Debt Respite (Breathing Space) Scheme: creditors’ responsibilities to the court
Guidance for creditors of a debt that has been placed in a ‘breathing space’.
Applies to England and Wales
The Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space) gives someone in problem debt the right to legal protections from their creditors.
This guidance is to help you understand the scheme and your responsibility to the court under the regulations.
You can also apply to court to take a debt recovery step, cancel or amend the ‘breathing space’, or have a debt removed.
If you owe a debt that you think is eligible for a breathing space, you should get advice from a debt adviser.
If you have any questions about a specific breathing space, contact the debt adviser whose details are in the notification you received. Do not contact the court.
Your responsibilities
Stop all action and apply the protections
If you’re told that a debt owed to you is in a breathing space, you must stop all action related to that debt and apply the protections. You must keep these protections in place until the breathing space ends.
Unless you have permission from the court, you or anybody acting on your behalf must not:
- take any enforcement action against the debtor or anyone who is jointly liable with them for a breathing space debt
- contact the debtor to request repayment of that debt
- take any step to recover that debt
The Insolvency Service will notify you about each debt owed to you that is in a breathing space and the date the breathing space started. A breathing space will start the day after the debtor’s details are put onto the breathing space register.
If the notification includes an end date, it is a standard breathing space – this will be 60 days after the breathing space is applied. If there is no end date, it is a mental health crisis breathing space.
Find out what to do if you are not sure which debt or debts the notifications relate to.
It may be possible that the debt owed to you is added to a breathing space later because it is only identified after the breathing space has started.
Joint debts can be included in a breathing space, even if only one person enters a breathing space. The joint debt would become a breathing space debt and the protection from enforcement action also applies to the other people who owe that debt. You can still charge the other people interest or fees and the breathing space does not affect the other people’s debts and liabilities in their own names.
Tell the court about the breathing space
If a claim has already been issued, or where enforcement proceedings have begun, you must inform the court in writing of a breathing space having started. You must tell the court about each debt that has entered a breathing space.
The court will not check for other debts against the debtor’s name. If the debtor has debts owed to you at different courts, you must notify each court.
When informing the court, you must:
- explain whether the debt is subject to a standard or mental health breathing space
- provide the date on which the breathing space started, where possible
- include a copy of the notification from the Insolvency Service, where possible
You can send your notifications to the court by post or email. Find out how to contact the court. If you are using an online platform to issue a claim, please refer to the user guidance about how to contact the court.
Tell enforcement agents to stop any action
When you’ve told the local court about the breathing space, the court will tell any instructed county court bailiff to pause enforcement action.
You must inform any other enforcement agent you have instructed – this includes high court enforcement officers. If you do not do this as soon as possible, you may be liable for any losses the debtor or the agent have as a result.
If an arrest warrant has been issued in council tax proceedings, the creditor council must instruct the enforcement agent not to execute the warrant.
If repayment plans have already been agreed, the debt advice provider will decide if the debtor can still afford to pay. Enforcement agents cannot enforce the writ or warrant until the breathing space ends.
If you apply to reissue a warrant or writ of control during a breathing space, the court will refuse the request.
What happens next
Court proceedings continue until an order or judgment is made; except for all enforcement action such as evictions.
In a breathing space the court will not:
- issue a money claim or process a help with fees application
- process a default judgment
- issue any form of enforcement application (such as a warrant, writ or charging order)
- continue with any form of enforcement application already issued, including evictions
- proceed with a debt where a bankruptcy petition has started
The regulations allow the court to correspond with a defendant during a breathing space where necessary.
Any other application made by a debtor during a breathing space will be referred to a district judge to decide if it should continue or be adjourned.
Enforcement hearings
For a standard breathing space, any scheduled hearing relating to enforcement will be adjourned to no earlier than 14 days after the end of the breathing space.
For a mental health crisis breathing space, any scheduled hearing cannot take place – this will be reviewed by a judge if adjourned beyond 6 months.
Housing repossessions (evictions)
For a standard breathing space, any scheduled eviction will be suspended to no earlier than 14 days after the end of the breathing space. If the debtor has applied to suspend the eviction, the application will be rescheduled after the end of the breathing space but before the eviction.
For a mental health crisis breathing space, any scheduled eviction cannot take place – this will be reviewed by a judge if suspended beyond 6 months. If the debtor has applied to suspend the eviction, the application will be rescheduled after the end of the breathing space but before the eviction.
Charging orders in the Civil National Business Centre
You may have applied for a charging order to secure the debt against the debtor’s home or other property. The court may have then made an interim charging order (ICO).
For debt in a standard breathing space, the Civil National Business Centre will defer any ICO. If there is time remaining for your notification of service, or for the debtor to respond, the court will add this to the breathing space period. Following this, the ICO will be automatically referred to the judge or legal adviser to make a final charging order, unless you tell the court not to.
When a mental health crisis breathing space ends, you must allow the debtor any remaining time they have to make any objections to the ICO to the court. Following this period, you should confirm in writing to the court when the mental health crisis breathing space ended and whether you wish to proceed with making the ICO final.
After 6 months, any ICO application where there is a mental health crisis breathing space still in place will be referred to a judge for a decision.
When a breathing space ends
You should inform the court when the breathing space ends. You should contact the court to tell them whether you wish to proceed with enforcement action and submit the relevant request to continue with enforcement.
You can restart enforcement action from the point it stopped – there is no fee to do this.
Updates to this page
Published 30 April 2021Last updated 22 July 2021 + show all updates
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Added information about enforcement hearings
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Welsh translation added
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First published.