Is completing the census mandatory for citizens in Scotland?

The form for completing the census is either conducted online (they give you a QR code or a URL leading to a website where you fill out a survey) or an actual form containing a questionaire is mailed to your residence. What happens if you deliberately provided false answers on the form? When was the last time a census was conducted in Scotland? Do tourists (including British visitors) have to be acknowledged on the census as well?

7 points · 2 comments · view on lemmy.world

2 Comments

Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online · 3 pts · 2d

I'm not from Scotland but the gov has a website with all the answers:

https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/

Last census was 2022, next one will be in 2031. It was late for the 10 year cycle because of COVID.

Questions about laws cannot be answered for the 2031 census because they are still working on figuring out that one, and laws will change. For 2022:

No, tourists don't fill out the census unless they are

Usually resident in the premises and who has not been included in any other return in the United Kingdom.

So on holiday? No. Technically a tourist but living there and didn't respond to the census in your home place? Yes.

Penalties for refusing to fill out certain sections do not apply to questions about

  • transgender status and history
  • religion
  • sexual orientation

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/10-11/41

But otherwise it's a fine (also outlined above)

It would be very hard for them to know you lied. One of the reasons for the census is to make sure services are distributed appropriately. It takes years to go through all the data.

It sounds like you don't want to be counted yourself, or are worried about someone else, and I'm sure you have reasons. It could be possible for someone to obtain the data and use it as a registry or list. Disclosing information form the census inappropriately comes with a stiffer penalty that lying (jail time if convicted) but I suppose how much comfort that gives depends on how much you trust the government.

Skua@kbin.earth · 2 pts · 2d
  • Completing the census is indeed a legal requirement, as is completing it truthfully (although some parts are marked as optional)
  • The penalty for not doing so is a fine of up to £1,000
  • The last one was 2022, delayed from 2021 due to covid. This was somewhat controversial as there was a great deal of concern that it'd make unifying the data with the rest of the UK difficult; the other three countries did theirs in 2021. The next one will be 2031
  • It's done by household, and tourists staying in the household are expected to be listed as guests by the person completing it for the household. I'm actually not sure if or how this affects hotels and such

What prompted the questions?