Orkney Islands Council's credit card bill quadruples with spending on Shein, White Fox and Crocs

Credit card files from Orkney council reveals £800 spending at Shein, £300 at JD Sports and over £19,000 at Tesco in just one year.

Spending across the wallet of 23 credit cards owned by Orkney Islands Council has shown thousands of pounds worth of purchases made at supermarkets, clothing brands, and hotels.

Figures obtained through a freedom of information (FOI) request show that within just one year, hundreds of pounds was spent at individual clothing sellers like Shein.com and JD Sports.

Smaller sums were also spent at other designer brands, such as White Fox, Superdry, Adidas, Nike and Crocs.

Meanwhile, over £19,600 was spent at Tesco and over £3,300 was spent through Amazon in the 2025/26 financial year.

While the amount being spent on credit cards owned by Orkney Islands Council has more than quadrupled over the last few years, the furthest back figure given was during the pandemic.

The recent consistent spending has come as the council has been facing increasingly tough financial pressures and using millions from its reserve fund to safeguard budgets.

The council has stressed its cards are “being used appropriately and within policy”.

A spokesperson said their use is necessary for “the day-to-day running of the council”.

Where did Orkney council employees use credit cards in 2025/26?
The places these purchases were made varies widely. For 2025/26 alone, 145 different companies are listed.

These include airlines, taxi services, hotels, cafes, restaurants, clothing brands, IT services or web applications, and many more.

However, just over 22% of the spend went to one organisation – the government’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

This is for the registration and licensing of the council’s fleet of vehicles, the council said.

The top 5 highest sources of spending on council credit cards in 2025/ 26 were:

£46,928.75 at Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)
£32,578.00 at UK Visas & Immigration
£19,682.57 at Tesco
£10,700.34 at Loganair
£8,380.00 at hotel chain Malmaison
Highest single spend was on accommodation for a student
The single highest purchase reported by the council was £5,708.57 spent at Wearehomesforstudents.com – which offers accommodation for student placement.

The council has said this purchase was for six months of accommodation for a fully-funded UHI student, with the only option being to pay through the company website.

A much smaller, but eye-catching spend was £28.99 with the listing being “Bugsnbitz” – a shop specialising in invertebrates and reptiles.

Also, £150 was spent at the sports apparel and fan gear shop called Fanatics, and £76.38 was spent at Crocs.

There is also £194.34 in charges from www.icelandia.com – an Icelandic tour operator.

The council has said this particular payment was for minibus transfers from an airport to accommodation for staff attending the Arctic Circle conference in Iceland last October.

The council said the only option was to pay through credit card – and this option was only chosen after “a cost analysis”.

Around £2,900 spent with clothing and footwear shops over one year
Around £2,900 was spent with 13 companies best known for clothing, footwear or sportswear.

This included £803.79 at Shein.com, £124.99 at Superdry, £315 at JD Sports, and £167 at White Fox Boutique.

Others include £184.99 with Nike, £90 with Adidas, and £32.79 with Gymshark.

The council has explained the spend on clothing by saying it provides “essential goods and supplies for some of the most vulnerable people in our community”.

Based on prices paid and the listings, just under £28,500 was paid to hotels, guest houses, self-catering and through accommodation booking websites.

These include “boutique” hotel chain Malmaison as the top spend with £8,380.00, while £3,719.29 was paid through Booking.com and £3,319.15 was paid to the Saltoun Inn. Another 2,116.33 was spent through booking website Vrbo.

Thousands spent on Orkney council credit cards at Tesco, Co-op, and Lidl
Thousands were also spent through supermarket chains with shops in Orkney. At Tesco, £19,682.57 was spent in the single year – which is an average of £378.51 every week.

A further £1,195.74 was spent at the Co-op and £217.31 was spent at Lidl.

Another £3,302.89 was spent through Amazon.

The smallest amounts spent were taxi firms, the council confirmed – £6.40 with “John MacKintos”, £11 with the reference “Kenneth Willox” and £11.38 with Platinum Taxi.

The council departments with the highest amount of spending on credit cards are:

The roads and transportation department – £48,559.75.
The accountancy section – £35,005.23
Piers and harbours team – £32,009.65
The lowest charges came from the Orkney and Shetland Joint Board, with just £43.49.

Second lowest was the chief executives department with £1,294.67, third was council publicity with £2,727.8.

Orkney Islands Council: ‘Spend on credit cards is necessary’
In the documents provided, it states that spending on purchasing cards “must only be used for legitimate business expenditure”.

A spokesperson from Orkney Islands Council gave a wider explanation for the spending and where it’s spent.

They said: “Spend on credit cards is necessary for the day-to-day running of Orkney Islands Council.

“For example, the registration and licensing of our fleet of vehicles (DVLA and DVSA payments equate to more than a quarter of the spend), travel and accommodation bookings for our staff attending to business outside of Orkney, visa arrangements for staff joining us from outside the UK, or providing essential goods and supplies – such as clothing or electricity top-ups – for some of the most vulnerable people in our community, including where the council has a corporate parenting responsibility.”

The spokesperson said credit cards are only used in situations where other payments aren’t an option.

For example, it can only pay the DVLA through credit card, they said.

The spokesperson was asked about the council’s rules around its credit card use.

They said: “There are a limited number of credit cards in use across the council and their use is tightly monitored through checks and balances.

“A robust credit card policy is in place across the organisation, and it is also covered in the financial regulations.

‘Credit card activity and limits are reviewed regularly’
“In line with guidance from our banking partners, credit card activity and card limits are reviewed regularly.

“To be clear, council credit cards are being used appropriately and within policy.

The council have said the increased spend on its credit cards over the last few years, is down to a number of reason.

They added: “In terms of the supply of foodstuffs for example, previously the council primarily purchased goods through a local on-street retailer for which invoicing arrangements were in place.

“That retailer is unfortunately no longer operating and so we have had to move to buying goods from another supplier, who only accepts credit card payments.

“In the case of travel, the comparator figure being used is for financial year 2020/2021 – when travel was restricted due to the pandemic.

“More goods are also bought online – requiring credit card payments.

“There has also been a general increase in the costs of goods and service, including a significant increase in the cost of visas.”