See what Scotland’s numbers mean where you live.

Shoplifting in Scotland is at its highest since 1971 and now higher per person than in England and Wales. Convictions have nearly halved. Food prices explain much of the surge, but not the last two years.

A post on X says Glasgow's 30% rise in sexual assaults was driven by migrants. The rise is real. Here is what the police records, the census and the Home Office files say about who was behind it.

Inverclyde awarded 89% of decided Crisis Grant applications in 2025/26. Midlothian awarded 52%. The same national scheme produced a persistent 37-point postcode gap that councils need to explain.

People in Scotland's most deprived areas had about 12 times the drug-death rate of those in the least deprived areas in 2024. Glasgow had the highest council-area rate over 2020–2024. The link is stark, but it needs to be read carefully.

Use this Operation Branchform timeline to follow every major event from the SNP fundraisers to Peter Murrell's conviction. Nicola Sturgeon and Colin Beattie were not charged.

Every council raised its rate, but not by the same amount. This compares last year's council tax with this year's, and keeps Scottish Water's separate charge out of the council figures.

Your bill is a mix of a property band, your council's rate and Scottish Water charges. Here are the ten things that explain almost everything, followed by the exact sources.

£12.71 an hour sounds clear. A payslip is not. I have done the tax and National Insurance working for a 37.5-hour week so you can see what reaches the bank.

They sound almost identical. One is the legal floor an employer must pay. The other is a voluntary rate calculated from what ordinary life actually costs.

Working more always leaves you with more total money. But the increase can feel painfully small because Universal Credit is reduced as earnings rise.

The benefit is meant to help with a cheaper local rent. In 2026 it is still using rates fixed from 2024, even though newer rent evidence is higher in most Scottish areas.

£1,862 is not the most any household can pay. It is an illustration based on typical use. The cap controls the rates, so using more still costs more.

The news says inflation is down. The supermarket receipt says the weekly shop is still dear. Both can be true at the same time.

This is not a loan and it is not an advance from Universal Credit. It is a council grant for a low-income person facing an immediate emergency.

If you get help with rent but there is still a gap, your council has another fund. It can sometimes cover the shortfall, a deposit, rent in advance or moving costs.

Some help is automatic, some has to be claimed, and the rules change with a child's school year. This is the short version for a busy parent.

War and the pandemic pushed prices up. That is true. It is also true that political choices left ordinary families with less protection, and added avoidable costs of their own.

The most common thing said about poverty is that people should get a job. Most of them already have one.

The word gets used loosely. The measure behind it is precise, and knowing it makes every other number on this site readable.

It does not exist anywhere else in the UK, and some families who are entitled to it have never claimed it.

Most people never contact their representatives, and the main reason is not apathy. It is not knowing how it works.