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Debt Advice Handbook 16th edition
Chapter 10: Personal insolvency
Debt Advice Handbook 16th edition
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Debt Advice Handbook 16th edition
Chapter 10: Personal insolvency
Back to previous
Chapter 10: Personal insolvency
1. Insolvency options: summary
2. Debt relief orders
Who can apply for a debt relief order
Qualifying debts
Issues with particular types of debt
Qualifying conditions
Issues with particular types of expenditure
Issues with particular types of property
Making the application
After the application is made
Reporting changes in circumstances
The effect of a debt relief order
Payments to creditors
The role of intermediaries
The role of the official receiver
Offences and restrictions
3. Bankruptcy
Who can become bankrupt
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
Disadvantages
If a client wants to make themself bankrupt
The debtor’s bankruptcy application
The adjudication process
If a creditor wants to make a client bankrupt
Serving a statutory demand
Challenging a statutory demand
Responding to a statutory demand
Setting aside a statutory demand
The creditor’s petition
The bankruptcy hearing
If a supervisor wants to make a client bankrupt
After a bankruptcy order is made
The role of the official receiver
Clients at risk of violence
The role of the trustee
Provable debts
Restrictions during bankruptcy
Pre-discharge restrictions
Post-discharge restrictions: bankruptcy restrictions orders and undertakings
How bankruptcy can affect a client
Protected goods
Bank accounts
Utility companies
Motor vehicles
Income payments orders
Income payments agreements
Pensions
Insurance policies
Student loans
Owner-occupied homes
Rented accommodation
Transactions at an undervalue and preferences
Enforcement action by creditors
Discharge
Provable debts
Contingent debts and liabilities
Annulment
4. Individual voluntary arrangements
When an individual voluntary arrangement is appropriate
Straightforward consumer individual voluntary arrangements
The individual voluntary arrangement protocol
Vulnerable clients
Standard terms and conditions
The client’s home
During the individual voluntary arrangement
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
Disadvantages
Applying for an individual voluntary arrangement
The proposal
After the proposal is made
Interim orders
The creditors' decision
After the meeting
Clients at risk of violence
Challenging an individual voluntary arrangement
Completing the individual voluntary arrangement
Complaints against insolvency practitioners and individual voluntary arrangement providers
5. When to use bankruptcy and individual voluntary arrangements
Risk to current assets
Risk to future assets
Effect on future credit
Effect on employment or office
Effect on housing
Effect on reputation and stress
Costs
6. Administration orders
Completing the application form
The proposed order
Composition orders
The court hearing
Reviewing an administration order
Revoking an administration order
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CPAG. "Chapter 10: Personal insolvency." In
Debt Advice Handbook 16th edition.
, 2026. Accessed March 21, 2026.
CPAG,
https://askcpag.org.uk/?id=-268528CITANCHOR.
CPAG. "Chapter 10: Personal insolvency." In
Debt Advice Handbook 16th edition.
, 2026. Accessed March 21, 2026. https://askcpag.org.uk/?id=-268528CITANCHOR.
Contributor(s):
CPAG
Title:
Debt Advice Handbook 16th edition
Site name:
CPAG
Publisher:
Publication date:
February 24, 2026
Date accessed:
March 21, 2026
URL:
https://askcpag.org.uk/?id=-268528CITANCHOR
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