The Debt Arrangement Scheme is changing, with new amendments due to be introduced from the 29th October 2018.
Scottish Adviser Blog
Common Financial Tool Regulations 2018
My submission to the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee on the Common Financial Tool Regulations.
Prescription (Scotland) Bill
The Prescription (Scotland) Bill 2018 should be welcomed, but the Scottish Parliament needs to ensure all obligations to pay debts arising from personal contracts and statute should be covered by short term negative prescription, with few exceptions. Scotland’s law of prescription governs when an obligation to pay a debt is extinguished and no longer owed. […]
Beware the Danger of the Return of Warrant Sales
THERE have been calls of late for the Scottish Government to reintroduce warrant sale-style procedures; these seem now to have found a sympathetic ear. The Accountant in Bankruptcy (AIB), a Scottish Government agency that advises ministers on matters relating to debt law, has said it is prepared to consider how the replacement procedure that was […]
Standard Financial Statement: Is it fit for purpose in Scotland?
The Credit Services Association (CSA), a trade body that represents debt recovery and purchase organisations, has raised its concerns that new guidelines for the Standard Financial Statement (SFS) may exacerbate the position many consumers find themselves in when struggling with problem debts. The Standard Financial Statement, which the Accountant in Bankruptcy (AIB) have recommended be […]
Debt Policy is Broken
Despite personal debt levels in the UK now having returned to pre-credit crunch levels, new figures released by the Improvement Service, reveal that free, local authority-funded debt advice services have now seen their funding cut by more than 44 per cent in the last three years. The latest figures paint a picture of services that […]
Debt Arrangement Scheme: Can it Be Fixed?
New proposals by the Scottish Government to introduce changes to the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) are to be welcomed (See Debt Arrangement Scheme: The Way Forward). However, the question is, do they go far enough to save the Scheme, which saw a 49% reduction in take up following the introduction of changes in 2014-15 and […]
North Ayrshire CAB Closure Highlights Risk to Front Line Advice Services
The announcement that North Ayrshire Citizen Advice Service (NACAS) is closing its doors at the end of this month, after twenty years, brings into sharp focus the critical issue of funding that advice agencies in Scotland are now facing. It also urgently underlines the need for a national discussion on how front-line advice services are […]
Debt Advisers asked about Vulnerability
The largest survey of UK debt advisers has been launched to gain an insight into how they support clients that are in vulnerable situations. The new research, which is asking for advice agencies to sign up and participate in the project, is being carried out by the University of Bristol’s Personal Finance Research Centre (PRFC), […]
Child Maintenance: whose money is It?
In the 1970s, Margaret Thatcher was accused of being a “milk snatcher” when she attempted to end free milk in schools for all over sevens. It was a name that haunted her for the rest of her career. It would be a sad indictment on the Scottish Government, so soon after they passed the Child […]