Extended Scottish ‘breathing space’ moratorium period during Covid pandemic should be made permanent, Scottish Government proposes

Consultation on Covid recovery policy includes proposal to keep the six-month moratorium and other easements introduced to support debtors through the Covid-19 pandemic

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on Covid recovery that includes a proposal to keep the extended six-month ‘breathing space’ moratorium introduced to support debtors through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Focusing on reviewing legislative measures that are supporting Scotland’s response to Covid - many of which are set to come to an end in March 2022 - the consultation sets out proposals for maintaining key changes made by the First and Second Scottish Coronavirus Acts (the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 and the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020) and the UK Coronavirus Act 2020.

In relation to debt-related measures introduced during the pandemic, the consultation includes proposals that -

• strengthen the protections available for those dealing with problem debt by making permanent measures that increase the minimum debt level (from £3,000 to £10,000) a creditor must be owed to petition for bankruptcy through the courts; 
• improve the use of technology in bankruptcy proceedings by continuing to permit documents required during bankruptcy administration to be transmitted to a person electronically; and
• continue to protect those with unsustainable debt by making the increased ‘breathing space’ moratorium (currently increased from six weeks to six months) permanent. 

In addition, the Scottish Government advises that, in the first instance, it intends to extend these measures to September 2022 via secondary legislation subject to the agreement of the Scottish Parliament. It then intends to make the measures permanent thereafter, via further primary legislation.

NB - the consultation runs until 9 November 2021.

For more information, see chapter 3 of the Scottish Government’s Covid Recovery consultation.