Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2025: Core module

Context

The fieldwork for the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2025 Core module ran from 16 September to 11 November 2025. This section provides relevant context for this period of time for the public attitudes presented in the report.

Economic context

Global economic conditions were challenging in 2025 with elevated geopolitical risks and trade uncertainty across the year, following the US increasing tariffs on major trading partners in April.

However, against this backdrop, Scotland’s economic growth strengthened for a second consecutive year in 2025 to 1.4%, up from 1.1% in 2024 and 0.7% in 2023, although businesses surveys indicated that business activity and demand remained subdued through the year.^[4]

Underlying inflationary pressures continued to stabilise in 2025 following the inflation shock from 2022. However, the average annual inflation rate rose to 3.4% in 2025 from 2.5% in 2024, but remained notably lower than the 7.3% average in 2023.^[5] The Bank of England highlighted increases in energy prices and employer NICs as contributing to the increase, but overall more stable inflationary pressures enabled it to reduce interest rates four times during the year from 4.75% to 3.75%.^[6]

The labour market continued to benefit from low unemployment during 2025, with unemployment at 3.8% at the end of the year. However, reflecting relatively subdued demand in the economy, the labour market weakened over 2025, from a position of tightness in recent years, with a decrease in the number of payrolled employees and a fall in the pace of median earnings growth to 1.1% in December 2025, down from 2.1% at the end of 2024 and 3.4% at the end of 2023.^{[7] [8]}

Reflecting the improvements and increased stability in some economic conditions in 2025 compared to during the inflation shock in 2022, consumer sentiment had improved notably in 2025 compared to the first half of 2023. However, sentiment remained relatively weak overall and fell to -9.6 in December 2025 (from -2.1 in December 2024) with sentiment related to the economy, household finances and spending remaining subdued.^[9]

The National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland

The NHS in Scotland has experienced significant pressures over recent years resulting from a range of challenges including after effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, an ageing population, rising demand, operational challenges, and increasing costs. In recognition of these pressures Audit Scotland reported in their most recent annual publication on NHS performance that the current healthcare delivery model is not sustainable.^[10]

These issues are reflected in decreased patient satisfaction with the NHS. The proportion of people responding positively when asked to rate the overall care provided by their GP practice has declined from 79% in 2019/20 to 71% in 2025/26.^[11] While positive rating of overall care from GP practice increased between 2021 to 2022 (67%) and 2025 to 2026 (71%), it remains below pre-pandemic levels. The pressure on the NHS has also meant the continuation of a challenging landscape in which to meet waiting time targets.

In Scotland, 95% of patients should be seen at a new outpatient appointment within 12 weeks of referral, as per the Local Delivery Plan Standards. The Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG), established under the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011, states that following the decision to treat, all eligible patients should wait no longer than 12 weeks for treatment as an inpatient or day case.

In recognition of the challenges facing the system an NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan, Service Renewal Framework and Population Health Framework were published in 2025 setting out key principles and steps in pursuit of reform of services. Notably the OIP publication included a commitment to ensure that no patient is waiting longer than a year for a new outpatient appointment or inpatient/day-case procedure by March 2026.

Published statistics from 26 May 2026 show that at the end of December 2025, there were around 516,708 ongoing waits for a new outpatient appointment, with 37,671 ongoing waits of over a year. Of those waiting for a new outpatient appointment, 43.2% were for twelve weeks or less. During the same time period, there were around 157,830 ongoing waits for an inpatient or day case appointment, with 24,733 ongoing waits of over a year in length. Of those waiting for an inpatient or day case appointment, 37.2% were for 12 weeks or less. ^[12]