PTD Bulletin - Autumn 2024

The Protected Trust Deeds (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2024

The regulations were passed by Parliament and came into force on 1 July 2024. The amendments aim to bring forward stakeholder-led recommendations to introduce improvements to the current PTD process, ensuring that those who access debt relief through this solution are provided with the necessary support and protection. 

The regulations have: 

• made some of the terms contained in a voluntary protocol a statutory requirement. This means where a dividend is payable it will be paid to creditors at month 12 and quarterly thereafter, and a trustee will have to seek the agreement of AiB when refusing to discharge a debtor from a PTD
• allowed the removal of the protected status of a PTD where there has been a material error made in the process for the trust deed gaining protected status
• removed any time limitation for a trustee refusing to apply for a debtor’s discharge
• allowed early discharge of the debtor in extenuating circumstances
• allowed AiB to act as trustee of last resort where a trustee can no longer act in that capacity and a replacement trustee cannot be found
• increased the supervision fee of a trustee under a PTD from £100 to £120 (per annum)
• put explicitly into legislation that anyone applying for a PTD must live or have a business in Scotland

The Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill

The Bill was introduced to bring together stakeholder recommendations from stage 2 of the review of statutory debt solutions and the review of diligence, which required to be taken forward through primary legislation.

The Bill was approved by Parliament on 6 June 2024. It received Royal Assent on 15 July 2024 and is now the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024.

It contains provisions that broadly fall into three categories: 

• an enabling power 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 
• technical amendments to the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016
• diligence measures that modernise existing debt recovery mechanisms and allow for improved processes 

The dates of commencement of each of the provisions are still to be determined.

For more information on the passage of the Bill, please visit the Scottish Parliament website.

The relevant impact assessments are available on the Scottish Government website.