Advice Direct Scotland

Scottish benefits claimants have been urged to prepare for the latest universal credit shake-up as notice letters arrive through letterboxes across the country. Advice Direct Scotland, which runs the national advice service advice.scot, said households should prepare for changes as the Department fo

More than 30 Scottish households are being forced to stop using their gas and electricity every week because they cannot afford to top up their prepayment meters. Figures from national advice agency Advice Direct Scotland show that the energy crisis is far from over, with prices still high and many

Scottish households are still paying hundreds of pounds more for gas and electricity than they were before the energy crisis hit despite Ofgem lowering the energy price cap again, a charity has warned.

The bosses of two of the UK’s biggest energy companies have called for the introduction of a social energy tariff to help low-income households who are struggling to pay the bills.

Energy regulator Ofgem is seeking views on a range of options being considered to reform the energy price cap, including a cap based on consumers’ vulnerability and when energy is used.

The Scottish Government must use the £300 million of Barnett Consequential funding allocated for Scotland in yesterday’s UK Spring Budget to restore the housing budget, Homes for Scotland (HFS) has said. Housing saw a cut of over £200 million in December’s Scottish

Fuel poverty rates in Scotland increased to 31% of all households in 2022, of which more than 18% were in extreme fuel poverty, the latest Scottish House Condition Survey has found.

Scotland’s national advice service is calling for a UK-wide social energy tariff to be introduced to fix the “broken” market and help end the scourge of fuel poverty.

A charity has welcomed a predicted fall in the cost of energy bills in April but warned that it will “do nothing” to address soaring levels of debt faced by households.

The price of energy for a typical household that uses gas and electricity and pay by Direct Debit will go up by £94 after Ofgem announced it will increase the price cap by 5% on the previous quarter from 1 January 2024.

Scots have been urged to look out for scams as cost-of-living support payments of £300 start arriving in bank accounts this week.

Vulnerable Scots have been urged not to miss out on £150 worth of help for their energy bills with the reopening of a UK Government scheme.

An online tool designed to ensure Scots are receiving all the benefits they are entitled to has identified £43 million in unclaimed money over the past year.

Scots with prepayment meters have been urged to act now with more than 400,000 energy rebate vouchers unclaimed as the deadline for help looms. There are only eight days left for households to cash in all their vouchers worth £400 before the UK government’s energy bill support closes on

Almost a quarter of Scottish households with prepayment meters have not redeemed all of their energy rebate vouchers, increasing to one in three in Edinburgh and Glasgow. More than 1.1 million vouchers were issued in Scotland under the UK Government’s energy bill support scheme between October