MORE people in the Central Fife area should be claiming council tax exemption.

So says MSP Claire Baker who revealed that freedom of information requests have revealed that just 95 households in the Mid Scotland and Fife Region have been awarded the new benefit, which was introduced in April 2017.

This includes 66 in Fife, 10 in Stirling, and 19 in Perth and Kinross.

Across Scotland, fewer than 2,000 households out of a potential 54,000 claimed the support.

The scheme was introduced to protect low income households being hit by changes to Council Tax band changes, and was designed to exempt some households from the £110 million Council Tax increases.

The MSP said that Scottish Labour has consistently pushed for Scotland’s new social security powers to deliver better cost of living support.

Ms Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland Fife, said: "The SNP Government should be doing more to ensure low earners are claiming council tax exemption.

"Over 50,000 households across Scotland were meant to benefit from this exemption from higher council tax charges, but instead only 95 from the Mid Scotland and Fife Region actually are. "Struggling families and pensioners are missing out of key support and facing massive Council Tax bills as a result. "Scottish Labour pushed the SNP into doing more work to ensure everyone gets the benefits that they are entitled to, but these figures highlight just how little they are doing to help. We need to see more action from the SNP to boost take-up, and getting people the support they deserve.’