People finding it difficult to pay bills this month urged to seek free advice from charity

NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s financial deficit will more than double to £56m over the coming year.

A top energy expert is warning that “a few thousand” people over State Pension age only have until the end of this week to claim winter heating bill help, worth up to £600. Malcolm Grimston, Senior research fellow for Energy Policy and Technology at Imperial College London, said that millions of pensioners have already received the payment automatically, but two specific groups may not - and they need to make a claim before March 31, 2023.

A Scots mum has hit out at a Blackpool hotel after claiming she found a 'bed bug' and urine stains on the mattress in their room.

Spring is finally here which means an announcement on when the first part of the £900 means-tested cost of living payment will start landing in bank accounts across the country is due soon. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has given no indication of a specific payment window for the £301 payment, nor the qualifying period.

Martin Lewis is urging households up and down the country to check if they are eligible for a Council Tax discount before the new financial year begins on April 6. While Council Tax band evaluations differ in Scotland, England and Wales, the various ways to qualify for a discount are mostly the same.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is encouraging older people with a physical or mental health condition, or a disability, to check if they are entitled to Attendance Allowance, which is currently worth either £61.85 or £92.40 each week.

State Pension provides essential financial support every four weeks for 12.6 million people across the UK, including around one million living in Scotland. This regular payment of up to £185.15 per week for the Full, new State Pension or £141.85 per week for the basic old State Pension (Category A or B) is available for those who have reached the UK Government’s eligible retirement age, which increased to 66 for both men and women in October 2020.

Millions of people across Scotland, England and Wales claiming disability benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Social Security Scotland are set for a 10.1 per cent pay rise this year which will be completely tax-free.

Seven people have been arrested after a crowd gathered outside a Scots home last month in a night of 'large-scale disorder'.

He’s a Creetown stalwart who’s planted and harvested thousands of trees with the Forestry Commission.And Eric Houston is old enough – he admits that himself – to see great logs cut from trees he grew from seed half a century ago being shipped along the A75.

The Resolution Foundation has warned that more than half a million people on benefits are likely to see their support cut back as a result of the UK Government’s welfare reforms. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced what he described as the “biggest change to our welfare system in a decade” during Wednesday’s Spring Budget, with the scrapping of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to assess eligibility for sickness benefits.

Viaplay has found its Inspector Rebus and author Sir Ian Rankin is keeping it in the name.

State Pension currently provides essential financial support for 12.6 million older people across the country, including more than one million retirees living in Scotland. This regular payment is available for those who have reached the UK Government’s eligible retirement age, which is currently 66 for both men and women, and have paid at least 10 years' worth of National Insurance Contributions.

Scottish homebuyers are getting onto the property ladder in 2023 with help from The Scottish Government’s LIFT (Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers) Open Market Shared Equity scheme.

The Scottish Government is working towards delivering a new benefit that will start to replace Carer’s Allowance by the end of this year, with a full national rollout planned for Spring 2024.

We all try to keep as safe as we can when it comes to our finances, but the fact is that fraud can happen to any of us. And a new study has outlined the top five banks in the UK that customers are most at risk of it happening - with Santander at the top of the list.

Members of the SNP and Scottish Liberal Democrats have called on the UK Government to reintroduce the weekly uplift that was given to Universal Credit claimants during the coronavirus pandemic to help ease the financial pressure caused by lockdowns. They also called for it to be increased to £25 per week and extended to all claimants on legacy benefits.

More than 81,000 people currently claiming 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, only given to those living in Scotland, twice each year.

A new online petition is calling for an increase to the Basic State Pension weekly payment rate so that it matches the New State Pension. The latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show there are now 12.6 million people across Great Britain receiving State Pension payments, including more than 992,000 living in Scotland.

A mum has begged people to stop sharing graphic footage of her teenage son being violently attacked in a Fife park.