HOW WILL THE REFERENDUM WORK?
The vote will take place on Thursday 18 September 2014. Polls will open from 7am until 10pm and voters will be faced with a single question: should Scotland be an independent country? They will only be able to vote yes or no.
On the basis of registrations, the electoral commission is expecting a high turnout of around 80% - roughly equating to 3.4 million people.
Anyone who lives and is registered to vote in Scotland will be allowed to vote – including those aged 16-17. A simple majority is needed to secure victory.
The result of the Scottish referendum will only be officially declared when counts from all Scotland's 32 local authorities have been provided to the chief counting officer (CCO) and she has accepted them as valid.
As each local authority count is checked and accepted by the CCO, the local counting officer will be authorised to announce the totals for their local authority area.
Recounts would only be undertaken at a local level and only on the basis of concerns about process, not the closeness of a result.
It is expected that the final result of the referendum will be announced on the morning of 19 September.
PUBLIC SPENDING
As part of the United Kingdom, Scots receive more in public spending per head than people in the rest of the UK. The Treasury calculates the difference at between 14% and 16% over the last five years, while the Scottish government says the gap is between 10% and 12%.
Total public spending in Scotland was £65.2bn in 2012-13. It accounted for 9.3% of the UK total which is higher than its share of the UK population (8.3%).