Scottish Household Survey Bulletin No.2

1 Key points

• State benefits and pensions are the main source of income for most single parent and pensioner households.
• Over two-thirds of low income households do not have access to a motor vehicle.
• Forty per cent of adults in low-income households hold no educational qualifications.
• Over half of low income, households are renting their homes, mainly from the local authority or a housing association. A significant proportion of pensioner households own their homes outright.
• Although the large majority of low-income households have fridges/ freezers, washing machines and telephones, around one in ten are still without some of these items.
• Among householders who are unemployed and seeking work, 70% have been out of work for a year or more.
• 28% of households with children used childcare for five hours or more in the week prior to the interview. In two-thirds of cases this was to facilitate employment and was related to education or training in 5% of cases.
• 60% of households using childcare do not pay anything for it.
• 60% of children walk to school. 18% of children are driven to school, although this rises to a third of children in households in the highest income group.
• 26% of adults report having a limiting illness, health problem or disability.
• 30% of the adult population smoke.
• 30% of the adult population report experiencing problems with young people hanging around their neighbourhood.