Benefit take-up and the geography of poverty in Scotland

Renewed interest in poverty and social exclusion and the greater availability of welfare benefits information at local and small area level create new opportunities for the analysis of the geography of poverty to inform regeneration and resource allocation policies. However, not all eligible households claim benefits and not all of the poor are eligible for benefits. Through use of a large scale micro survey dataset for Scotland, the relationships between benefit claiming, eligibility and income poverty are examined for different types of area. Marked differences are found in the extent to which benefits are claimed and the coverage of poverty provided by benefit eligibility between elderly and other households and between areas which are more and less affluent. Urban-rural differences are less marked once allowance is made for these other characteristics. A profile is presented of the poor who are not captured by benefit measures. The contemporary geography of poverty in Scotland is described at local authority level using different measures including enhanced benefit-based estimates and proxy-based indicators, highlighting the concentrated poverty in the urban west of the country.