Orkney Islands Council Tax Debt Help

Struggling With Orkney Islands Council Tax?

Orkney sits across the Pentland Firth from Caithness: the Mainland, home to Kirkwall and Stromness, with Burray and South Ronaldsay joined on by the Churchill Barriers, and the North and South Isles reached by ferry and inter-island flights. In a close-knit island community, money worries can feel harder to talk about, and council tax here has climbed quickly, with a 15% rise in 2025-26 followed by another 6% for 2026-27. Wherever you live in the islands, the way council tax is billed and collected is the same, and if you have fallen behind, there are clear ways out. This page explains how the council operates, how arrears are recovered, and how to get a debt back under control before it reaches a wage arrestment.

How we can help:

• We deal with the council and its sheriff officers for you
• We help you agree a realistic, affordable payment plan
• We set out every debt solution open to Orkney residents
• We can help stop or avoid a wage arrestment
• Free, confidential help with no obligation

Watch: how council tax recovery and sheriff action works in Scotland, and how to stop it.

About Orkney Islands Council

Orkney Islands Council is the unitary local authority for Orkney, one of Scotland’s 32 councils and one of its three island councils. It serves 21,920 people, according to the National Records of Scotland estimate for mid-2025. Kirkwall is the main town and the council’s base, with Stromness the second town. The headquarters is the Council Offices, School Place, Kirkwall, KW15 1NY.

Council tax and business rates are billed and collected by the council’s Revenues Section, which also handles discounts and the recovery of arrears. The valuation band on your home is set by the Orkney and Shetland Valuation Joint Board, whose Orkney office is at 8 Broad Street, Kirkwall, not by the council. Council tax pays for only around 9% of the council’s income, against a Scottish average of 18 to 19%, partly because Orkney has fewer homes in the higher bands.

Orkney council tax contact details

These are the council’s main contact points for council tax. If you are worried about paying, it is far better to make contact early than to wait for a reminder.

Council tax is normally paid in 10 monthly instalments from April to January, due by the 28th of each month. You can pay by Direct Debit, online, by phone, or in person at the Council Offices in Kirkwall or the Warehouse Buildings on Victoria Street, Stromness. If ringing the council yourself feels difficult, we can speak to the council for you and help set up an arrangement.

Council tax in Orkney

Council tax is an annual charge on domestic property, set each year by Orkney Islands Council. What you pay depends on the valuation band of your home, which reflects its value on 1 April 1991. Your bill also includes water and wastewater charges, which the council collects on behalf of Scottish Water.

Bills are issued in spring for the year that begins on 1 April. If you want to understand the wider system, who is liable and how billing works, see our guides to council tax in Scotland, council tax liability and billing and collection.

Orkney council tax bands and charges 2026-27

For 2026-27, Orkney Islands Council increased council tax by 6%, taking Band D from £1,574.60 to £1,669.07, or £1.82 a week more. This follows a 15% rise in 2025-26, both part of a strategy agreed in March 2024 to bring Orkney up to the Scottish average by 2027. The council publishes its charges with the Scottish Water charges included, so the table shows the council tax and the full bill for a household with two or more adults.

A single adult living alone gets 25% off the whole bill, so pays £1,741.04 in Band D. If you think your home is in the wrong band, you can check it on the Scottish Assessors website and, in limited circumstances, ask for a review, though a review can move a band up as well as down. Our council tax valuation guide explains how bands and challenges work.

Reductions, discounts and second homes

After two rises in two years, make sure your bill is as low as it should be: the right reduction can make catching up far easier.

• Council Tax Reduction (CTR): a means-tested reduction of up to 100% for people on a low income, usually with savings under £16,000. You apply to the council online, and the reduction is paid straight into your council tax account. CTR does not reduce the water and wastewater charges.
• Single person discount (25%): if you are the only adult in the property, you can claim a 25% reduction.
• Disabled band reduction: if a resident needs an extra room, an additional bathroom or space to use a wheelchair indoors because of a disability, the bill can be charged one band lower. See our disabled band reduction guide.
• Other discounts and exemptions: students, apprentices, carers and people with a severe mental impairment can be disregarded, and some properties are exempt. Our council tax discounts guide explains who qualifies.

Since 1 April 2024 a second home in Orkney carries a 100% surcharge, shown on the bill as a Second Home Premium. An empty home gets a 10% discount for up to 12 months, then a 100% surcharge applies, though a home genuinely marketed for sale or let is protected until it has been empty for two years, or three in the North and South Isles (other than Burray and South Ronaldsay). Neither surcharge applies to the water charges. If you are being charged a premium you do not think applies, raise it with the council straight away.

Business rates in Orkney

Business rates, or non-domestic rates, are the commercial equivalent of council tax and are billed by Orkney Islands Council. The poundage is set nationally by the Scottish Government, and your bill is the rateable value of your premises, set by the Assessor, multiplied by the poundage.

For 2026-27 the Scottish Government set three rates:

Many smaller Orkney businesses pay little or nothing through the Small Business Bonus Scheme, which can give 100% relief on a single property with a rateable value up to £12,000, with tapered relief up to £20,000. Other reliefs, including charity, empty property, rural and Fresh Start relief, may also apply. Rates enquiries go to 01856 873535, extension 2133. Unpaid rates are recovered like council tax: a final notice giving 14 days, then a summary warrant adding 10%, then sheriff officers.

Which sheriff officers does the council use?

When council tax or business rates go unpaid and a summary warrant has been granted, Orkney Islands Council passes the account to sheriff officers. Its debt recovery policy says that once the sheriff signs the summary warrant, it is sent to sheriff officers to collect. Sheriff officers are officers of the court, not private bailiffs, and their powers are set by Scottish law.

The council does not name its sheriff officer firm on its public pages, and we have not found a procurement notice that shows it. Whichever firm it uses will hold a court commission covering the sheriffdom of Grampian, Highland and Islands, and will act through Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Watergate, which covers the whole of Orkney. What matters more than the firm’s name is how you respond: the same rules and protections apply as with any sheriff officer in Scotland, and the firm’s name will be on any letter you receive.

If a sheriff officer has contacted you about an Orkney debt, see how sheriff officers work, what they can and cannot do, and every firm that acts for Scottish councils on our sheriff officers and council tax hub. We can also deal with them for you.

What happens if you fall behind in Orkney

Orkney follows the standard Scottish recovery process, set out in its debt recovery policy. Knowing the stages helps you see where you are and how much room you still have to act.

1. Reminder notice. Miss an instalment and the council sends a reminder asking you to pay within 7 days. If you need more than two reminders in a year, the right to pay by instalments is lost on the third.
2. Final notice and loss of instalments. If the reminder is not paid, a final notice asks for the full balance for the year within 14 days.
3. Summary warrant. The council applies to Kirkwall Sheriff Court for a summary warrant, which is granted without a hearing and adds a statutory 10% surcharge to what you owe.
4. Sheriff officer enforcement. Sheriff officers can serve a charge for payment giving you 14 days, and then pursue a wage (earnings) arrestment, a bank arrestment or an attachment.

Before an earnings arrestment you must be given a debt advice and information package, and deductions follow statutory tables, as our guide to how much can be taken from your wages explains. With a bank arrestment, the first £1,000 is protected. The council’s policy also allows a special arrangement, such as spreading payments over 12 months rather than 10, where the standard instalments cannot be met. You can offer payment at any stage, yourself or through us.

What to do if the council contacts you about arrears

Whether the letter comes from the council or from a sheriff officer, the sensible steps are the same.

1. Open it and act. Council tax arrears do not go away, and ignoring letters only moves the debt further along the recovery process.
2. Check it is right. Make sure the debt is yours, for the correct property and year, and that any discount, exemption or Council Tax Reduction you are due has been applied.
3. Ask for identification. A genuine sheriff officer carries a formal identity document, and you are entitled to see it before you deal with them.
4. Do not overcommit. Only agree to what you can genuinely afford, because a broken arrangement usually leads straight to a wage arrestment.
5. Get advice and set up a plan. A realistic arrangement, the Debt Arrangement Scheme or another solution is what actually stops enforcement.

If dealing with the council or a sheriff officer feels overwhelming, we can take it on for you with your permission and help you reach something affordable.

Solutions if you are struggling with Orkney council tax debt

The most effective way to deal with sheriff officers is to resolve the arrears behind the enforcement. Depending on your circumstances, the main routes for Orkney residents are:

• Special payment arrangement: an affordable plan agreed with the council, which decides whether to accept it.
• Debt Arrangement Scheme: approval of a Debt Payment Programme recalls an earnings arrestment.
• Trust deed: a protected trust deed ends an arrestment from the date of protection.

Not sure which fits your situation? See our wage arrestment solutions overview, or get in touch and we will talk it through, free and with no obligation.

Free debt advice in Orkney

Alongside our service, free advice is available in the islands. You never need to pay for good council tax debt advice.

• Orkney Citizens Advice Bureau: money advisers giving free, confidential debt advice, at Anchor Buildings, Bridge Street, Kirkwall, KW15 1HR, on 01856 875266.
• National Debtline: free confidential telephone debt advice, on 0808 808 4000.
• StepChange Debt Charity: free national debt advice, on 0800 138 1111.

These services are independent and free. We work alongside this kind of support and can help you take the practical steps that stop enforcement.

Orkney Islands Council at a glance

Where to find free, impartial information

As well as speaking to us, you can check your rights with these independent, official sources:

• Orkney Islands Council: Council Tax
• mygov.scot: Council Tax (Scottish Government)
• mygov.scot: Sheriff officer powers and your rights
• Citizens Advice Scotland: Debt and money
• mygov.scot: Non-domestic rates guidance

« Back to council tax in Scotland | Sheriff officers and council tax | See all wage arrestment solutions