The Prescription (Scotland) Act 2018 rewrote section 7 with effect from 28 February 2025. Enforcement now extends the period rather than restarting it.

Here is why section 7 applies to council tax at all, what the 2025 rules do to the period, and what to do if your arrears go back a long way. When council tax debt becomes statute barred in Scotland covers prescription as a general idea.

Because Parliament wrote it out of the five-year rule. Schedule 1 paragraph 2(fd) of the 1973 Act excludes council tax, non-domestic rates and the surcharges, fees and enforcement expenses that go with them.

What the short prescription does reach

Most consumer debt sits under the five-year short negative prescription in section 6. A credit card, a loan, an overdraft or a catalogue account is extinguished where there has been no relevant claim, no payment and no written acknowledgement for five years.

Council tax is carved out of that, and so is anything added to it during recovery. How far back a council can chase council tax arrears covers the practical side of that.

Which clock runs on which debt

The last two rows matter more than they look. The 10% statutory addition covered by how much the 10% summary warrant penalty is and the fees covered by whether sheriff officer fees are added to your wage arrestment balance carry the same 20-year treatment as the tax itself.

What section 7 is for

Section 7 is the residual rule. It sets a long negative prescription of 20 years for obligations the short prescription does not reach.

The twenty years run from the date the obligation became enforceable, on the wording substituted into section 7(1) on 28 February 2025.

Why published start dates disagree

Different obligations can begin running at different points, and the date a bill was issued, the date it fell due and the date a warrant was granted are not the same date. The Act names the trigger without telling you which date on your own account meets it.

Why the start date matters more than it used to

While enforcement restarted the period, the date it first began running was close to academic on an active account, and now that enforcement only holds the period open it is the question. What happens if you do not pay your council tax in Scotland sets out the recovery steps that sit on top of it.

No, not since 28 February 2025. Executing diligence is a relevant claim, and under section 7(3) to (5) of the 1973 Act a relevant claim extends the period until it is finally disposed of rather than sending it back to the start.

Extending a period is not the same as restarting it

Enforcement does not send the clock back to the start. Since 28 February 2025 a relevant claim, which includes executing diligence, extends the twenty-year period until that claim is finally disposed of.

Before that date it restarted the period, and a great deal of published advice has not caught up.

What each event does to the period

Does paying something restart the 20 years?

A payment or a written acknowledgement does not affect the twenty-year period at all. Section 10(1) of the 1973 Act now applies only for the purposes of sections 6 and 8A, and section 7 is not among them, so acknowledgement has no part in the twenty-year rule.

The five-year rule is different and has not changed. Under section 6 a payment or a written acknowledgement still interrupts the period and sends it back to the start, which is why the advice to take advice before paying an old debt still holds for ordinary consumer debt.

What that means on an active account

Where a council is recovering, a live claim holds the period open for as long as it takes to dispose of it. What it does not do is wipe out the years that have already run.

None of that is a reason to stop paying an account you can pay, and our page on council tax billing and collection covers how payments land on one.

The creditor does. Section 13A of the 1973 Act, inserted on 28 February 2025, presumes that an obligation has been extinguished unless the creditor proves otherwise.

What section 13A changed

Section 13A, inserted on the same date, puts the burden on the creditor. Where a question arises about whether an obligation has been extinguished, it is presumed to have been extinguished unless the creditor proves otherwise.

That is a change in who has to produce the paperwork. The question is no longer only whether you can show the debt is old, but whether the council can show it is still alive.

Why it is still worth having the dates yourself

None of that makes an old council tax balance safe to ignore. Twenty years is a long period, the council does not need to sue you to enforce, and a live claim holds the period open.

Ask for a breakdown by financial year and take it to a money adviser rather than counting years yourself.

No. Schedule 8 paragraph 2 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 sets no time limit for applying for a summary warrant, no duration and no expiry.

A warrant granted years ago is still a warrant

A warrant obtained several years ago can still be the basis for an earnings arrestment today, because nothing in the Local Government Finance Act 1992 makes it go stale. What a summary warrant is covers how one is granted.

The warrant having no expiry is not the same as the debt having no expiry. The 20 years runs on the obligation itself, whatever the age of the paperwork behind it.

The charge for payment two-year rule is a different thing

The two-year validity in section 90 of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 attaches to the charge rather than to the debt. For council tax under a summary warrant, a charge for payment is not needed before an earnings arrestment, so the two-year rule usually does not come into it.

No. A live earnings arrestment is a relevant claim being pursued, so it holds the 20-year period open for as long as it runs.

What the balance is doing meanwhile

Deductions come off net earnings under Schedule 2 to the 1987 Act, on tables in force since 6 April 2025, and monthly net pay of £750.00 or less produces a nil deduction. Whether a council can add charges to your council tax arrears sets out what sits on the balance alongside the tax.

There is no hardship or affordability application against an ordinary earnings arrestment. Waiting is not a strategy here, and neither is arguing that the deduction is unaffordable.

What does bring a deduction to an end

An approved Debt Payment Programme under the Debt Arrangement Scheme stops an existing earnings arrestment, freezes interest, fees and charges and blocks new diligence. It runs under the Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2011.

• Sequestration or the Minimal Asset Process, where an arrestment ends on the date of sequestration, and a protected trust deed, where it ends on the date of protection.
• A Time to Pay Order, where the debt outstanding is £25,000 or less excluding interest, a limit in force since 10 July 2000. Section 9(2)(a) of the 1987 Act requires the sheriff to recall any existing earnings arrestment where an order is made, though it is not settled whether an earnings arrestment on its own opens the door to an application, so ask a money adviser or the sheriff clerk whether one is competent on your facts.

A Time to Pay Direction is a different application and is not available for summary warrant debt. Court information sits at the Scottish courts.

Where a statutory moratorium does and does not help

It does not stop an earnings arrestment that was already running. Section 197(5)(d) of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 lets a creditor carry on executing an earnings arrestment, a current maintenance arrestment or a conjoined arrestment order that came into effect before the moratorium began.

It does stop a new diligence being started, and how a statutory moratorium protects you covers the six months. Applications go through the Accountant in Bankruptcy, usually via a money adviser.

Ask the council in writing for a full breakdown by financial year. You want the years the arrears relate to, the dates of any summary warrants, and the dates of any enforcement action.

What to ask for, in one letter

• A statement showing the balance owed for each financial year separately.
• The date any summary warrant was granted, for each year.
• A list of the enforcement action taken on the account and when.
• Confirmation of the 10% statutory addition and any sheriff officer fees on each year.

Why the request goes in writing

A written request gives you a record of what you were told and when, which is the raw material for any prescription question. Guidance on debt and diligence sits on mygov.scot.

Allocation can hide the age of a balance

Payments are normally allocated to the oldest year of arrears first unless you specify otherwise. That can make an old year look recently active, so ask how payments were applied as well as what is left.

Treat them as a live debt with a plan attached rather than as a clock to run down. Getting the figures, checking liability and sorting something affordable will move you further than waiting.

Start with liability

If you were not the liable person for a particular address or period, that is a stronger point than prescription. Raise it in writing and ask for the account to be reviewed.

Then check what was missed on the bill

Council Tax Reduction can cover up to 100% of the liability, and what Council Tax Reduction in Scotland is explains it.

The working-age scheme runs under the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2021, with figures uprated from 1 April 2026, and the pension-age scheme under SSI 2012/319. Our council tax discounts page covers discounts, disregards and the disabled band reduction.

Discounts, exemptions and the disabled band reduction carry no statutory maximum backdating period, and how far back a council goes is discretionary and evidence-led. Ask rather than assume.

Then deal with what is left

There is no statutory maximum period for spreading council tax arrears, so a longer plan is a competent thing to ask for. Our council tax debt advice page sets out how we help, and whether council tax arrears can go into a Debt Arrangement Scheme covers the statutory route.

Take the year-by-year breakdown to a free money adviser before you conclude anything about prescription. Whether it helps at all is a legal question about your specific dates.