Fife's £3m Housing Support Bill

Thousands of Fifers needed help paying their rent in the second half of 2014.

Fife spent all of its discretionary housing payment (DHP) allocation, that's £2.9 million, giving support to 7,800 people struggling with their finances.

That's an average of £441 each. Around 100 applications were unsuccesful between April and December.

The increase in payments comes after Scottish government made an extra £46 million available to offset the effects of the removal of spare bedroom subsidy, better known as the bedroom tax.

The Kingdom had the third highest bill in Scotland, just above North and South Lanarkshire, which paid out £2.8 million and £2.4 million respectively.

Glasgow spent the most, with the cost reaching £8.5 million, Edinburgh was second with £4.5 million.

DHPs may be awarded when a council considers that a housing benefit claimant requires further financial assistance towards housing costs.