Communal establishments

Not all addresses in Scotland are households. Places like hospitals, care homes, halls of residence or prisons are counted but in a slightly different way.

We call these types of accommodation communal establishments.

A communal establishment is typically managed residential accommodation where there is full-time or part-time supervision of the accommodation.

If you usually stay in a communal establishment, the manager or person in charge will give you  information about how to complete your census questionnaire.

Communal establishments could be:

• care homes
• hospitals
• schools
• hostels or shelters for the homeless
• halls of residence/student accommodation
• prisons or young offenders’ institutions
• hotels, guest houses, B&Bs, youth hostels

You can check a list of places we consider to be types communal establishments.

Communal establishment managers  

If you are the manager or person in charge of a communal establishment, you are responsible for providing information about the establishment and its residents.

We will contact you before census day – 20 March 2022 - to provide you with information and discuss arrangements for your establishment.