Scottish Debt Help and Advice
Monday evening’s bankruptcy expose by BBC Panorama, of former millionaires, now bankrupt and still apparently living the high life, was confused and misleading (Millionaire Bankrupts Exposed). The investigation, which looked at a handful of bankrupts, attempted to show how they were still enjoying the benefits of luxury mansions and cars, whilst their creditors were being […]
With levels of personal debt reaching pre-credit crunch levels and money advice services facing further funding cuts, is it too late for transformative change in support for such agencies? I considered the issue in December’s Journal of the Law Society of Scotland. Money advice services in Scotland are in bad shape, arguably the worst they […]
A presentation I delivered recently at the AMI Financial Solutions Ltd Xmas Lunch and Learn for Free Sector Money Advisers. The presentation focused on the provision of free debt advice services in Scotland. Many of the figures come from an Improvement Service report which will be published in full in January 2018. The presentation was […]
In the first year of implementation of the Bankruptcy and Debt Advice (Scotland) Act 2014 (BADAS), the number of sequestrations in Scotland dropped by 44%; Debt Payment Programmes dropped by 50%; and although protected trust deeds fell only by 6%, they had dropped the previous year by 33%, with the implementation of trust deed regulations. […]
In a recent note, issued by Glasgow Sheriff Court, Sheriff Deutsch, has refused an application to re-open a sequestration, which he found failed to provide sufficient evidence that re-opening the sequestration would benefit anyone, but the professionals involved. The application to re-open the sequestration, after the trustee and the debtor were discharged, was to allow the trustee to be […]
The Scottish Government’s decision to reject a call by Govan Law Centre for a fee waiver for consumers wanting to use bankruptcy laws, is not only disappointing, but ultimately likely to be an expensive mistake, resulting in £8.6 million of fees having to be repaid if legal challenges are successful. There have always been application fees […]
In last night’s Scottish politics leadership debate, Nurse, Clare Austin, made a strong attack against First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, on the level of pay nurses are receiving working in the NHS. Nicola Stugeon, to her credit, sympathised that the 1% pay cap for public sector workers had went on too long. She even explained how […]
Lord Armstrong has held in a decision dated the 11th May 2017, that the provisions contained in s34 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985, relating to gratuitous alienations, were ECHR compliant. The Background Miss Farrell had married Mr Walker in November 2007 and they were subsequently divorced in August 2010. Mr Walker was sequestrated in […]
In the last ten years, over 183,000 Scots have been subject to Scotland’s Personal Insolvency Laws. In this seminar, Protected Trust Deeds and Sequestrations will be examined from the perspective of a money adviser Since 2007, there has been three primary pieces of legislation that have largely dealt with this area of law, not including the […]
UK debt charity Stepchange has called for the Scottish Government to reform and extend the Debt Arrangement Scheme to make it more available to hard pressed Scottish families. Following on from my report into the Debt Arrangement Scheme last week, a Stepchange spokesperson speaking in The Herald said: “Expanding the DAS would give people time to get back on […]
