In plain terms it is the last formal warning before enforcement. In the ordinary court route the creditor already holds a decree, and the charge is the step that unlocks their ability to act on it under the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987.

Below is what it does, who serves it, which debts need one at all, and what is still open to you while the days run.

It converts a court decree into something enforceable. Until a charge has been served and expired, a creditor holding an ordinary decree cannot execute diligence against your wages, your bank account or your goods.

Diligence is the Scottish word for enforcement action. The charge is not the enforcement itself, and it is the door that opens first.

What is not happening while the charge runs

Nothing comes off your wages and nothing is frozen in your bank account during the charge period. Your employer is not contacted at this stage.

That is the whole point of the period. It exists so you can pay, take advice or put a statutory solution in place before a wage arrestment becomes possible.

What becomes available once it expires

After expiry the creditor can execute diligence. The options are an earnings arrestment, a bank arrestment, attachment of goods, or an application for an exceptional attachment order.

Ordinary attachment reaches only goods outside a dwelling, such as items in a garden or driveway. An exceptional attachment order is the only route to reaching goods inside a home, and those orders are rare.

Sheriff officers do. They are officers of the court, appointed by and accountable to the sheriff, and they are not bailiffs.

The creditor instructs a firm of sheriff officers, and the firms working across Scotland include Scott & Co, Stirling Park, Walker Love and Alex M Adamson.

Officers of the court, not a debt collection agency

Sheriff officers are regulated under the Act of Sederunt (Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers Rules) 1991. The Society of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers maintains a code of practice that members work to.

Their fees are set by an Act of Sederunt and added to what you owe, rather than set by the firm. The scale is updated periodically.

Why English guidance does not describe them

Bailiffs and High Court Enforcement Officers operate in England and Wales under different law. The powers set out on English pages come from a different statutory scheme and do not carry across the border.

Terms like bailiff and controlled goods agreement belong to that scheme, and neither describes anything a sheriff officer does in Scotland.

If you think the service was improper

Complaints go to the firm first, then to the Society of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers, then to the sheriff principal. Put the complaint in writing and keep a copy of the charge itself.

A complaint about conduct does not stop the clock on the debt, so raise the two separately.

It is served by sheriff officers and gives you a fixed period to pay. The date of service is the single most useful thing to find on it, because both deadlines run from that date.

Seven things worth checking before you do anything else

Take five minutes with the document before you ring anyone.

If none of it looks familiar

A charge means a court action was raised and a decree granted. If that is news to you, ask the officers which court granted the decree and when, and check the position with the Scottish courts service.

Paperwork sent to an address you left can produce exactly this surprise. Our guide to how a wage arrestment works explains what the creditor is entitled to do next once a decree exists.

14 days if you are in the UK, and 28 days if you are abroad or your whereabouts are unknown. Both periods come from section 90 of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 and run from the date of service.

The clock starts on the date of service, not on the day you opened the letter. Our guide on how long you have to respond to a charge for payment works through both periods and how the days are counted.

When the 28-day period applies instead

The longer period applies where the debtor is abroad, and also where the whereabouts are unknown. That second limb catches people who have moved without a forwarding address.

Work from the number printed on your own document rather than a figure you read elsewhere.

How long the charge itself stays usable

A charge remains valid for diligence for 2 years from the date it was served. So the days are the deadline to pay, and the two years are the window in which the creditor can act, which is the subject of what happens after the 14 days expire.

A creditor who has done nothing for 18 months can still start an earnings arrestment on the strength of that charge. Silence is not the same as the matter going away, so keep the date of service.

A charge is required where a creditor is enforcing an ordinary court decree. It is not required for council tax collected under a summary warrant, where the council can move to an earnings arrestment without serving one first.

The two routes look similar from the outside, and only one of them involves a charge. Waiting for a charge on a summary warrant debt is waiting for a document that does not have to come.

The two routes side by side

Both routes end with sheriff officers, which is why they look alike from the outside. What differs is how the creditor got there and what has to happen before your wages are touched.

Which route applies depends on who you owe. Our guide to which creditors can apply for a wage arrestment sets out who has to go to court first and who does not.

Why the summary warrant route is quicker

A summary warrant is granted by the sheriff court on the council’s application supported by a certificate, under regulation 30 of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 1992 and s.106 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975.

There is no hearing and you do not attend. The power sits in Schedule 8 to the Local Government Finance Act 1992, which contains no time limit and no expiry.

A 10% statutory surcharge is added to the outstanding council tax when the warrant is granted, and the same 10% applies to non-domestic rates.

What that means in practice for council tax

If the debt is council tax under a summary warrant, waiting for a charge for payment is not a plan. Deductions come off net pay under Schedule 2 to the 1987 Act, on tables in force since 6 April 2025.

Net monthly pay of £1,800.00 gives £172.50 a month and £2,400.00 gives £292.50, and our wage arrestment calculator runs your own figure.

Those amounts are fixed by statute. Our council tax debt advice page covers what to ask a recovery team for.

Three different countdowns get mixed up in Scottish debt letters: the 14-day charge for payment period, the council tax reminder window and the council tax final notice window. They come from different documents and do different things.

The three clocks separated

Check which document is in front of you before you count anything. The table below sets each one against what it is counting down to.

The council tax day counts are the usual position rather than a statutory guarantee, because they vary by council policy. The charge for payment periods are set by statute.

Why the confusion happens

All three letters are short, formal and threatening, and two of them come from the council. The reminder and final notice are council tax letters that arrive before any court involvement.

A charge for payment is a court document served by sheriff officers on an existing decree. If sheriff officers are named at the top, you are past the council notice stage.

Pay in full, agree an arrangement with the creditor, or get a statutory protection in place. A free money adviser can work out which of those is realistic.

You can put an offer to the sheriff officers to pass to the creditor. Get it confirmed in writing before you send money.

A Time to Pay Order at the sheriff court

A Time to Pay Order is applied for after decree, and section 5 of the 1987 Act applies where a charge for payment has been served. Where the sheriff grants one, the sheriff must recall any existing earnings arrestment.

The debt outstanding has to be £25,000 or less excluding interest, and the test is what is reasonable in all the circumstances. A Time to Pay Order is also competent against summary warrant debt.

A Time to Pay Direction is applied for before decree, so it is not available against summary warrant debt.

It is not settled whether an earnings arrestment alone satisfies the section 5(1)(b) conditions, so treat this as a route to check rather than an entitlement. A money adviser or the sheriff clerk can confirm whether an application is competent on your facts.

The Debt Arrangement Scheme

A Debt Payment Programme under the Debt Arrangement Scheme lets you repay in full over an agreed period, with interest, fees and charges frozen. The Accountant in Bankruptcy runs it through the DAS Administrator, and you do not have to be insolvent to use it.

Once a programme is approved, an existing earnings arrestment stops and creditors cannot start new diligence. Council tax arrears can go into one, though your current-year liability still has to be paid alongside.

A moratorium and the formal solutions

A statutory moratorium gives six months of protection and you get one per rolling 12 months. It stops service of a charge for payment, stops new diligence and stops creditor petitions for sequestration.

It does not stop a creditor obtaining a decree, and interest and charges keep accruing throughout.

A protected trust deed ends an earnings arrestment on the date of protection rather than on signing, under s.173 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016. Sequestration ends one on the date of sequestration.

Money already deducted before either date is credited against the debt rather than refunded. A free money adviser can say which route fits what you owe.

An arrangement with the creditor

Once the right to instalments has gone, ask the council about a special payment arrangement covering the whole remaining balance. Reinstating instalments is at the council’s discretion rather than a right.

For other debts, an offer can be made through the sheriff officers.