Debt Solutions: Which Ones Actually Stop Bailiffs

This page compares the options available in England and Wales, and is honest about which of them actually stop enforcement and which do not.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have different systems, so the solutions below do not apply there. If you are in Scotland, see our guide to debt solutions in Scotland; in Northern Ireland, start at our guide to enforcement in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Which solutions actually stop bailiffs?

Worth answering first, because it is the reason most people are reading.

Two things follow. A debt management plan does not stop bailiffs, however sensible it is as a budgeting tool, and anyone implying otherwise is misleading you. And Breathing Space is the only one that works in days rather than weeks, which is why it is usually the right first step when a visit is imminent.

Note also that court fines are excluded from Breathing Space and cannot be included in a DRO or an IVA in the ordinary way. If a bailiff is enforcing a magistrates' court fine, none of the routes below is the answer, and the fine has its own process.

Before choosing anything

The order of these matters, and skipping the first two is how people end up in the wrong solution.

Build a complete list of debts. Everything, including debts you feel embarrassed about and debts you dispute. A solution built on a partial list can fail later.

Separate priority debts. Rent or mortgage, council tax, energy, court fines and child maintenance carry consequences that credit cards do not: eviction, enforcement, disconnection or prison in the most serious cases. They are dealt with first, and some cannot go into a formal solution at all.

Work out genuine surplus income. Not what you hope to manage. What is actually left after essentials, on a normal month.

Value your assets honestly, including any equity in a home and the value of any vehicle.

Check employment restrictions. Some professions and some employment contracts are affected by insolvency, and a few by an IVA. Check your contract before applying, not after.

Record anything urgent, particularly a Notice of Enforcement with a deadline running.

Breathing Space

A Debt Respite Scheme moratorium pauses enforcement of qualifying debts for 60 days, freezes interest and charges, and prohibits creditors and enforcement agents from taking action.

It is free: a debt advice provider must not charge you a fee in connection with a moratorium. It is accessed through an FCA-authorised debt adviser, not by applying yourself.

A mental health crisis moratorium lasts for the duration of crisis treatment plus a further 30 days, with no 60-day cap, and is applied for by an approved mental health professional.

What it is not. It does not write off anything, it does not stop court fines, and it does not cover your ongoing bills, which you must keep paying. It is a protected window in which to arrange something durable. See our full guide to the Breathing Space scheme.

Debt Management Plan

An informal arrangement, usually run by a debt advice provider, under which you make one monthly payment that is distributed among your creditors.

If enforcement is already under way, read the focused guide to whether a debt management plan can stop bailiffs. This page compares the wider debt-solution choices; that guide owns the DMP-and-bailiffs question.

Where it works. Where the debts are non-priority, the surplus is enough to clear them in a sensible period, and creditors are willing.

The comparison point. A DMP depends on creditor cooperation and can run for a long time where the debt is large relative to the available surplus. The separate DMP enforcement guide explains what that means once bailiffs are involved.

Free providers exist. There is no need to pay a fee for a DMP.

Debt Relief Order

A DRO writes off qualifying debts after a 12-month moratorium, for people with low income, few assets and no property.

For when protection begins, which enforcement can continue and the exceptions, see can a Debt Relief Order stop bailiffs?

The current eligibility limits, from GOV.UK:

• you owe less than £50,000
• you have less than £2,000 worth of assets
• you do not own a vehicle worth £4,000 or more
• you have less than £75 a month spare income

And on cost: *"You do not need to pay for a DRO."* The application fee was abolished, so anyone charging you for one is not to be relied on.

A DRO is applied for through an approved intermediary, normally at a free debt advice charity. It appears on the Individual Insolvency Register and affects your credit file for six years.

If you own your home, a DRO is generally not available, and the realistic comparison is between an IVA and bankruptcy.

Individual Voluntary Arrangement

An IVA is a formal, legally binding agreement with creditors, supervised by an insolvency practitioner, usually running for five or six years, after which qualifying remaining debt is written off.

For when approval binds creditors, which debts are covered and what happens to active enforcement, see can an IVA stop bailiffs?

Where it fits. Where there is a reasonable and reliable surplus income, or a lump sum available, and often where there is property equity to protect that bankruptcy would put at risk.

What it does. Once approved, it binds creditors who voted against it, stops them adding interest and charges, and stops enforcement of included debts.

The commitments are real. It is a long arrangement, and failing it can lead to bankruptcy. Fees are paid out of your contributions. It appears on the Individual Insolvency Register and affects your credit file for six years. Some professions and employment contracts are affected.

An IVA is not a soft option, and it is not right for everyone. It is right for a specific financial shape, and the honest test is whether you can realistically maintain the contribution for the full term.

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy writes off qualifying debts, normally with discharge after 12 months.

It costs £680 to apply, and GOV.UK confirms *"You can pay in instalments if you cannot afford to pay it all at once."* The application is made online to the adjudicator.

What you should understand before applying. Assets, including a home with equity and a vehicle above a modest value, may be sold. An income payments arrangement can require contributions for up to three years. Some professions and some directorships are restricted. It appears on the Individual Insolvency Register and affects your credit file for six years.

Where it fits. Where debts are large relative to income and assets, where there is little or no equity to protect, and where a DRO is unavailable because the limits are exceeded.

Other routes worth knowing

Administration order. Where you have a County Court Judgment and total debts within the statutory limit, the court can consolidate payments. Less common, but useful where it fits.

Time order. For a regulated credit agreement, the court can vary the terms, for example by reducing instalments or the interest rate. Under-used, and directly relevant where a consumer credit debt has become unaffordable.

Full and final settlement. A lump sum, often from family, accepted to close an account. Get acceptance in writing before paying, confirm whether the account will be recorded as satisfied or partially satisfied, and check the position on any joint debtor or guarantor, who may remain liable.

Creditor write-off. Where income is very low and unlikely to improve, some creditors will write off a balance on request with supporting evidence. Worth asking, especially in cases of serious ill health.

Charitable grants and benefit checks. A benefits check frequently finds unclaimed entitlement, and grants exist for specific circumstances. Both are free to explore.

Debt consolidation. Replacing several debts with one loan. It can simplify things, but it often extends the term, can cost more overall, and where it converts unsecured debt into debt secured on your home it converts a credit problem into a housing risk. Treat with caution.

Direct arrangements and token payments

The simplest route, and the one most often overlooked, is dealing with creditors yourself.

A direct arrangement is an offer you make and a creditor accepts. It has no legal force, but it costs nothing, it can be arranged in days, and for a small number of debts it is often enough. Ask for interest and charges to be frozen as part of it, and get the agreement in writing.

Token payments are very small payments, often £1 a month, made where there is genuinely no surplus. They do not clear the debt, and they are not a solution. What they do is evidence engagement, keep the account from escalating while circumstances improve, and give a creditor a reason to hold action.

Two cautions. A token payment is still a payment, so under section 29 of the Limitation Act 1980 it restarts the six-year limitation period on a debt that might otherwise have become unenforceable. And an arrangement with an enforcement agent is different from one with a creditor: breaching the former can create a power of re-entry.

Where circumstances are unlikely to improve, a token payment can quietly become a decades-long arrangement on a debt that should have been written off or included in a formal solution. Review it rather than setting it and forgetting it.

Full and final settlements

A single lump sum accepted to close an account for less than the balance. Usually funded by family, a redundancy payment or the sale of an asset.

Where it works. With purchased debt in particular, because a debt purchaser bought the account at a discount and has more room to accept less than the original lender would.

Get the terms in writing before any money moves. Specifically:

• that the sum is accepted in full and final settlement of the whole account
• whether the entry will read satisfied or partially satisfied, since the difference is visible to lenders for six years
• that no residual balance will be pursued or sold on
• the position of any joint debtor or guarantor, who may remain liable for the shortfall even after your settlement

Never borrow to fund a settlement, and never send money on the strength of a phone call.

Debt consolidation, and when it makes things worse

Replacing several debts with one loan. Sometimes sensible, frequently not, and the risks are specific rather than general.

It can extend the term. A lower monthly payment over a longer period often means more interest paid overall, even at a lower rate.

It does not address the cause. Where the debts arose from a shortfall between income and outgoings, consolidation clears the balances and leaves the shortfall, which is how people end up with the consolidation loan *and* new card balances.

Secured consolidation converts a credit problem into a housing risk. A loan secured on your home turns unsecured debt, which cannot cost you your house, into debt that can. That is the single most consequential decision in this whole page, and it is the one most often made under pressure.

It is rarely available when you most need it. If enforcement has started, affordable consolidation credit is usually already out of reach, which is itself information: it means the answer is one of the formal solutions above rather than more borrowing.

Administration orders and time orders

Two court routes that are genuinely under-used.

An administration order is available where you have at least one County Court Judgment and total debts within the statutory limit. The court consolidates your debts into one payment, and creditors included in the order cannot pursue you separately without permission. It is administered by the County Court and there is no separate insolvency practitioner.

A time order applies to a regulated credit agreement under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The court can vary the terms, including reducing the instalments and, in appropriate cases, the interest rate. It is particularly useful where a consumer credit debt has become unaffordable but the rest of your finances are manageable, and it is available in connection with court proceedings on the agreement.

Both are worth raising with a free debt adviser, because they fit situations where the headline solutions do not.

Other ways to reduce what you owe

Creditor write-off. Where income is very low, unlikely to improve, and particularly where there is serious ill health, some creditors will write off a balance on request with supporting evidence. It costs nothing to ask, in writing, with a financial statement and any medical evidence.

Benefits and income checks. A full benefits check frequently identifies unclaimed entitlement. Increasing income is often faster than restructuring debt.

Charitable grants. Grants exist for specific circumstances, occupations and conditions, and do not have to be repaid.

Complaints and refunds. Where a debt includes unaffordable lending, mis-sold products or charges applied unfairly, a complaint to the firm and then the Financial Ombudsman Service can reduce the balance. This is a genuine route, not a technicality, and it is free.

Selling non-essential assets or using savings. Worth considering before a formal solution, though not at the cost of leaving yourself without an emergency buffer.

Priority debts need separate treatment

Formal solutions deal mainly with non-priority debts. Priority debts often need handling in parallel.

Council tax is enforced under a liability order and can lead to enforcement agents, deductions from earnings or benefits, and in England committal proceedings. See our guide to the liability order.

Rent and mortgage arrears risk your home and take priority over everything unsecured.

Court fines cannot enter Breathing Space and are handled through the court.

Child maintenance has its own enforcement regime and is excluded from Breathing Space.

Benefit overpayments are recovered by DWP Debt Management directly from benefits or wages, without a court order, which makes them unlike most consumer debts.

Energy arrears can lead to a prepayment meter, though not during a moratorium.

Paying a credit card while council tax arrears grow is the most common and most costly ordering mistake.

Cost, public records and credit impact

Free, impartial advice is available from National Debtline, StepChange and Citizens Advice. Any of them will look at your whole position rather than at one product.

How to choose

If a visit is imminent, deal with the timing first. Breathing Space works in days; nothing else does.

If your income is very low and you have no property, check the DRO limits above, because it is free and it writes debt off.

If you have property equity to protect and a reliable surplus, compare an IVA against bankruptcy properly rather than assuming.

If the surplus would clear the debts in a sensible period, a DMP or direct arrangement may be enough, provided you understand it gives no protection from enforcement.

If the debts are mostly priority debts, a formal solution may not be the answer at all, and the work is in dealing with each creditor.

Read the written consequences of any solution before agreeing to it, and be wary of anyone who recommends a product before asking about your assets, your income and your priority debts.