The Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill

The Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill brings together stakeholder recommendations from stage 2 of the wider review of statutory debt solutions and the review of diligence that require to be taken forward through primary legislation.

It also includes some technical amendments to the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 which also require primary legislation. 

It contains provisions that broadly fall into three categories: 

• enabling powers to introduce a mental health moratorium - a new form of moratorium protection for a specific group of debtors, being those who are experiencing serious difficulties with their mental health as well as having problem debt 
• minor and technical amendments to existing bankruptcy legislation that would serve to correct errors and remove ambiguity by providing clarity on the operation of bankruptcy processes as set out in the legislation 
• diligence measures that modernise existing debt recovery mechanisms and allow for more streamlined and improved processes 

The Bill was approved by Parliament on 6 June 2024.  

Full details of the Bill and the accompanying documents can be found on the Scottish Parliament website.  

Included below are the Bill’s impact assessments: 

• Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill – business and regulatory impact assessment 

• Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill – equality impact assessment 

• Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill – island communities impact assessment  

• Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill – fairer Scotland duty impact assessment 

• Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill – child rights and wellbeing impact assessment