Orkney Islands Council

"As a council, our activities touch the lives of everyone living in our island community. From schools to the care of the elderly. From rubbish collection to maintaining the county’s roads. From caring for burial grounds to handling planning applications. OIC has an impact on many aspects of everyday life. With around 1,800 staff, we’re also the county’s biggest employer. With such wide ranging responsibilities, we’re committed to providing good-value, high quality services across the county. That commitment means we’re continually looking for ways to improve the way we work.

We’re Britain’s smallest local authority … but we lead the way in Scotland in providing all the council services used by the people of the county. Set up in 1974, the Council became a model for the delivery of local government across the nation – a model used in the creation of 31 similar all-purpose authorities in 1996.