Breathing Space Scheme: 60-Day Debt Respite Explained

Breathing Space is a free government scheme in England and Wales that pauses most creditor action and freezes interest and charges on your debts for 60 days, while you get debt advice. It is formally called the Debt Respite Scheme, and it has two versions: a standard breathing space, available once in any 12 months, and a mental health crisis breathing space that usually lasts as long as your crisis treatment plus 30 days. Only an FCA-authorised debt adviser or a local authority can start one.

What Breathing Space is for

Breathing Space gives you time to get advice and work out a long-term plan without creditors chasing you. It is set up by the Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020, which came into force on 4 May 2021.

It is not a debt solution. It does not write off any debt. During the 60 days your adviser helps you look at options such as a debt relief order, bankruptcy, an IVA or an informal repayment plan. Our comparison of UK debt solutions sets them out.

The regulations apply only to people domiciled or ordinarily resident in England or Wales. For more on dealing with creditors, see our debt and money hub.

Who can apply

Under regulation 24(3), you can get a standard breathing space if you owe a qualifying debt and you:

• are domiciled or ordinarily resident in England or Wales
• do not have a debt relief order, an IVA or an interim order
• are not an undischarged bankrupt
• are not already in a breathing space, and any previous standard breathing space ended more than 12 months before you apply
• are not in a mental health crisis breathing space

The adviser must also be satisfied that you are unable, or unlikely to be able, to repay some or all of your debts as they fall due, and that a breathing space is appropriate. They consider things such as whether a debt solution would help you and whether you need the time to arrange one.

Who can start it, and the fee

You cannot apply directly to the government. Under regulation 3, a breathing space can only be started by a debt advice provider: an organisation authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to give debt counselling, or a local authority. You must get debt advice first, and the application is made by the provider that advised you (regulation 23).

Regulation 4(1) says: a debt advice provider must not charge a debtor a fee in connection with a moratorium.

gov.uk's page on options for dealing with your debts says it is free to apply but adds that some debt advisers may charge you a fee. That line does not match the regulation. The breathing space itself cannot be charged for; if a firm wants payment for something else, such as setting up a paid debt management plan, that is a separate service you are free to refuse.

Free debt advice is available from the organisations listed on gov.uk's free debt advice page, including National Debtline, Citizens Advice and StepChange, and gov.uk also points to MoneyHelper to find an adviser.

How long it lasts

The adviser submits your application and the Insolvency Service records it on the official register by the end of the next business day. The breathing space starts the day after that entry (regulations 25 and 26).

A standard breathing space lasts 60 days from the day it starts (regulation 26(2)). The adviser must carry out a midway review, which the Insolvency Service's guidance for money advisers places between days 25 and 35. The regulations also allow a breathing space to be cancelled before the 60 days are up.

Because the 12-month rule runs from when the last breathing space ended, you can have at most one standard breathing space in any year.

What it stops

During a breathing space, regulation 7 says creditors of protected debts cannot:

• require you to pay interest, fees, penalties or charges that build up during the breathing space
• take steps to collect the debt or enforce a judgment
• enforce security, apply for a warrant, or take control of goods (send in bailiffs)
• start court proceedings, including a bankruptcy petition, or apply for default judgment
• install or use a prepayment meter, unless you agreed before, or disconnect your gas or electricity
• take certain steps towards possession of a rented home, or apply to commit you to prison over council tax arrears
• ask anyone else, such as a debt collection agency, to do any of these things

Creditors also cannot contact you to demand payment of a protected debt (regulation 11). Interest and charges that would have built up during the breathing space cannot be demanded afterwards, and anything a creditor does in breach of the rules is null and void.

If the time limit for a creditor to sue you would run out during the breathing space or soon after, regulation 8 extends it to 8 weeks after the breathing space ends. Our guide to statute-barred debt explains those time limits, and our guide to bailiffs' rights covers enforcement once protection ends.

What it does not stop

Some existing arrangements carry on. Under regulation 7(13), a breathing space does not affect charging orders or attachment of earnings orders already in place, certain deductions from benefits already being taken, or universal credit paid directly to a third party.

For a mortgage or other secured debt, only the arrears are protected. You still need to keep up your regular payments.

Debts that are not protected

Regulation 5(4) lists debts that are not covered:

If council tax is part of your debts, our guide to council tax liability explains how arrears arise.

Your responsibilities

A breathing space is not a payment holiday. The Insolvency Service's guidance says you must keep paying your ongoing liabilities, meaning the bills and payments that fall due during the breathing space, and must not take on new credit of more than £500.

Keep in touch with your adviser throughout, because they review your breathing space and help you choose what comes next.

Mental health crisis breathing space

A mental health crisis breathing space gives stronger protection to people receiving crisis care. It gives the same kind of protection from creditors as the standard version but has no fixed end date and no 12-month limit (regulations 28 to 33).

Who it covers

Under regulation 28(2), you are receiving mental health crisis treatment if you are:

• detained under certain sections of the Mental Health Act 1983, including for assessment or treatment in hospital
• removed to a place of safety under sections 135 or 136 of that Act
• receiving any other crisis, emergency or acute care or treatment, in hospital or in the community, from a specialist mental health service, in relation to a serious mental disorder

Who can apply

Under regulation 29, you can apply yourself, or someone can apply for you, including your carer, an approved mental health professional (AMHP), your care co-ordinator, a mental health nurse, a social worker, or an independent mental health or mental capacity advocate. The application needs evidence from an AMHP that you are receiving crisis treatment and the name of a contact person.

The Insolvency Service's guidance says you do not have to engage with debt advice while you are in crisis.

How long it lasts

Under regulation 32(2), it ends on the earliest of:

• 30 days after your crisis treatment ends
• 30 days after the adviser asked your contact person to confirm you are still in treatment, if there is no reply
• cancellation, or death

The adviser must ask for that confirmation at intervals of 20 to 30 days (regulation 33). In practice, as long as your contact person replies, protection lasts for the whole of your treatment plus 30 days.

Scotland: the moratorium

Breathing Space does not apply in Scotland. Instead, Scotland has a moratorium, which mygov.scot says lasts 6 months.

During a moratorium, creditors cannot arrest your bank account, freeze your wages or apply to make you bankrupt. But mygov.scot is clear that a moratorium is not a debt solution: it does not write off debt or stop interest or charges being added. That is the biggest difference from Breathing Space.

You can apply if you live in Scotland, have unsecured debts, have not applied for a moratorium in the last 12 months, and are not already bankrupt, in a trust deed or in the Debt Arrangement Scheme. You or a money adviser apply through the Register of Insolvencies. The Accountant in Bankruptcy says it will not contact your creditors, so you are responsible for telling them, and a refusal cannot be appealed.

Section 1 of the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024 requires Scottish Ministers to create a mental health moratorium by regulations, but as of October 2026 we found no regulations bringing it into force. The Accountant in Bankruptcy's policy page describes a consultation and further work with stakeholders.

Scotland's Debt Arrangement Scheme is a debt payment programme run by the Accountant in Bankruptcy, applied for through an approved money adviser. While you are in it, creditors cannot add more interest, fees or charges or take you to court. Our bankruptcy guide covers sequestration and the Minimal Asset Process.

Northern Ireland

We found no Breathing Space or equivalent statutory moratorium in Northern Ireland's official debt guidance. nidirect names Advice NI and StepChange as sources of free debt advice, and they can explain what protection is available.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does Breathing Space last?

A standard breathing space lasts 60 days from the day it starts. A mental health crisis breathing space usually lasts for the whole of your crisis treatment plus 30 days, with no fixed maximum, but it can end earlier if your contact person does not reply to the adviser's check.

Does Breathing Space cost anything?

No. The regulations say a debt advice provider must not charge you a fee in connection with a breathing space. Free advisers such as National Debtline, Citizens Advice and StepChange can start one. If a firm asks for payment for another service, you can refuse it.

Can I apply for Breathing Space myself?

For a standard breathing space, no. You must get advice from an FCA-authorised debt adviser or a local authority, and they make the application. For a mental health crisis breathing space you can apply yourself, but you need evidence from an approved mental health professional.

How often can I get a breathing space?

You can only start a standard breathing space if any previous one ended more than 12 months before you apply. There is no such limit for a mental health crisis breathing space.

Do I still have to pay my bills during Breathing Space?

Yes. It is not a payment holiday. You must keep paying ongoing bills and payments that fall due, and some debts, such as student loans, fines and child maintenance, are not protected at all.

Is there Breathing Space in Scotland or Northern Ireland?

No. Scotland has a 6-month moratorium that stops most creditor action but does not stop interest or charges being added. We found no equivalent scheme in Northern Ireland, where nidirect points to Advice NI and StepChange for free advice.