Mental Health Moratorium

Background

The introduction of a Mental Health Moratorium in Scotland, which will provide special protections from debt enforcement for those individuals with serious mental health conditions, has received broad support from stakeholders. The Social Justice and Social Security Committee also recommended this in their report Robbing Peter to pay Paul: Low income and the debt trap.

Previous consultations

In the Bankruptcy and debt advice review: consultation published in November 2019, 89% of respondents believed the Scottish Government should consider a separate moratorium for those receiving mental health crisis care.

In a further consultation Scotland’s statutory debt solutions and diligence – policy review response published in August 2022, 93% of respondents agreed with the proposal to collaborate with mental health and debt specialists in developing the detail of a Mental Health Moratorium.

The working group

As a result, a working group was formed in January 2023 to deliberate on how a Mental Health Moratorium could operate in Scotland. The group, which comprises of relevant sector experts, considered and discussed various aspects of a Mental Health Moratorium. This work resulted in the report of recommendations below. 

A copy of the draft Mental Health Moratorium Regulations was shared with the Economy and Fair Work Committee prior to stage 3 of the Parliamentary process for the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill.

This is not the final version of the regulations. A further draft will be subject to a full public consultation.

These draft regulations reflect extensive work undertaken to engage with stakeholders from all relevant sectors, building on the responses to the earlier consultation which itself was largely based on the mental health moratorium working group’s report of recommendations.