for National Statistics)

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation Minimum Income Standard (MIS) defines the socially acceptable minimum level of income that different household types would need to participate in society.

The 2023 MIS report argues that “the UK is facing a sustained and prolonged period of challenge to living standards. Things that have been taken for granted as core elements of living with dignity in the UK are no longer a given for many households”. After taking cost of living payments and benefits uprating into account:

• For out-of-work households, social security payments plus the one-off payments cover less than a third (30%) of the MIS for a single working-age adult without children, 50% for a couple with two school-aged children and 52% for a lone parent with two school-aged children.
• For pensioner households, the safety net income plus one-off payment will meet 89% of single pensioner needs and 83% of couple pensioner needs.
• For other groups, couples without children can reach the MIS if both are working full-time on the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and couples with two school-age children can almost reach it working full-time on the NMW. Single adults and lone parents fall substantially below the MIS even working full-time on the NMW.

Detailed MIS budgets for different household types and briefing notes on the MIS are also available.

The Scottish Government has published a range of analyses on income and wealth in Scotland, which are available via its Income and Poverty Statistics web pages.