Unpaid council tax is a civil debt here. There is no criminal offence, no criminal record and no route to prison, and our City of Edinburgh Council council tax page carries the local detail alongside this one.

Below is what the council says at each stage, in its own words, and what you can do about each of them.

Over 10 monthly instalments from April to January, with nothing to pay in February or March. By Direct Debit you can spread it over 10 or 12 months, choose the payment date, or pay in one annual instalment on 30 April.

The council’s own words on instalments

Its pay council tax page offers 10 monthly instalments from April to January. Payment in full before the end of April is offered alongside that.

The Direct Debit page goes further. It states that payments can be spread over 10 or 12 months within the current financial year.

The payment-date choice worth knowing about

Direct Debit instalments can be set to leave your account on the 1st, 5th, 16th or last day of each month. There is also a single annual instalment on 30 April every year.

Moving the payment date to sit after payday is the cheapest change on that list, and how to set up a council tax payment arrangement covers what to do once arrears have already built up.

It sends a reminder and asks you to bring payments up to date within 14 days. If that is not met, the council’s published position is that a summary warrant follows.

The sequence in the council’s own wording

A council tax reminder notice is the first formal step in any Scottish council’s process, and the day counts vary a little between councils.

Where the national framework sits behind it

Every Scottish council recovers council tax under the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 1992, made under the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

Under that framework a council may issue up to two reminders in a financial year, and a final notice follows a further default, after which the right to pay by instalments is lost.

Who adds the 10%, and when

The council does, on grant of the warrant, before any sheriff officer firm is instructed. On an outstanding balance of £900.00 the surcharge comes to £90.00.

So the balance that reaches the firm already includes it, and sheriff officer fees are a separate layer on top. How much the 10% summary warrant addition comes to works it through.

Edinburgh’s own phrase for it is a 10% statutory surcharge. The same surcharge applies to non-domestic rates.

The council’s published position is that you get a summary warrant straight away. That is the sentence worth reading twice on its help with paying council tax page.

Why the third payment changes things

Its help with paying council tax page states: “If you miss a third payment, you will get a Summary Warrant straight away.”

So the reminder stage is not an endless loop. The window for putting an arrangement in place is the period before that point, not after it.

What to do in the 14 days

• Pay the arrears if you can, which puts the account back on track.
• If you cannot, contact the council before the period runs out rather than after.
• Ask about Council Tax Reduction and any discount you have not claimed.
• Put any offer in writing and keep a copy of it.

Reinstating instalments after a final notice is at the council’s discretion rather than a right, and our special payment arrangement page covers how to put the offer.

Because the procedure does not provide for one. The sheriff court grants it on the council’s application, supported by a certificate, and you do not attend.

How the procedure works

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 covers the procedure in full.

Liability is not contested at that point. There is no hearing date and no chance to explain your circumstances to a sheriff before it is granted.

Three things a summary warrant does not do

• It does not go on your credit file, because council tax is not reported to credit reference agencies.
• It is not a court decree obtained after a hearing.
• It does not give anyone a right to force entry to your home over 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. Official guidance on decrees and diligence sits on mygov.scot.

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 is not available, 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.

Scott & Co or Walker Love. The council names both on its help with paying council tax page as the firms accounts pass to once a summary warrant is served.

The same two firms as Glasgow

Glasgow City Council names the same pair on its own recovery page, which how Glasgow City Council recovers council tax arrears sets out. Our guides to Scott & Co and Walker Love cover what each firm does.

Deal with the firm named on any correspondence you have had rather than guessing between them. If you are not sure which firm holds the account, ask the council.

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 work in England and Wales under different law.

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

Their fees are fixed by the court

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

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

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, and our wage arrestment calculator runs your own figure.

The deduction does not bend to what you can afford

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

Your job is not at risk because of it

No law allows an employer to dismiss someone for having a wage arrestment. Dismissal on that basis alone would leave an employer exposed to an unfair dismissal claim from an employee with the qualifying service, which is two years.

Only payroll and whoever processes the paperwork need to know, and it shows on your payslip as a deduction. If you leave that job the arrestment falls with the employment.

The council tax and benefits team on 0131 608 1111, or by email and through the online portal. The council publishes no separate arrears or recovery line, so those are the routes.

Every route the council publishes

The contact team is open Monday to Thursday from 9am to 4.30pm, and Friday from 9am to 3pm. Email enquiries are asked to carry the 11-digit account number in the subject line.

There is no hidden recovery number to find

Arrears, recovery and payment arrangements all go through the same channels, and the help with paying council tax page is where the council sets that out.

So if you have been hunting for a dedicated arrears line, you can stop. Use the main number and quote your account number.

Once the account has moved to a sheriff officer firm

The firm named on your letter is the one holding the account. Ask it for a full written breakdown of the balance before you agree to anything.

The council runs the Advice Shop at 249 High Street, which its own Corporate Debt Policy describes as a free and independent money and debt advice service for Edinburgh residents. Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange, Money Advice Scotland and National Debtline are free as well.

The Advice Shop is open to the public

It can be reached on 0131 200 2360 or at advice.shop@edinburgh.gov.uk. It is open to the general public, so it is a route worth using before you look further.

The description comes from the council’s Corporate Debt Policy, reported to its Policy and Sustainability Committee on 9 December 2025.

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. Recovery action does not make a wrong bill right.

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.

Council tax arrears can go into a programme and the current year’s bill cannot, so that has to keep being paid alongside.

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.