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Many families will be gearing up for all of the festive fun which Christmas has to offer. However, a charity group has urged people to remain aware in case anything goes wrong.

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.

The latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that in May there were 936,766 people receiving weekly payments of £69.70 for Carer’s Allowance, including 81,682 living in Scotland. However, new research from the Carers Trust suggests that some unpaid carers are relying on loans and credit cards to help them pay bills during the cost of living crisis.

A prison officer has been jailed after falling pregnant following a secret year-long affair with an inmate. Corinne Redhead, 29, was caught out when officials found the inmate's name on the baby's birth certificate, reports the Express.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the West Lothian Foodbank, which has spent the last decade providing compassion, guidance and expert support to people who had nowhere else to turn.

Parts of Scotland are facing freezing temperatures and snowy conditions this week as bitterly cold air from the Arctic sweeps in.

A teenager has been charged in connection with an alleged assault on a pupil at the trouble-hit Bannerman High School in Glasgow.

BBC 's The Traitors is going to be shown in the USA next year, it has been announced. The reality TV programme - hosted by Claudia Winkleman - is filmed in Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands and sees a team of players competing in a series of missions.

Falkirk Council's 'black box' collections - which accept glass, textiles and small electrical items - will come to an end next year, with the start of a national scheme, that will see people return bottles and cans for cash.

Christmas is just around the corner and for many households this will be a different sort of festive season as people try to cope with the ongoing cost of living crisis. Finances of even the most stringent of savers are being squeezed even tighter due to rising energy costs, soaring food prices and ever-increasing inflation.

An advert by Scots brewery giant BrewDog that claimed a can of their fruit beer counted as one of your five-a-day has been banned by the UK's advertising watchdog. The brewery was ordered to remove the line from its promotional campaign after the Advertising Standards Authority deemed it to be misleading.

A carer who stole from elderly widow's bank account on the day of her husband's funeral has avoided a prison sentence. Margaret McPhail, 62, carried out £11,800 worth of cash withdrawals on 87-year-old Agnes Fowler's account from her home in Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire.

Millions of households across Scotland and the rest of the UK are bracing for the first prolonged snap of colder weather this winter which is forcing everyone to tighten their spending belts at the prospect of switching on the heating. Despite this month’s £67 discount on electricity bills and the UK Government’s £2,500 Energy Price Guarantee, bills are getting higher while incomes either stay the same or get lower.

A Scots woman has posted about her emotional reunion with family after a four-year trip abroad. Madison Frain surprised her relatives after returning home for Christmas from Australia, reports Edinburgh Live.

A '100-year-old angry-message in a bottle' was unexpectedly found underneath a toppled Queen Victoria statue. The furious message inside the bottle blasted controversial drinking laws in 1921.

Scotland's teachers have been attacked thousands of times in the past year, the Sunday Mail can reveal. Council staff reported more than 22,000 incidents, with the majority of attacks against teachers and classroom assistants.

A Scots pensioner who lost a 'treasured' wedding ring that hadn’t left his finger for 64 years has been reunited with the jewellery thanks to eagle-eyed castle staff. Charlie Watson and wife Margaret decided to check out a light show at Brodie Castle, near Forres, Moray, with their daughter Elaine Butterworth, who had arrived for a visit from Canada.

HSBC will close 114 of its UK branches from April of 2023 due to customers moving to internet banking following the pandemic.

Christmas is a time to be with your loved ones - and that includes beloved family pets.