Highland Council Debt Is One Of Highest Per Person in the UK
29th January 2026
Highland Council has one of the higher levels of debt among Scottish local authorities, especially when looked at per person. It is not necessarily the absolute highest in total debt compared with councils that have much larger populations like Edinburgh or Glasgow.
Highland Council Debt in Context
Total debt (absolute terms):
Highland Council's total borrowing was reported at around £1.3 billion in the 2024/25 financial year.
This is a large figure, but not the highest in Scotland — councils in larger urban areas such as Edinburgh (£2 billion) and Glasgow (£1.67 billion) owed more overall.
Debt per head of population
When expressed per resident, Highland Council becomes one of the most indebted councils in the UK:
Highland's debt per person was reported at around £5,476 per resident.
This placed it third highest in Scotland behind West Dunbartonshire (£8,885) and Aberdeen City (£6,666) in the same dataset.
Why per-head measurement matters
Because Highland's population is relatively small compared with big cities, its debt gets spread over fewer people making the per-person figure high even if total debt isn't the very highest in Scotland.
Why Highland Council's Debt Is High
Highland Council borrows for long-term capital investment, such as:
Major infrastructure and school building projects under the Highland Investment Plan (a multi-billion-pound programme).
Borrowing in local government works like this:
Councils can take out long-term loans (often via the UK Government’s Public Works Loan Board) to fund capital projects. They repay this over many years, with interest.
Debt builds up when councils continually invest more than can be funded from current revenue, with the expectation that future budgets will cover repayment.
Important: Having high debt isn’t necessarily unlawful or unique — many councils borrow to invest. What matters financially is:
Whether the council can afford interest and principal payments within its revenue budget.
Whether the investment financed by debt generates long-term benefits relative to cost.
High debt per person
Highland is among the highest in Scotland and the UK on a per-head basis.
Total debt not the highest
Other councils like Edinburgh or Glasgow have higher absolute debts.
Reason
Highland’s combination of significant public investment and a relatively small population inflates the per-head debt figure.
