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 and removal 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 2023-24)
• voluntary throughcare (2004-05), (2023-24)
• court-based services (2004-05), removed (2025-26)
• fiscal work orders (2016-17)
• structured deferred sentences (2018-19)
• home circumstances reports (removed 2025-26)
• throughcare reports (2025-26)

Figures in this publication are sourced from live justice social work systems. The latest statistics cover the financial year 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. 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 sex/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 unless stated in the main narrative ie first year of a new collection.

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 2024-25, which would have affected some local authority figures and Scotland level figures. These affect the following (only 2024-25 unless stated otherwise):

• Bail supervision

Please note, tables are annotated with the relevant notes.

This is the first year that data (2025-26) has been collected on TARL reports and home background reports. Additional validation questions were included to improve understanding of the new collection. As local authorities had not previously been asked to provide this information, it was unclear how it was recorded in their management information systems. This was particularly relevant where local authorities were asked to distinguish between full TARL or home background reports and supplementary information, such as TARL addendums or supplementary home background reports.

Ten local authorities included TARL addendum reports in their main TARL figures. These local authorities accounted for around 60% of the Scotland total. For 2025-26, it was therefore decided to report the figures as TARL reports including addendums (ie. additional request for information after initial TARL is submitted). For the nine local authorities able to separate TARL reports from addendums, addendums accounted for 13% of their combined TARL total. This suggests that reporting TARL reports separately at Scotland level may overstate the national total by more than 10%.

Similarly, 10 local authorities included supplementary requests in their home background report figures. These local authorities accounted for 54% of the Scotland total. However, there was insufficient data to estimate the level of overstatement.

This information will be fed back to the LA-SWS Justice working group to inform how the data should be collected in future.

Ratios in this local authority tables 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 14 July 2026 were used for the ten year trend.

Additional justice social work datasets at local authority level on the Scottish Government website.

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