You cannot be sent to prison for council tax arrears in Scotland, and none of this reaches your credit file. Our Glasgow City Council council tax page carries the local detail alongside this one.

Below is what Glasgow publishes about its own process, what comes from the national regulations instead, and what you can do at each stage.

Over 10 monthly instalments from April to January the following year. The council also offers 12 instalments from April to March, set up by Direct Debit.

The council’s own words on instalments

Glasgow’s Non Payment of Council Tax page states that council tax “is payable over 10 monthly instalments from April to January the following year”.

The same page sets out the 12-instalment alternative. It runs from April to March and is set up through a Direct Debit rather than by asking for it in a letter.

Where the 12-instalment option actually sits

It is chosen from the preferred payment date dropdown at step 2 of the Direct Debit set-up, where one of the options has 12 instalments in brackets beside it.

Spreading the bill over 12 rather than 10 lowers each payment, and how to set up a council tax payment arrangement covers what to do once arrears have already built up.

A reminder notice follows, and paying within the reminder period puts the account back on track. Keep missing payments and the right to pay by instalments is lost, after which the whole remaining year’s balance falls due.

The framework is national rather than local

Every Scottish council recovers council tax under the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 1992, so the shape of the process is the same in Glasgow as anywhere else.

A reminder typically follows around two weeks after a missed instalment, and a council may issue up to two reminders in a financial year. Exact day counts vary a little by council policy.

Which parts are Glasgow’s own statements

The instalment counts, the summary warrant wording, the two sheriff officer firms and the arrangement route all come from the council’s own pages. The reminder and final notice timings come from the national regulations instead.

That distinction is worth holding on to, because it tells you what you can hold the council to. How quickly a council can take action over arrears sets out the national timings.

It applies to the sheriff court, which grants the warrant without a hearing. Glasgow states that where a payment arrangement is not met the full year’s balance becomes due and the application follows.

The council’s own description

The recovery page says: “The Council will then make an application to the Sheriff Court to obtain a summary warrant that includes a 10% penalty for non-payment.”

There is no court date and no invitation to explain. The application is made to the sheriff court under regulation 30 of the 1992 Regulations, alongside section 106 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975, and it is granted without a hearing.

What a summary warrant is not

• It is not a court decree obtained after a hearing.
• It does not appear on your credit file, because council tax is not reported to credit reference agencies.
• It is not a criminal matter and it carries no criminal record.
• It does not let anyone force entry to your home for ordinary arrears.

A Time to Pay Order can be applied for against a summary warrant where the balance is £25,000 or less excluding interest, and where the sheriff grants one the sheriff must recall any existing earnings arrestment. What a summary warrant is covers the rest.

It is not settled whether an earnings arrestment on its own opens the door to an application. Ask a money adviser or the sheriff clerk whether one is competent on your facts.

A Time to Pay Direction is the route that does not apply, because a direction responds to a court action. Ask a money adviser or the sheriff clerk whether an application is competent on your own facts.

The council. The 10% is added to the outstanding council tax on grant of the summary warrant, which is before any sheriff officer firm is instructed.

Why the order matters to your balance

The figure that reaches the firm already includes the addition. On an outstanding balance of £1,200.00 the 10% comes to £120.00.

Sheriff officer fees are a separate layer added on top of that, and how much the 10% summary warrant addition comes to works through the arithmetic.

What to call it

Glasgow’s own page calls it a penalty for non-payment. In law it is a statutory addition to the outstanding tax, and the same surcharge applies to non-domestic rates.

It is not a discretionary charge somebody decided to apply to you personally. It attaches on grant of the warrant.

Scott & Co and Walker Love. Glasgow names both on its recovery page as the firms it passes summary warrant accounts to.

The two firms, with the numbers the council publishes

Our guides to Scott & Co and Walker Love cover what each firm does and how to deal with it, and how the City of Edinburgh Council handles council tax debt shows the same two firms at work there.

They are officers of the court, not bailiffs

Sheriff officers are appointed by and accountable to the sheriff, and our sheriff officer advice section explains the difference from bailiffs, who operate in England and Wales under different law.

They work under the Act of Sederunt (Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers Rules) 1991. Complaints about conduct go to the firm first, then to the Society of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers, then to the sheriff principal.

Their fees are set by the court, not by the firm

Fees are fixed by an Act of Sederunt and added to what you owe. The whole fee structure changes on 25 September 2026, and what fees sheriff officers can charge carries the detail.

Ask the firm for a written breakdown of your current balance rather than working from a figure you found online.

The firm, not the council. Glasgow’s own recovery page directs you to contact Scott & Co or Walker Love directly to arrange repayment once a summary warrant has been granted and the account has passed to them.

Glasgow points you at the firm rather than at itself

The instruction sits on the council’s own recovery page and applies once the warrant is granted and the account has passed on. It runs the other way from the general advice to deal with a creditor rather than an enforcement agent.

So find the firm named on your letter and speak to that firm. That is what the council’s own page tells a Glasgow resident to do once the account has moved.

Before the warrant, it is the council

Up to that point the council operates a Council Tax Arrangement route and will reprofile instalments by Direct Debit over up to 10 or up to 12 instalments, and our special payment arrangement page covers how to put an offer.

Reinstating instalments after a final notice is at the council’s discretion rather than a right. Ask in writing and keep a copy of what you asked for.

Who deals with what, stage by stage

Yes. For council tax collected under a summary warrant the council can move to an earnings arrestment without first serving a charge for payment.

What comes out of your pay

The deduction tables have been in force since 6 April 2025 and apply to net earnings under the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987, so monthly net pay of £750.00 or less produces nothing and £1,800.00 produces £172.50.

Your employer may also take £1.00 per deduction as an administration charge. Our wage arrestment calculator runs your own figure.

The arithmetic does not bend to what you can afford

There is no affordability or hardship ground for cutting a deduction down. What changes the position is displacing the arrestment altogether rather than arguing about the sum.

If you are on benefits rather than in work

Glasgow’s recovery page states that the DWP can make deductions for council tax arrears from Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit and Universal Credit.

The council also states that no separate request from you is needed, because it applies to the DWP itself. From Universal Credit the rate is 5% of the standard allowance in each assessment period.

Benefits sit outside the earnings arrestment regime altogether, which is why a council pursuing council tax arrears from someone on benefits uses DWP third-party deductions instead.

Through GAIN, Glasgow’s Advice and Information Network, which is where the council refers residents who are not receiving social work services. Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange, Money Advice Scotland and National Debtline all help too, and none of them charges.

The council’s own team has a narrower remit

Glasgow runs a Welfare Rights and Money Advice service, and its own page describes it as providing advice to front-line Health and Social Care staff and to service users in complex cases. For a general resident the council points to GAIN instead.

That is worth knowing before you spend an afternoon on the wrong number. Start with GAIN or one of the national services.

Check the bill before you pay anything

Council Tax Reduction can cover up to 100% of a liability, and a single adult should have the 25% single person discount. Our council tax discounts guide maps the rest, and official guidance sits on mygov.scot.

Disregards cover full-time students, apprentices, care leavers under 26 and live-in carers. A wrong bill chased through the whole recovery process is still a wrong bill.

If enforcement has already started

An approved Debt Payment Programme under the Debt Arrangement Scheme stops an existing earnings arrestment and freezes interest, fees and charges.

Arrears can go in and the current year’s council tax cannot, which whether council tax arrears can go into a Debt Arrangement Scheme sets out.

A statutory moratorium gives six months of protection from diligence and you get one per rolling 12 months, applied for through the Accountant in Bankruptcy, and our council tax debt advice page covers what to put in an offer.