People on PIP or DLA set for monthly payment rise to over £690 from next April

Scots hairdressing icon Rita Rusk has died at the age of 75.

Energy bills are rising for everybody and even with the UK Government’s £400 Energy Bill Support Scheme and £2,500 Energy Price Guarantee in place until the end of March, millions of households are set to feel the financial squeeze tighten even further in the new year as temperatures continue to sit in single figures.

An estimated 19.2 million families and 39.8 million individuals across the UK 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% next year.

Adult Disability Payment and Child Disability Payment are new health benefits replacing Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance for Children (DLA for Child) for people living in Scotland. The devolved benefits will provide financial support for young children and those between 16 and State Pension age, who are disabled, have a long-term health condition or have a terminal illness.

State Pension provides essential financial support every four weeks for more than 12.5 million people across the UK, including 981,399 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.

Movie studios are on notice after a federal judge ruled against Universal Pictures in a false advertising lawsuit over the trailer for Danny Boyle‘s 2019 film “Yesterday.” Variety reports that U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson ruled in favor of two Ana de Armas fans who filed the lawsuit in January.

Just a day after the Government announced it was suing scandal-hit firm PPE Medpro, Baroness Michelle Mone was seen at a luxury alpine resort.

AMC Networks is throwing everything it’s got at Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches.

EXCLUSIVE: RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Bianca Del Rio is returning for a third movie in the Hurricane Bianca franchise and will star alongside Willam Belli (A Star Is Born), Rachel Dratch (Wine Country), Thora Birch (The Walking Dead), Drag Race contestant fan favorite Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, and Doug Plaut (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt).

EXCLUSIVE: Sex Education producer Eleven is embarking on its next project, a TV series adaptation of up-and-coming creative duo Oliver Taylor and Dillon Mapletoft’s stage show Fix My Brain.

Super sub Ali Crawford netted a quick-fire double to send the 398 travelling St Johnstone fans crashing from their seats in the Highlands.

David Fincher To Receive Honorary Cesar AwardDavid Fincher is to receive an Honorary Award at this year’s Cesar Awards. The primary French awards show will fete the Gone Girl filmmaker at its 2023 ceremony on February 24 at the Olympia in Paris. The awards body described Fincher as an “outstanding technician” and “a true visionary.” Awarded since 1976, previous Honorary Cesar Award winners include Robert Redford, Penelope Cruz, and George Clooney. The nominees for the 48th César Awards will be announced on January 25.

In military parlance, the term retrograde can mean several things, among them withdrawal from a war zone, “where all or part of a deployed force voluntarily disengages from the enemy.”

Strange as it may seem, the Oscar for Best International Feature tends to go to movies that are universal rather than geographically specific. Last year’s winner Drive My Car spoke more about mankind’s default setting to loneliness than it did about the specifics of relationship dynamics in modern Japan, just as the Danish drunks in 2021’s Another Round got hammered in a way that was relatable to boozers in every country from Albania to Zambia. Maybe the Academy feels that real life is better left to docs, but a 2015 win for the harrowing Second World War drama Son of Saul suggests that the door is always open. And after a year that saw the whole world reeling from Vladmir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, this might be one of those years that addresses the fact.

Basic and New State Pension payments will increase next year by 10.1% for some 12.5 million older people across the UK, including 992,052 living in Scotland. The honouring of the Triple Lock rule was confirmed last month during Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement and means that older people are set for an income boost from April, 2023.

Back to in-person attendance for the first time since 2020, the Sundance Film Festival is leaning into its independent roots with a timely 2023 line-up that examines the Russian invasion of Ukraine, conflict in Iran and the dangers of technology, as well as documentaries on author Judy Blume, Michael J Fox, Brooke Shields and the Emperor of Rock’n’Roll himself, Little Richard. 

Stephen Flynn is set to face Rishi Sunak in his first Prime Minister's Questions since being elected the SNP's new Westminster leader.

There are an estimated 19.2 million families and 39.8 million individuals across the UK currently in receipt of State Pension or benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) who will see their payments go up by 10.1% next year. The uprating will come into effect on April 10, 2023.

Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year which means Boxing Day is on a Monday, however, the bank holiday status for that date has been moved to Tuesday, December 27. This means that benefits and payments from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) which are due on those dates will be made earlier.