Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Scottish Victimisation Telephone Survey (SVTS) began in 2020. It is a social survey which asked people about their experiences and perceptions of crime, safety, and policing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The SVTS was developed as a result of all Scottish Government face-to-face interviewing, including the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS), being suspended to support social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The suspension of the SCJS opened up an evidence gap with particular challenges for assessing the volume of crime in Scotland not reported to the police, where other sources cannot provide an alternative. The Scottish Government introduced the SVTS as a discrete and additional collection to the SCJS. As such it should not be viewed as a replacement to the latter, with Scottish Government statisticians keeping under review options for the resumption of the SCJS including an assessment of the continued impact of social distancing measures on the running of face-to-face social surveys in Scotland.Further information may be found in the documentation and on the Scottish Government Scottish Victimisation Telephone Survey webpage.

The Scottish Victimisation Telephone Survey, 2020: Special Licence Access: Victim Form Data study contains data from the Victim Form only. The Main Questionnaire data and all documentation for the SVTS 2020 are available under SN 8797.

Main Topics:

Experience of victimisation (victim form questionnaire), perceptions of crime, feelings of safety, worry about crime, security consciousness, perceptions of the police and demographics (including, work, health and key-worker status).

Recontact sample from 2018/19 and 2019/20 Scottish Crime and Justice Surveys.

Telephone interview: Computer-assisted (CATI)