New Universal Credit payment rates from next week including extra top-ups for parents and carers

Blur have announced four intimate warm up shows next month ahead of their Wembley Stadium performance in July. The run will see the band play a hometown show in Colchester and officially re-open The Halls in Wolverhampton.Announced in November last year, the Wembley Stadium show will be Blur’s only large-scale performance in the UK this year.

Manchester United are reportedly 'monitoring' Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar ahead of a potential summer move.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed scheduled payments including State Pension, Universal Credit and Carer’s Allowance which are due on the May Day bank holiday next Monday will land in bank accounts this Friday, April 28. Payments from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) such as Child Benefit and Tax Credits will also arrive early.

A group of protestors bidding to stop the Scottish Grand National have been thwarted by police this afternoon.

The remaining tickets for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool will go on sale next week, the BBC has announced. A final batch of tickets for each of the nine live shows held in May will be up for grabs on Monday, April 24, at midday.

The May Day bank holiday falls on Monday, May 1 and payments delivered by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), including Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Child Benefit and Guardian’s Allowance, due on that date will be made early next week instead. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is also expected to announce similar changes soon.

The latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that in August last year there were 956,448 people receiving weekly payments for Carer’s Allowance, including 83,196 living in Scotland.

A former Tory Scotland Secretary is under investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog over his use of stationery. David Mundell is under investigation by Parliament's standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg for his use of "Use of facilities [stationery] provided from the public purse".

Millions of households are set to receive a £301 cost of living payment from next week as part of the UK Government’s £900 support package for those on means-tested benefits. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will make payments to some 7.2million households across Great Britain, including 686,000 in Scotland, between April 25 and May 17, 2023.

The latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that at the end of January 2023 there were 5.9 million people claiming Universal Credit. The means-tested benefit is a payment designed to help people on a low income, out of work, or if they cannot work due to ill health or caring responsibilities.

Shaughna Phillips is celebrating the first week of her newborn daughter Lucia’s life – which just happens to fall on the same day as her own birthday. Shaughna, who just turned 28, shared a snap of her and her little one enjoying a mother-daughter day out to a local coffee shop and revealed to fans that she had finally obtained Lucia’s birth certificate.The former Love Island star joked that Lucia “became an official person today!” in the caption as she held the newborn's birth certificate next to her as she was sound asleep in her pram under a baby pink blanket.The birth certificate came with a sweet keepsake card, which bears a cartoon baby mobile and the words “hello baby” in large bubble letters.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Ray Shulman, a multi-instrumentalist known for his work with the progressive-rock band Gentle Giant and later a successful producer for the Sundays, Bjork’s early band the Sugarcubes, and many others, died on March 30. He was 73. The news was announced by his brother and Gentle Giant bandmate Derek, who wrote in a statement: “I am deeply saddened to announce that my younger brother and my best friend Ray Shulman passed away on March 30th at his home in London. I was with him until the end as he bravely battled a long illness. At least I know he is now at peace. “Ray really was a genius in so many ways. He was an incredible composer, musician, music producer and tech wizard. Together with myself and my elder brother Philip he was a founding member of Simon Dupree & The Big Sound and subsequently Gentle Giant. He went on to produce artists like the Sundays, the Sugarcubes, Ian McCulloch and many more. More recently he devoted his tech and musical expertise in authoring and remixing other artists like Jethro Tull, Genesis, King Crimson and many more.”

X Factor winner Alexandra Burke has opened up about her struggles with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), revealing suffering her from the condition has often left her in "agony". Marking IBS Awareness Month – which is taking place this April – the soon-to-be mum-of-two has detailed the impact "severe cramping" and "bloating" has had on her life. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is something that affects between one and two in every 10 people in the UK and its symptoms can have a massive impact on the lives of those suffering from it, celebrity or not.

Basic and New State Pension payments will increase next week by 10.1 per cent for some 12.6 million older people across the country, including around one million living in Scotland.

An estimated 19.2 million families and 39.8 million individuals across Great Britain currently in receipt of State Pension or benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will see their payments go up by 10.1 per cent next week. However, due to payments made in arrears most people will not see a difference until May.

More than 81,000 people in receipt of Carer’s Allowance received an extra payment for £245.70 in December 2022 as part of a unique benefit only available in Scotland. Carer’s Allowance Supplement is a devolved payment delivered twice each year to eligible claimants.

For many Brits, a holiday or day trip to a UK seaside town is a rite of passage.

Scot rock brothers Dante and Jools Gizzi from Gun are about to take it down a notch with a stripped-back tour.

Households are facing an onslaught of price hikes that could leave the average family hundreds of pounds a year worse off. From April 1, millions of people will face increases to their Council Tax, broadband, mobile and water bills.

Around 1.7million workers are set to receive a “significant” pay boost when the National Minimum Wage (NLW) increases from Saturday, April 1. The Resolution Foundation said that the 92pence rise to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over is equivalent to a near 10 per cent increase.