Emergency heating oil fund set up to support Scottish households

The Scottish government has provided £5.4m towards a £10m fund to help lower income households that rely on heating oil to warm their homes.

The US-Israel war with Iran saw oil prices soar at the start of March.

About 142,000 Scottish households use heating oil and average costs in Scotland rose from 67.92p per litre on 28 February - the day US and Israel launched attacks on Iran - to 147p per litre by 8 March.

The Scottish government said its emergency heating oil scheme would be launched on 1 April, with details on eligibility criteria to be released in coming days.

The £10m includes £4.6m from the UK government.

The UK government announced a £53m support package earlier this week.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the aid would be targeted to help low-income households in rural communities.

About 1.5 million UK households use heating oil. The issue of rising prices is particularly acute in Northern Ireland, where about 500,000 homes use it, almost two-thirds of all households.

Scotland's energy secretary Gillian Martin said oil prices had been "spiralling" since the war in the Middle East.

She said the UK government's support was welcome but offered "limited" help to Scottish households.

"That is why the Scottish government is announcing today we will more than double the amount available to support Scottish households struggling with heating oil prices," said Martin.

"We will commit an additional £5.4m on top of the £4.6m allocated by the UK government."