Scottish Borders Council has apologised 'unreservedly' for a data breach affecting 600 customers.

The council had been contacting residents that were eligible for a payment, but three emails were sent to multiple individuals where all recipient email addresses were visible.

A Scottish Borders Council spokesperson said: 'We would like to apologise unreservedly to all our customers affected by this data breach and for any distress or embarrassment this has caused.

'Those customers who have received an email which includes others’ email addresses are asked to delete it. All payments will be made as planned to these individuals.

'Individual email addresses were disclosed, this is personal information. The content of the email also outlined that eligibility for the payment was due to the receipt of free school meals, which we absolutely appreciate is a sensitive matter for individuals.'

The council said it would put a technical solution in place to prevent the same incident from happening again.