Scottish Household Survey 2020 - telephone survey: key findings

Section three - Finance

The results of the SHS 2020 telephone survey are not directly comparable to SHS results for previous years. Please see Introduction for more detail.

64% of households reported managing well financially (Table 3.10), and 7% reported that they did not manage well financially.

This varied depending on whether or not the highest income householder was currently, or had previously been, furloughed from work. Households where the highest income householder was, or had been furloughed were less likely to report that they were managing well financially (55%) than households whose highest income householder had not been furloughed (66%).

This also varied by net annual household income, with the proportion of households reporting that they manage well financially increasing with income (Table 3.1). 76% of households with an income exceeding £30,000 reported that they managed well financially compared with 33% of households with an income of £10,000 or less.

18% of households whose main income was from benefits reported that they did not manage well financially (Table 3.5).

Older households (with at least one adult of pensionable age, and no children) were more likely to report that they were managing well financially (Table 3.3).

74% of older households reported that they were managing well financially, which was higher than for households with children (57%) and households without children (62%). 10% of households without children reported that they did not manage well financially, which was higher than for households with children (6%) and older households (1%).

77% of households in the 20% least derived areas reported that they were managing well financially, compared to only 46% of households in the 20% most deprived areas (Table 3.9).

Households in the 20% most deprived areas were more likely than those in the 20% least deprived to say that they got by (40%) or did not manage well financially (14%).

74% of owner occupiers reported that they were managing well financially (Table 3.4). This was higher than for households in the private rented (48%) and social rented (32%) sectors.