Mental Health Moratorium
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.
Mental Health Moratorium working group - report of recommendations
Further consultation
As part of the work to develop an operational Mental Health Moratorium, a further consultation was published in November 2023 seeking stakeholders’ views on how this could work in practice.
The responses to this consultation assisted in developing regulations which will define the framework for the Mental Health Moratorium.
Draft regulations
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 was not the final version of the regulations. A further draft is currently subject to a full public consultation which closes on 17 March 2025.
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.