Responsibility for completing
The householder is responsible for completing the household census questionnaire.
The householder is the person who lives, or is present, at an address who:
- owns/rents (or jointly owns/rents) the accommodation and/or
- is responsible (or jointly responsible) for paying the household bills and expenses
Every household in Scotland must complete a census questionnaire.
A household can be:
- one person living alone, or
- a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room or sitting room or dining area
If your household cannot complete the census
Find out what to do if your household cannot complete the census because:
- none of the householders are able to complete the questionnaire
- there is no householder
You can also contact us for more information.
If you have no fixed address, you should be included at the address where you are staying on census night.
Completing an individual questionnaire
Any member of your household aged 16 or over can use an individual questionnaire to provide answers in private.
Communal establishments
Not all addresses in Scotland are households. Places like hospitals, care homes, halls of residence or prisons are counted in a slightly different way.
We call these types of accommodation communal establishments.
The manager or person in charge of a communal establishment is legally responsible for providing information about the establishment and its residents.
If you usually stay in a communal establishment and are over 16, you are responsible for completing an individual census questionnaire.
Find out more about how we collect information about communal establishments.
If you have recently moved to Scotland from another part of the UK
If you have recently moved to Scotland from another part of the UK, you may have already completed a census in March 2021.
If so, you still need to complete Scotland’s census in 2022. This is because the census in Scotland is separate from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Second addresses and holiday homes
Read guidance about what to do if you own a second address or holiday home.