Debt Recovery (Mental Health Moratorium) (Scotland) Regulations - draft: consultation

Introduction

The Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill completed its progress through the Scottish Parliament on 6 June 2024. Section 1 of the Bill requires Scottish Ministers to create a moratorium on debt recovery action by creditors against individuals who have a mental illness. This is an enabling power which lays out the framework for the moratorium with the detail of the process to be provided in secondary legislation.

A Mental Health Moratorium Working Group was formed to look at possible ways the Mental Health Moratorium could work in practice. The membership includes mental health professionals, representatives from the debt advice community and the creditor sector. A series of meetings and in-depth discussions resulted in the publication of the Mental Health Moratorium Working Group - report of recommendations.

A draft of the required secondary legislation has now been produced, The draft Debt Recovery (Mental Health Moratorium) (Scotland) Regulations. This is based on the expert Mental Health Moratorium working group’s report of recommendations, feedback from the Mental Health Moratorium public consultation, and the various debates during scrutiny of the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill.

The basis of this consultation has been formed from the draft Regulations (although please note that some minor changes have been made to the Regulations since they were shared with the Scottish Parliament). Feedback received during this consultation will enable us to finalise and commence the Mental Health Moratorium Regulations subject to the will of Parliament.