Debt Respite Scheme
England and Wales statutory scheme pausing creditor action for people in problem debt.
Breathing space registrations under the Debt Respite Scheme fell 32% on a year earlier to 5,012 in August 2026, The Insolvency Service said on 18 September, after StepChange tightened its suitability criteria in November 2025.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026
Timeline for Debt Respite Scheme
Mentioned in: Bankruptcies up 14% in England and Wales
Is Britain Actually Broke?Background
The Debt Respite Scheme gives people in problem debt in England and Wales legal protection from their creditors. A standard breathing space lasts 60 days, during which most interest and charges are frozen and enforcement action is halted. A mental health crisis moratorium lasts for crisis treatment and ends, at the latest, 30 days after that treatment stops.
The scheme was created by the Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020, made on 17 November 2020 under the Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018. It launched on 4 May 2021, and The Insolvency Service publishes monthly registration figures.
Provider policy can move the totals. The Insolvency Service recorded 5,012 breathing spaces in August 2026, 32% fewer than a year earlier, and attributed the fall to StepChange tightening its suitability criteria in November 2025.
Registrations fell by almost a third
The Insolvency Service's August figures, published on 18 September 2026, recorded 5,012 breathing spaces, 32% fewer than in August 2025. It attributed the fall to StepChange, the debt charity, tightening its suitability criteria for the scheme in November 2025.
The scheme's numbers fell while formal insolvency rose: the same release showed bankruptcies up 14% and individual voluntary arrangements up 8% on a year earlier. A change at one large provider was enough to cut The National total by a third, so a monthly fall in registrations is no reading of household debt on its own.