The Improvement Service has published an update to our child poverty map. The map provides an accessible way of exploring and downloading child poverty data for small areas across Scotland.
This update incorporates the newest version of the Children in Low Income Families dataset (CiLIF), published by the Department for Work and Pensions in March. CiLIF is widely used as the key data source for understanding child poverty in small areas. In a significant change to the data, the dataset for the first time includes estimates of CiLIF both before and after housing costs. These datasets can be accessed on the map using the drop-down menu.
You may notice that some child poverty rates look lower than in previous releases. This is because the way the figures are calculated has changed. The CiLIF dataset is calibrated to match another dataset called Households Below Average Income (HBAI). This data is based on a survey, which in recent years has experienced issues with underreporting and below target sample sizes.
To improve accuracy, the HBAI data now uses administrative data on major state benefits and tax credits within its calculations. This provides a more accurate measure of income, especially for lower income groups, with the upshot being HBAI, and therefore CiLIF, are generally lower than previous.
You may also notice that the new dataset uses the new 2022 data zones (the small geographic areas used for reporting statistics in Scotland). Since these boundaries are new, the usual mid-year population estimates for them are not yet available. In the meantime, we have used the 2022 Census figure to estimate the number of children in each area and will update this once mid-year estimates are published by the National Records of Scotland.
We hope you find the map a useful resource. If you have any questions or feedback on the map or the data, please contact us at research@improvementservice.org.uk