Editorial policy

EduSCOT covers subjects where a wrong number has real consequences — benefit rates, student funding, school deadlines. This page explains how we write, how figures are verified, when content is updated, and what happens when we get something wrong. Our legal terms and full affiliate disclosure live on the Terms & Editorial Policy page.

Who writes EduSCOT

EduSCOT is written by Gary, who went through the Scottish college-to-university route himself — Stow College in Glasgow, then Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Glasgow Caledonian University — and runs EduSCOT alongside its sister site MoneySCOT. Every guide carries a visible byline linking to that bio, and our Article structured data names the author on every guide. We don’t publish anonymous content.

Primary sources first

Every guide starts from the Scottish system and is checked against the primary sources rather than UK-wide secondary coverage:

• Benefits and grants — mygov.scot, gov.scot and Social Security Scotland.
• Student finance — SAAS.
• Qualifications and exams — Qualifications Scotland (formerly SQA).
• School holidays, catchments and placing requests — the 32 councils’ own published calendars and policies.

Rate-sensitive guides list the specific primary sources they were verified against in a visible “Sources” block at the foot of the article, and those citations are also emitted in the page’s structured data.

How figures are fact-checked

• One figure, one record. Every rate, threshold, fee and fixed date the site states in more than one place lives in a central figure register. Each entry records the primary source it was checked against and the date that check ran — so a number can’t be right on one page and stale on another.
• Superseded rates block publication. An automated check runs on every site build and fails it if an out-of-date value from the register appears anywhere presented as current.
• Visible “last fact-checked” stamps. Rate-sensitive guides carry a last-fact-checked date, and that stamp is only set when every figure in the guide was actually verified — never as a blanket refresh.
• No hedged figures. We either verify a number and state it plainly, or we don’t state a number. We never publish an amount alongside “check the official site as it may have changed”.
• We say when we don’t know. Where a council hasn’t confirmed its holiday dates yet, the page says so and shows the typical pattern flagged as unconfirmed, rather than presenting a guess as fact.

When content is updated

• April — Scottish benefit rates, student-loan repayment thresholds and related figures are uprated; we sweep every benefits and student-finance guide and both calculators.
• February/March — SAAS publishes new rates; we update the SAAS guides and calculator.
• June/July — councils publish next year’s holiday dates; we refresh all 32 holiday pages.
• August — results-day content is refreshed for the new exam cycle.
• September — university rankings are published; we refresh the comparison data.

Each guide shows its “last updated” date, and fixed dates (results day, exam diet, deadlines) get a calendar and day-of-week check before being stamped as verified.

Our position on AI

Articles are researched and written by humans. We use software to help check facts, format tables and spot mistakes, but not to ghostwrite the explanatory prose, and we never pass AI-generated content off as human writing.

Corrections

If you spot an error — a wrong figure, a dead link, an out-of-date reference — email corrections@eduscot.co.uk with the page URL and what needs fixing. We review within five working days, and material corrections are logged at the bottom of the affected article with the date the change was made. You can also use the contact page.

Independence and funding

EduSCOT is not affiliated with the Scottish Government, Social Security Scotland, SAAS, Education Scotland, Qualifications Scotland, any Scottish university, or any of the 32 councils. Some pages contain clearly-labelled affiliate links; they never change what we recommend. The full disclosure — which programmes, which pages, and the rules we apply — is on the Terms & Editorial Policy page.

What this site is not

EduSCOT is general information, not personalised financial, legal or educational advice. For decisions that matter, confirm the specifics with the body you’re dealing with — the terms page lists who to contact for what.

Policy published 26 July 2026. Meaningful changes are noted here with a date.