There’s extra Christmas cheer for senior citizens in North Lanarkshire this year, as North Lanarkshire Council has increased its Christmas gift scheme to Ł15 for everyone over 60.

Promoting the Christmas gift scheme, Council Leader Councillor Jim McCabe, said:

“When we set our budget for this financial year, we made a commitment to increase the Christmas gift to Ł15. The Christmas gift scheme is our way of wishing our older residents well at the festive season and giving them something extra to spend on themselves or help towards the general cost of Christmas. In previous years the gift has been Ł10 but this year the council wanted to boost that amount. We are now inviting everyone over 60 to collect their Christmas gift over the next few weeks.”

To pick up your Christmas gift, you can call in to one of our cash collection offices on Saturday 1 December between 9.30am and 2.00pm or Monday 3 to Thursday 6 December between 9.30am and 4.00pm. Our cash offices are at:

26 Motherwell Road, Bellshill
69/71 Merry Street, Motherwell
135 Burnhead Street, Viewpark
236 Main Street, Wishaw
162 Station Road, Shotts
10 Bank Street, Airdrie
195 Main Street, Coatbridge
2/4 Forth Walk, Cumbernauld
Parkfoot Street, Kilsyth
Blackwoods Crescent, Moodiesburn

In addition, you can collect your gift between Monday 3 and Thursday 6 December from at:

Registration Office, 20 Motherwell Road, Bellshill between 9.00am and 4.00pm
Stepps Primary School and Cultural Centre, 10 Blenheim Avenue, Stepps between 9.30and 12.30pm and 1.30pm and 4.00pm

Or on Wednesday 5 December, from 10.00am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 4.00pm at

Auchinloch Public Hall, Langmuirhead Road, Auchinloch
Senior Citizens Centre, West Main Street, Harthill

Councillor John Pentland, Convener of the Policy and Resources (Finance and Customer Services) Sub-Committee, said:

“Each year since 1996 we have handed out the Christmas gift to over 50,000 senior citizens across North Lanarkshire, and again I would encourage everyone over 60 to call into one of our cash collection offices to receive their gift. The offices are opening specially on three Saturdays before Christmas, as well as during the week, to make it as easy as possible for residents to collect their Ł15 gift. I hope that the gift helps make the festive season that little bit cheerier and, on behalf of North Lanarkshire Council, I’d like to wish everyone in North Lanarkshire a very Happy Christmas.”

Residents are asked to bring two forms of id, showing their address and age, to collect their Christmas gift – a household bill, passport, birth certificate, driving licence, council tax bill, bus pass or heating allowance notice.

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