A free, independent guide to poverty, pay & living costs across Scotland. Local facts, clear breakdown of official figures, and zero-faff tools for action.
Scotland
Joined August 2026
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Curious what your salary is really worth in Scotland?
Free 2026/27 take-home pay calculator:
✅ Scotland’s six tax bands
✅ Student loans & pensions
✅ Reverse calculate the gross you need
✅ Runs privately in your browser
scotlandcounted.org.uk/take-…
🤖 Made with AI
Shoplifting in Scotland is at a record high. Convictions have nearly halved.
What’s behind the gap? I’ve looked at the figures, the role of food prices and what they don’t explain:
scotlandcounted.org.uk/blog/…
School costs add up fast. Some help is automatic; some you need to claim.
Here’s who gets free school meals in Scotland, who can apply for a clothing grant and where to start:
scotlandcounted.org.uk/blog/…
The energy price cap is £1,723. That does NOT mean your bill can’t be higher.
It’s an annual figure for a typical household. The cap limits rates, so your actual bill still depends on how much energy you use.
scotlandcounted.org.uk/energ…
“How many hours can I work on Universal Credit?”
There's no fixed hours limit. Your payment normally falls by 55p for each extra £1 of take home pay, after any work allowance you qualify for.
scotlandcounted.org.uk/blog/…
If you’re facing an emergency and can’t afford the essentials, a Crisis Grant might help.
It isn’t a loan and you don’t have to be on benefits to apply. Your local council decides. Here’s how it works:
scotlandcounted.org.uk/crisi…
Two neighbouring areas. A shared name. Around five years between them in life expectancy.
East and West Dunbartonshire tell a bigger story than a boundary on a map. Here's what the figures and history show:
scotlandcounted.org.uk/east-…
£28.20 a week for each eligible child under 16. That’s the Scottish Child Payment, and it’s worth checking if your family qualifies.
Here’s who can apply and how to do it:
scotlandcounted.org.uk/scott…
“Inflation is falling.” So why is the food shop still so expensive?
If inflation is above zero, prices are still rising, just more slowly. That doesn't undo the increases already on your receipt.
scotlandcounted.org.uk/blog/…
Rent rises, but the support meant to help pay it hasn't kept up.
Local Housing Allowance rates for 2026/27 are still at April 2024 levels. Here's what that means for renters in Scotland:
scotlandcounted.org.uk/blog/…
£12.71 an hour sounds straightforward. Your payslip is another matter.
That’s the minimum for most workers aged 21 and over, but tax and National Insurance affect what actually reaches your bank. Here’s the working:
scotlandcounted.org.uk/minim…
Every Scottish council increased council tax in 2026/27, but the rises weren't the same. They ranged from 4% to 10% for Band D.
See how your council compares:
scotlandcounted.org.uk/counc…
Scotland Counted retweeted
A Pakistani boy once told the Muslim Women's Network that his community "shares" girls:
“My mate called me and said ‘Bro I have a surprise for you, come over to this house.’ When I got there 15 of them were sitting in the living room. My mate told me to go upstairs for my surprise.
"When I went into the bedroom, another friend was doing this girl. The lads went up one by one and took turns and while they were waiting they were calling their mates, cousins and uncles to come over and join in and showing off.
"Others turned up too including two older men who were taxi drivers, who went straight upstairs. One older man said I am going to call my son over so he can practice on her and later his 15-year-old son arrived in his uniform.
"Everyone took turns and it took 6 hours. I did get concerned and said, ‘the girl is going to get broke, who will marry her?” The girl is not paid but she gets looked after, she is given food and the boys make sure she gets home safely if it gets late.
"There are set days Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays but some of my friends don’t like doing stuff like that on a Friday because it is Juma (holy day) and they go mosque.”
Pimping a girl out to your cousins and children is the norm in Pakistani communities in Britain.
You do not understand these people. We cannot share a country with them. They all have to go.
Scotland Counted retweeted
This video should be broadcast 24/7. The Muslim Brotherhood leader explains in his own words that, after 700 years of failed attempts to conquer Europe by force, they are now conquering it peacefully with the help of naive Western governments. The EU's weak and corrupt politicians have caused a disaster of biblical proportions. This won't end well.
Scotland Counted retweeted
Our TPUs just phoned home... from space.
ICYMI, on October 1, we sent four TPUs into orbit to test whether our AI hardware could operate in space. The initial goal was to see if our chips could turn on, process a prompt, and transmit a response back to Earth.
This week, we got our answer. ✨
This milestone brings us one step closer to understanding if space-based compute is possible. We’re sending two more TPU-equipped satellites to orbit in 2027 for our next milestone.
Watch this space 👀 and learn more about the first milestone of our long-term moonshot with Project Suncatcher ↓
Scotland Counted retweeted
This man wins the internet tonight.
@GlasgowCC
"Thieving, parasitic fucks."
He's not wrong.
Scotland Counted retweeted
Latest MP salary donation sent - this time to help rehome retired racing greyhounds from Great Yarmouth. Nobody can accuse me of being in politics for the money.
Scotland Counted retweeted
The long waited body cam footage from my arrest dated August 2025. 10 police officers in ski masks, face shields and equipped with a battering ram entered my home for an allegation of some burgled pasta from a complimentary buffet in a migrant hotel. Some points to note:-
• excuse the penguin dressing gown!
• there was 95 minutes of footage on 8 body cams so I’ve trimmed it down as best as I can
• They refused to let me help my terminally ill mother out of bed
• They locked a chihuahua and a shih tzu in separate room to us and initially refused to let them out over “safety concerns”
• my girlfriend who is type 1 diabetic and requires insulin to survive, needed insulin immediately. When we were in the lounge it was asked for and told the officers where it was in the bedroom. Apparently 6 officers couldn’t find it after 10 minutes until I said it was a medical emergency and they finally let my girlfriend retrieve it in the exact place she said it was.
• The female police officer in the van with me had the language of a 9 year old on some occasions, using phrases such as “more bigger” and finishing sentences such as “but yeah”. Extremely unprofessional.
A 30 thousand pound operation over an allegation of unpaid plate of pasta from a complimentary migrant buffet.