Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) Scotland: How It Actually Works
By Hamid Ali · MSc Accounting & Finance, Founder of DebtShift · Updated August 2026
You’ve read that Breathing Space freezes your debt for 60 days. It doesn’t exist for you. Not in Scotland. Most UK debt advice is written as if the whole country runs on the same rules — England’s rules — and if you’re searching from Glasgow, Dundee, or Inverness, half of what you find online simply doesn’t apply to you.
Scotland has its own insolvency system entirely, run separately from the rest of the UK by the Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB), a Scottish Government agency. No Breathing Space, no Debt Relief Orders, no IVAs. Instead, four different routes — and the one people search for most is the Debt Arrangement Scheme.
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Try the Free Debt Payoff Planner →What the Debt Arrangement Scheme Actually Is
The Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) is Scotland’s statutory debt repayment plan, set up under the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002 and run by the Accountant in Bankruptcy. You combine everything you owe into one affordable monthly payment, called a Debt Payment Programme (DPP), made through an approved money adviser. Once it’s approved, interest, fees, and charges on every included debt are frozen — and written off completely once you finish the programme.
Unlike Breathing Space, which only pauses things for 60 days, DAS is designed to run until the debt is actually cleared. It’s not insolvency — you repay the full amount, just on terms you can genuinely manage, protected from your creditors taking court action while you do.
Sequestration — Scotland’s Word for Bankruptcy
Sequestration is the formal name for bankruptcy in Scotland, governed by the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016. You can apply if you owe £3,000 or more and genuinely can’t pay it. A trustee takes control of your estate, sells what can be sold, and most people are discharged after 12 months provided they’ve cooperated with the process throughout.
If you owe less than £25,000, have no spare income, and no assets worth selling, the Minimal Asset Process (MAP) is a cheaper route into sequestration — a £50 application fee instead of the standard route’s higher costs. It’s Scotland’s closest equivalent to a Debt Relief Order, which doesn’t exist north of the border.
Protected Trust Deeds — Scotland’s IVA
If you’ve researched IVAs before realising you’re in Scotland, this is what you actually want. A Protected Trust Deed works the same way in principle: you make affordable payments, typically for around four years, and whatever’s left of your unsecured debt is written off at the end. It requires enough disposable income or sellable assets to make a real contribution — it isn’t an option if you have nothing to offer creditors.
Scotland’s Four Routes, Side by Side
| Solution | Debt written off? | Typical length | Cost to you | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DAS | No — repaid in full, interest frozen | Until repaid, no fixed cap | £0 upfront, ~22% built into payments | Can repay in full with more time |
| Protected Trust Deed | Yes — remainder written off | ~4 years | No upfront fee, IP fees from contributions | Can’t repay in full but can contribute monthly |
| Sequestration | Yes — discharged after ~12 months | ~12 months to discharge | Varies, can be reduced if low income | Genuinely can’t pay, owe £3,000+ |
| MAP (sequestration) | Yes — discharged after ~6 months | ~6 months | £50 application fee | Owe under £25,000, no income or assets |
⚠️ KNOW YOUR RIGHTS DURING ENFORCEMENT
Diligence — Scotland’s term for debt enforcement action — has its own rules on what creditors can and can’t do while you’re in a formal solution. Know exactly where you stand before you deal with a creditor directly.
Know Your Rights →The Moratorium — Six Months of Breathing Room
This is the closest thing Scotland has to Breathing Space, and it works differently. Apply to the Accountant in Bankruptcy for a moratorium and you get six months of protection from enforcement action while you sort out a longer-term solution — DAS, a Trust Deed, or sequestration. You can only use it once in any 12-month period, so it’s a tool for getting organised, not a repeatable pause button.
What DAS Actually Costs You
There’s no application fee, but your monthly payment doesn’t go entirely to your creditors. Roughly 22% of each payment covers the cost of running the scheme — split between the DAS Administrator (2%) and your money adviser or payment distributor, capped at 20% — with the remaining 78% going to whoever you owe. That split comes out of your regular payment automatically; you’re never billed separately on top of it.
England’s Rules Don’t Apply Here
If you’ve been reading about how Breathing Space works or weighing up the pros and cons of an IVA, both of those are England and Wales schemes — genuinely useful reading if you’re comparing systems, but neither is something you can apply for as a Scottish resident. The same goes for Debt Relief Orders: if a checker or guide talks you through DRO eligibility, that’s built for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland only. Scotland’s equivalent is the Minimal Asset Process route into sequestration covered above, not a DRO by another name.
What If Your Circumstances Change Partway Through?
A DAS Debt Payment Programme isn’t locked in stone once it’s approved. If your income drops, your payment can be varied downwards through your money adviser — you don’t have to abandon the programme or start again. The opposite is also true: if your situation improves, increasing your payment shortens the time it takes to clear everything, since the total owed doesn’t change, only how fast you get through it.
What you can’t do is simply stop paying without telling anyone. Miss payments without arranging a variation and your DPP can be revoked, at which point the interest, fees, and charges that were frozen come back onto your balance, and creditors regain the right to take enforcement action. If money gets tight, contact your money adviser before a payment is due, not after it’s been missed — a proactive variation is a normal, expected part of the process; a silent default isn’t.
How to Actually Apply
You can’t set up a DAS Debt Payment Programme yourself — it has to go through an approved money adviser, who assesses your situation and submits the proposal to the AiB on your behalf. Citizens Advice Scotland and StepChange Scotland both offer this free, and neither will push you toward a paid provider if a free route genuinely fits your situation better.
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Run My Payoff Plan →Read Next
- Breathing Space Scheme Explained (England & Wales)
- IVA Pros and Cons — The Full Breakdown (England & Wales)
- How to Make a Debt Payoff Plan Step by Step
- Browse DebtShift Resources
Questions People Actually Ask
Is Breathing Space available in Scotland?
No. Breathing Space only applies in England and Wales. Scotland’s equivalent is a moratorium applied for through the Accountant in Bankruptcy — six months of protection from enforcement, usable once every 12 months.
Can I get a Debt Relief Order in Scotland?
No — DROs only exist in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Scotland’s low-cost equivalent is the Minimal Asset Process (MAP), a form of sequestration for debts under £25,000 with no spare income or sellable assets, costing a £50 application fee.
What’s the Scottish equivalent of an IVA?
A Protected Trust Deed. It works on the same principle — affordable payments for a set period, typically four years, with the remainder of your unsecured debt written off at the end. IVAs themselves aren’t available to Scottish residents.
How much does the Debt Arrangement Scheme cost?
Nothing upfront. Around 22% of each monthly payment covers running costs — 2% to the DAS Administrator, up to 20% to your money adviser or payment distributor — with creditors receiving the remaining 78%. You’re never billed separately on top of your regular payment.
Will using DAS affect my credit score?
Yes. Your Debt Payment Programme is recorded on the public DAS Register, which creditors and credit reference agencies check, and it’s likely to appear on your credit file for as long as the programme runs. It’s a lighter mark than sequestration, but it isn’t invisible.
How long does the Debt Arrangement Scheme last?
There’s no fixed length — it runs until your debts are repaid at an amount you can genuinely afford, which could be a few years or considerably longer for larger balances. A Protected Trust Deed, by contrast, is fixed at around four years.
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Try the AI Debt Payoff Planner →DebtShift is not regulated by the FCA and this content is not financial or legal advice. Scotland’s debt solutions are administered separately from the rest of the UK by the Accountant in Bankruptcy — always confirm your specific situation with a free adviser. Contact StepChange or Citizens Advice Scotland for free, confidential debt advice.