Holding the council to account · Checked 2026-08-02
What this means
Orkney Islands said it needed £21.3m more than it expected to get this year. Nearly every council in Scotland said the same thing. On the measures every council reports the same way, it is worse than the Scottish average on 2 of 6. Independent auditors have 1 warning about it that is still open. Every figure below links to the official paper it came from.
Words with a dotted underline have a quick explanation. Hover or tap them.
The headline
If you only read one part, read this. The detailed figures and official source links come after it.
Extra money it said it needed
£21.3m
to pay for planned services
Nearly every council says this every year. It is a plan, not money missing from the bank. The law says they cannot plan to spend more than they get. So the gap always gets closed. Usually that is partly your council tax.
Worse than the Scotland average
2 of 6
measures compared
Every council reports these the same way, so it is a fair comparison. The other 4 are better than average.
Watchdog warnings still open
1
not signed off
Independent auditors raised these and they are not closed yet. They do not work for the council.
Follow the money
These figures show what the council planned to spend on everyday services and what it still needed to find. That second number is not money already missing. The final accounts show what really happened after the year ended. A pays for everyday services. A pays for big, long-term things.
Money for everyday council services
£153.3m
2026/27
Orkney Islands Council planned to spend £153.3m on everyday services in 2026/27.
Extra money needed for services
£21.3m
2026/27
The 2026/27 plan needed £21.3m more to pay for Orkney Islands Council's planned services. The council said it would find the extra money through savings, extra income, money already set aside or other changes. The final accounts will show what really happened.
Savings the council planned to make
£0.2m
2026/27
The council's 2026/27 plan says it will save £0.2m. That money has not necessarily been saved yet. The final accounts will show whether it happened.
Source: Local government budgets 2026/27
The bit nobody explains
Councils say they need more money nearly every year, whatever they are given. Here is what that really means, and who ends up paying for it.
31 of Scotland’s 32 councils said they needed more money this year.
Only South Lanarkshire said it had money left over. Orkney Islands said it needed £21.3m more.
The money from the Scottish Government went up that year, not down. Councils got £15.7bn. That is up 2% on the year before, even after prices rose. And the amount they say they are short has stayed about the same for seven years running. It works out at about 3p in every pound they spend.
Before a council sets its budget, it works out two numbers. What it thinks its services will cost. And what money it thinks it will get.
If the cost is bigger, the difference is the gap. It is a plan, made before any decisions. It is not money missing from a bank account.
The law says a council cannot plan to spend more than it gets. So the gap always gets closed. It has to be. The real question is who pays to close it.
This is every council added together, for 2026/27.
The biggest single way the gap was closed was your council tax. £221m of it. Every council in Scotland put its rate up. The average rise was 7.7%. It ran from 4% in City of Edinburgh to 10% in Aberdeenshire and Moray. That was the second year in a row. Over the two years together, bills went up 18% on average.
A lot of people assume a council has to spend the lot, or it gets less next year. That is not how the grant works.
The Scottish Government works out each council’s share using a formula. It counts things the council cannot change:
It does not count how well the council managed last year’s money. A council that comes in on budget does not get less the next year for doing it.
Council tax is only about a fifth of the money. So putting it up does not raise much next to the whole budget. But it comes straight out of your pocket.
Those are the facts. What you make of them is up to you.
Orkney Islands is left out of Audit Scotland's comparison chart. It has a large pot of harbour money set aside, which makes it very different from the rest. Councils work out and describe their budget gap in different ways, so these figures are not a perfect like-for-like comparison. Audit Scotland says comparisons should be made with caution. Figures from Local government budgets 2026/27, Audit Scotland, for the Accounts Commission, June 2026. How the formula works is set out by SPICe, the Scottish Parliament's research service.
The missing evidence
A goal is what the council said it wanted to achieve. The result is what happened. They sit side by side here, and it is flagged when the two numbers cannot be compared fairly.
No service goal has been independently checked for this council yet. That is a research gap, not proof that every goal was met.
Emergency help, local decisions
In 2025/26, Orkney Islands Council awarded a Crisis Grant in 66% of decided applications. Scotland's rate was 65%. The same national scheme produced council rates from 52% to 89%.
Decisions resulting in an award
66%
About 125 awards from 190 decisions.
Compared with Scotland
+1 points
Rank #14 of 32 when published award rates are ordered highest to lowest.
Decided by the deadline
100%
By the end of the next working day, January to March 2026.
Average award
£245
£30,812 in Crisis Grant expenditure during 2025/26.
Five complete years
Share of decisions resulting in an award
The question this council needs to answer
Orkney Islands Council's published award rate is 1 percentage point above Scotland. That does not remove the need for scrutiny: the council should still publish enough information to show how decisions are made consistently and whether rejected applicants can use the review process.
A higher rate is not automatically better and a lower rate is not proof of unlawful or ruthless decision-making. The figures prove different outcomes. They do not establish motive, applicant need or decision quality on their own.
Source: Scottish Government, Scottish Welfare Fund statistics to 31 March 2026, Tables 6, 18, 24, 28 and 36. Open the source workbook.
Same ruler for all 32 councils
Every council in Scotland reports these figures the same way, so this is a fair comparison. The year is shown for each figure.
The share of the council's A-class roads flagged for repair.
Here: 35.1% · Scotland: 30.3% · 2025/26 · 4.8 percentage points more than the Scotland figure
What the council spends collecting bins, per property, each year.
Here: £25.53 · Scotland: £77.26 · 2024/25 · £52 less than the Scotland figure
How much of the year's council tax came in on time.
Here: 95.9% · Scotland: 95.5% · 2024/25 · 0.4 percentage points more than the Scotland figure
What the council spends on each primary pupil in a year.
Here: £12,194 · Scotland: £7,606 · 2024/25 · £4,588 more than the Scotland figure
Lower is not better here. It means less money spent on each child, which can mean good value or it can mean less help in the classroom. This one is not scored.
Average days lost to sickness per council worker, not counting teachers.
Here: 13.5 days · Scotland: 14.5 days · 2024/25 · 1.1 days less than the Scotland figure
The share of household waste that gets recycled.
Here: 21.1% · Scotland: 44.3% · 2024/25 · 23.2 percentage points less than the Scotland figure
The share of adults happy with how clean the streets are.
Here: 65.7% · Scotland: 57.0% · 2024/25 · 8.7 percentage points more than the Scotland figure
Figures from the Local Government Benchmarking Framework, published by the Improvement Service, the national comparison every council takes part in. Data file retrieved 2026-08-03. Check the data yourself.
Councils like yours
Comparing a big city with a small island council is not fair on either. So the Improvement Service, which runs the national benchmarking, sorts all 32 councils into groups of eight and publishes an average for each group. The grouping and every average below are theirs, not mine. Bin, road and recycling measures are grouped by how urban or rural an area is. Collection and satisfaction measures are grouped by deprivation.
For services shaped by geography, such as bins, roads and recycling
Orkney Islands is grouped with the most rural councils:
For services shaped by deprivation, such as collection rates and satisfaction
Orkney Islands is grouped with the most affluent councils:
The share of the council's A-class roads flagged for repair.
2025-26
In 2010-11, the first year published, the figure here was 24.4%. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
What the council spends collecting bins, per property, each year.
2024-25
In 2012-13, the first year published, the figure here was £75.09. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
How much of the year's council tax came in on time.
2024-25
In 2010-11, the first year published, the figure here was 97.6%. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
What the council spends on each primary pupil in a year.
2024-25
In 2010-11, the first year published, the figure here was £12,421. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
Lower is not better here. It means less money spent on each child, which can mean good value or it can mean less help in the classroom. This one is not scored.
Average days lost to sickness per council worker, not counting teachers.
2024-25
In 2010-11, the first year published, the figure here was 9.6 days. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
The share of household waste that gets recycled.
2024-25
In 2010-11, the first year published, the figure here was 29.4%. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
The share of adults happy with how clean the streets are.
2024-25
In 2013-14, the first year published, the figure here was 82.7%. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
Groups and averages from the Local Government Benchmarking Framework, Improvement Service. “Similar councils” is the average for the group of eight that includes Orkney Islands, on the set of councils the publisher uses for that measure.
Outside checks
These are checks by people outside the council: Audit Scotland, the Accounts Commission and the Scottish Housing Regulator. An is a point they recorded after checking the books or how a service works. is the formal name for one of those checks. It is not a gold star for every service.
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2024-01-30
The review found that Orkney provides high-quality services but has a large gap between what services cost and the money available. It called for urgent action on service changes, building projects and climate change, and warned against unplanned use of money set aside.
What was recommended: Publish a clear plan showing the money still needed, the role of money set aside and the changes residents should expect.
Source: Orkney Islands Council delivers excellent services but must focus on the future
What your council said it would do
A is something the council said it would do. We look for a date, an owner and later proof. Saying it in a plan is not the same as finishing it.
Show how money set aside will be used, what service changes will save, and how essential island services will be protected.
The review called for a clear plan. The 2026/27 budget explains the use of money set aside, but this page has not checked every longer-term action.
Source: Orkney Islands Council delivers excellent services but must focus on the future; Budget setting for 2026/27: an explainer
This is a first, source-complete record, not a claim that every council decision is covered. These gaps stay visible so the page cannot pretend to know more than the evidence supports.
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2026-06-11
The money for everyday services, extra money councils said they needed when setting their 2026/27 budgets, planned savings and other budget entries.
Council · 2026
The council's 2026/27 budget, early Scottish Government funding, money set aside and saving proposals.
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2024-01-30
The review's findings about the long-term money problem, service changes and money set aside.
Council officers and elected members can send corrections or a response through the contact page. Confirmed changes will be dated and recorded here.
Straight answers
The Orkney Islands area page shows the local poverty, work and pay figures that explain why council decisions matter.
One simple next step
Not ready to write yet?
Councils publish new figures every year, and almost nobody hears about it. I read the audits and the budget papers when they land, and send one email when the numbers move. A few times a year. Nothing else, ever.