Annex A Data and Methodology

The annual aggregate justice social work return for local authority justice social work services was introduced in 1999-2000. It initially covered justice social work reports, community service orders and probation orders. Over time, the content and format have evolved to reflect new developments, increased demand for information and clarification of data definitions. Additional items and their introduction years include:

• throughcare (statutory post release supervision) (2001-02)
• diversion from prosecution (2001-02), (2022-23)
• bail information and supervision (2003-04),(2022-23 to 2024-25)
• voluntary throughcare (2004-05), (2024-25)
• court-based services (2004-05)
• fiscal work orders (2015-16)
• structured deferred sentences (2018-19).

Figures in this publication are sourced from live justice social work systems. The latest statistics cover the financial year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. Earlier years' figures may have slight revisions, detailed later in this Annex. 

Data from local authorities' recording systems, used for case management and internal monitoring, includes personal characteristics like gender and ethnicity. These characteristics are usually self-identified. Administrative data will always be subject to some degree of error that arises in any large-scale recording system. The data in this publication has, however, been quality assured as far as practicable. This is done through a series of validation processes before publication. As a result, the data is considered of good quality.

The aggregate return includes validation checks to notify local authorities of inconsistencies within the data. If there are large changes from the previous year, the local authority is asked to confirm the figures. Once all data returns are returned, further analysis is conducted to detect major changes over recent periods.

Occasionally, it is discovered after publication that some figures require revision. The revision mechanism depends on factors such as

• The importance of the statistic
• The size of the change
• The consequences of the change.

Revisions are considered individually. If needed, reports and tables are updated on the website. Otherwise, corrections are made in the next publication and noted in footnotes. Future publications do not highlight these revisions but there will be details within the note(s) to the relevant table(s).

Some changes have been made since the previous publication in 2023-24, which would have affected some local authority figures and Scotland level figures. These affect the following (only 2023-24 unless stated otherwise):

• Diversion from prosecution
• Bail supervision
• Structured deferred sentences
• Statutory throughcare
• Voluntary throughcare (2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24)
• Pre-release reports.

Please note, tables are annotated with the relevant notes

An additional one-off question was posed regarding individuals assessed as not suitable for bail in 2024-25. Specifically, the question was: "How many had inappropriate accommodation as a contributing factor to the assessment recommendation of not suitable for bail?" Seventeen local authorities were able to provide this information, while other authorities do inquire about accommodation but were unable to record and/or extract this information from their management systems. These 17 local authorities accounted for 17 per cent of those assessments deemed not suitable for bail for the whole of Scotland, i.e. less than one-fifth. Of the 244 assessments where it was possible to provide this information, only 30 per cent (73) had inappropriate accommodation as a contributing factor to the recommendation of not suitable for bail.

Unlike the report and the tables referred to in the report, the live (mainly local authority level) tables on the Scottish Government justice social work statistics website, are usually updated as soon as an error becomes apparent.

Ratios in this publication are calculated per 10,000 people aged 16 to 70 in Scotland, using mid-year population estimates from the National Records of Scotland website. Estimates from 30 June 2024 were used for the 2024-25 data. Revised figures from Scotland's Census 2022 have been applied for years 2011 to 2021.

As well as the additional justice social work datasets at local authority level on the Scottish Government website, there are also further datasets on the Scottish Government's open data platform.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland have different judicial systems. This makes comparing information on justice social work statistics unfeasible.
Statistical information on their judicial systems can be found at:

• England and Wales: Statistics at Ministry of Justice
• Northern Ireland: Department of Justice

There are a range of other statistics on the Scottish judicial system:

• Scottish Government Crime and Justice Statistics
• Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service – Official Statistics
• Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service - Publications
• Scottish Prison Service - Information
• Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services Criminal Disposals Dashboard