What Body Regulates Sheriff Officers In Scotland?

What there is instead is a judge. A sheriff officer practises on a commission granted by the sheriff principal, and it can be taken away.

This page sets out who does what, which rules officers work under, whether the professional body is a regulator, and why the body most often named as the regulator does not exist. Can you complain about a sheriff officer’s conduct covers the complaint itself.

Who regulates sheriff officers in Scotland?

Sheriff officers are regulated by the court. The Court of Session makes the rules by Act of Sederunt and each sheriff principal holds the disciplinary power over the officers who hold a commission in that sheriffdom, under Part V of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987.

Four bodies, and only two of them can do anything to an officer

Part V is the home of all of it

Part V of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 is the officers-of-court Part. Sections 75 and 76 came into force on 2 November 1987 and the rest of the Part, including the misconduct and appeal provisions, on 30 November 1988.

The 1987 date that appears in some places is Royal Assent rather than commencement. It is not the date any of these powers began.

Part V as it now stands

Officers of the court, not bailiffs

A sheriff officer is accountable to the court rather than to the creditor who instructs them, so the council is a client rather than a boss. Are sheriff officers the same as bailiffs deals with the comparison people usually reach for.

What does the Court of Session’s power over officers cover?

Almost everything about how an officer practises. Section 75(1) lets the Court of Session regulate organisation, training and qualifications, conduct in official functions, the scope of those functions, accounts, records and caution.

It reaches outside the job as well

Section 75(1) also lets the Court prohibit or permit activities other than an officer’s official functions, and regulate conduct in those extra-official functions. Several of those limbs were inserted or amended on 31 January 2011.

Section 75(2) goes further. An officer cannot take on paid extra-official work without the permission of the sheriff principal who granted their commission.

Why that matters to you

It means the boundary between court work and ordinary commercial debt collection is policed, and policed by a judge. Permission can be refused where the activity would sit badly with the officer’s official functions, and it can be made conditional or withdrawn.

What rules do sheriff officers actually work under?

The Act of Sederunt (Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers Rules) 1991, made by the Court of Session under section 75. It runs from qualifications and training through to disciplinary procedure.

Rule 14 confines an officer to official functions

An officer of court may collect a debt constituted by decree or recoverable by summary warrant, execute diligence, and execute a citation or serve a document required under a legal process. A sheriff officer may practise only in the sheriffdom or district covered by their commission.

Rule 15 is the conduct rule with the sharpest edge

An officer doing extra-official work must not state or imply that they are acting in their capacity as an officer of court. If no diligence is being executed, court authority is not being exercised, and saying otherwise breaches the Rules.

And rule 15(3) says what an officer may not also be

The last four limbs were substituted or inserted by SSI 2013/23, in force 18 March 2013. The insolvency practitioner limb is the one worth knowing, and it is missing from the text most people will read.

A caveat worth being honest about

legislation.gov.uk holds no revised text of the 1991 Rules, and its changes index records 45 effects with none of them written into the displayed version. Cite the Rules for the conduct standards, and the 1987 Act for the regulatory framework.

Is SMASO a regulator or a professional body?

A professional body with statutory functions, rather than the body that disciplines officers. The disciplinary power sits with the sheriff principal and the Court of Session, not with the Society.

It is a statutory association, not a voluntary trade group

The Society of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers is the statutory professional association, designated under section 63 of the 2007 Act by regulation 3 of the Officers of Court’s Professional Association (Scotland) Regulations 2011, in force 1 April 2011.

Membership is not optional. Section 63(3) of the 2007 Act, in force 1 April 2011, provides that a person may not hold a commission as an officer of court unless they are a member.

It has three statutory jobs

• It must prepare and publish a code of practice for officers of court, and cannot publish one without the prior approval of the Lord President, under section 63A of the 2007 Act.
• It must send the details of any complaint it receives to the Lord President and to the sheriff principal from whom the officer holds a commission, under section 64.
• It receives intimation of disciplinary orders made against officers, under section 81 of the 1987 Act.

Why the code of practice has teeth

Failing to comply with a code published under section 63A is misconduct under section 79(9) of the 1987 Act. So a breach of the professional standard is a statutory matter, and the complaint route is where it goes.

Is there a Scottish Civil Enforcement Commission?

You may see references to a Scottish Civil Enforcement Commission. It does not exist.

It was provided for in the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007, but the provisions that would have created it were never brought into force and were repealed in January 2011.

What was legislated for

Section 50 of the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007 would have established a body corporate called the Scottish Civil Enforcement Commission. Schedule 2 to that Act made further provision about it.

Section 50(6) would also have abolished the Advisory Council. It never did, because it was never brought into force.

What was actually commenced

Only subsections (4) and (5), the regulation-making powers, and only for certain purposes on 1 April 2008. The subsections that would have created the body were never commenced at all.

And then it was repealed

Section 50 and Schedule 2 were repealed on 31 January 2011 by the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. Sections 52 and 54 to 60 went the same day.

The offices of messenger-at-arms and sheriff officer were never abolished. Section 60 of the 2007 Act would have abolished them and replaced them with a judicial officer, it was never commenced, and it was repealed on 31 January 2011.

What survived, and what did not

So if a page tells you a Commission regulates sheriff officers, keeps a register or handles complaints, it is describing a body that was legislated for in 2007 and repealed in 2011. Regulation stayed where it had been since 1988.

Who sets sheriff officer fees?

The Court of Session, by Act of Sederunt, on draft rules submitted by the Scottish Civil Justice Council. Fees are not set by the firms and not negotiated with the creditor.

The chain, and the current instrument

The current instrument is the Act of Sederunt (Fees of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers) 2026, made under the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and coming into force on 25 September 2026. It replaces the 2002 instruments and charges in units rather than fixed sums.

The table in force until 24 September 2026 is the one substituted by SSI 2024/41 with effect from 22 March 2024. What fees sheriff officers can charge you sets both out.

A new duty that helps you check a fee

From 25 September 2026 a fee note must itemise what is being charged, and must be reviewed by a second officer of court. That is a paraphrase of article 12 rather than its words, so read the article itself before quoting it back at an officer.

What does regulation not protect you from?

It does not decide whether you owe the money, and it does not stop the diligence. Regulation is about how an officer behaves, not about whether the debt behind the visit is right.

The powers are real, and lawfully used they are not complainable

An officer acting within the statute is doing their job. What powers do sheriff officers have in Scotland sets out what those powers are, and can sheriff officers visit you at work deals with the one people ask about most.

Liability and banding go elsewhere

Whether you are the liable person, and whether your band is right, are questions for the council and then for the Local Taxation Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, which took over on 1 April 2023.

And the debt still needs dealing with

Our council tax debt advice page sets out how we help, and what free debt advice is available in Scotland lists the free services.