How do we compare councils?

To understand why variations in cost and performance are occurring, councils work together to ‘drill-down’ into the benchmarking data across service areas. This process has been organised around ‘family groups’ of councils so that we are comparing councils that are similar in terms of the type of population that they serve (e.g. relative deprivation and affluence) and the type of area in which they serve them (e.g. urban, semi-rural, rural). The point of comparing like with like is that this is more likely to lead to useful learning and improvement.

Family Groupings for Children, Social Work and Housing indicators

These councils are grouped by the type of population they serve, e.g. level of deprivation and affluence.

Family Group 1 Family Group 2 Family Group 3 Family Group 4

East Renfrewshire
East Dunbartonshire
Aberdeenshire
Edinburgh, City of
Perth & Kinross
Aberdeen City
Shetland Islands
Orkney Islands

Moray
Stirling
East Lothian
Angus
Scottish Borders
Highland
Argyll & Bute
Midlothian

Falkirk
Dumfries & Galloway
Fife
South Ayrshire
West Lothian
South Lanarkshire
Renfrewshire
Clackmannanshire

Eilean Siar
Dundee City
East Ayrshire
North Ayrshire
North Lanarkshire
Inverclyde
West Dunbartonshire
Glasgow City

Family Groupings for Environmental, Culture & Leisure, Economic Development, Corporate, Property and Tackling Climate Change indicators

These councils are grouped by the type of area they serve, e.g. rural, semi-rural and urban.

Family Group 1 Family Group 2 Family Group 3 Family Group 4

Eilean Siar
Argyll & Bute
Shetland Islands
Highland
Orkney Islands
Scottish Borders
Dumfries & Galloway
Aberdeenshire

Perth & Kinross
Stirling
Moray
South Ayrshire
East Ayrshire
East Lothian
North Ayrshire
Fife

Angus
Clackmannanshire
Midlothian
South Lanarkshire
Inverclyde
Renfrewshire
West Lothian
East Renfrewshire

North Lanarkshire
Falkirk
East Dunbartonshire
Aberdeen City
Edinburgh, City of
West Dunbartonshire
Dundee City
Glasgow City