The Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) in Scotland

The Debt Arrangement Scheme, usually called DAS, is the Scottish Government's statutory scheme for people who can afford to repay their debts, but not at the rate their creditors are demanding. It works through a debt payment programme, often shortened to DPP: all of your debts are brought together and you make one regular payment, monthly or weekly, based on what you can afford after your essential living costs¹. The payment goes to an approved payments distributor, who divides the money between your creditors for you².

What makes DAS different from an informal repayment arrangement is that the protection is in law, not goodwill. Interest, fees and charges on your debts are frozen from the date you apply, and once your details are on the DAS Register your creditors cannot take enforcement action against you or make you bankrupt⁴. You keep your assets: your home, your car and your savings are not at risk⁶. The scheme is run by the Scottish Government and only applies in Scotland⁷.

How the Debt Arrangement Scheme works: one payment through a debt payment programme

A debt payment programme is an agreement under DAS that lets someone in debt pay off what they owe over an extended period¹⁴. Instead of juggling separate demands from each creditor, you make one affordable payment, and the approved payments distributor passes the money on to your creditors in the shares the programme sets out¹. The Scottish Government's own guidance describes the scheme as allowing you to repay your debts over an extended period, without the threat of creditor legal action⁷.

The programme is legally binding on your creditors, not just a request they can ignore. That is the key difference from a debt management plan, which is an informal arrangement where creditors can back out. A DPP is a legally binding agreement to repay debts at a reduced rate, it protects you against enforcement action, and it forces creditors to stop interest and charges for the duration of the programme¹⁵.

DAS is a Scottish Government scheme that gives you time to pay off your debts and protection from most creditor action⁵. Since the scheme was introduced, just over 63,900 debt payment programmes have been approved, and the total debt included in live programmes stood at £447.0 million by 31 March 2026, up from £395.0 million the year before¹³.

Interest, charges and creditor action stop from the date you apply

The freeze on interest, fees and charges begins from the date you apply for your debt payment programme, not from the date it is approved⁴. While the programme is in place, all interest, fees and charges on your debts are frozen⁹. If your application is successful and you keep up the payments, the interest and charges that built up are stopped from the date of application¹².

Crucially, the frozen amounts do not come back if you finish the programme. Creditors stop adding interest and charges to the debts included in your programme, and when you complete it, those frozen amounts are written off⁹. As long as you fully complete the programme and pay off your debts, the frozen interest, fees and charges will be written off⁹.

Enforcement protection follows a similar pattern. Once your details are placed on the DAS Register, diligence, the Scottish term for enforcement action to recover a debt, is stopped, and creditors cannot start a bankruptcy petition against you⁵. A debt payment programme will cancel most forms of diligence, such as arrestment of your bank account or an earnings arrestment¹⁰. While your application is being prepared, an intimation placed on the register protects you against creditor action for six weeks, giving your adviser time to put the application together¹⁰.

Who can use DAS in Scotland

DAS applies in Scotland only: the regulations provide for a scheme for the repayment of debts in Scotland¹⁷. Within Scotland, the basic conditions are that you have one or more debts, you live in Scotland, you have a reasonable amount of money left over after essential expenditure or an asset you could pay in, and you have had advice and assistance from an approved money adviser⁸.

You cannot use DAS if you have no reasonable amount of money or asset available to pay into a programme, if you are in a protected trust deed, if you are bankrupt, if you are subject to a bankruptcy restrictions order or undertaking, or if you are paying debts under a conjoined arrestment order⁸. If insolvency looks like the better route, the comparison of sequestration or the Debt Arrangement Scheme sets out how they differ.

Couples can apply together. You will be treated as a couple if you are spouses or civil partners of each other, or living together as if spouses of each other⁹. The official eligibility rules require each client to be liable for a debt which could be paid under the programme and to meet the individual application requirements¹⁸. Since 4 November 2019, joint programmes have been extended to cohabitees, including people living together as if they were spouses or civil partners¹⁹.

Self-employed people are handled differently from other businesses. A self-employed sole trader applies to DAS as an individual, not to the Business Debt Arrangement Scheme as a business²⁰. The scheme is also open to legal persons and other entities, where it is known as Business DAS¹⁷.

Which debts can and cannot be included

All debts can be included: priority debts such as council tax arrears as well as non-priority debts like credit cards²¹. That breadth is unusual. Most repayment solutions, including debt management plans, are built around non-priority debts, whereas a DPP can bring priority arrears into the same single payment.

There are some practical exclusions and choices to be aware of:

• Secured debts, such as mortgages, secured loans and hire purchase on vehicles, are treated differently⁶.
• You can exclude rent arrears, mortgage arrears and secured loan arrears from the programme if that is what you want to do²⁰.
• For regular bills, only the arrears go into the programme, not the ongoing charge¹⁵.
• If you have hire purchase or conditional sale arrears, only the arrears are included within your debt payment programme⁹.

Your money adviser will work through your full list of debts when preparing the application, and the application itself must specify, for each debt, the amount outstanding, the creditor and how long the debt has been due²². If you are unsure which of your bills count as priority, the guide to priority and non-priority debts explains the difference.

Fees: paid by your creditors, not by you

The debt payment programme is normally free to the person in it⁹. There are standardised fees for running a DAS, but these are paid by the creditors and form part of your monthly repayment, so you do not pay them on top⁹. All DPP fees are paid for by your creditors⁶.

In practice, when you enter a DPP the costs are covered by the people you owe, within the payments you are already making: you do not make any extra payments¹⁶. Fees are included in your plan and paid for by your creditors¹¹.

How to apply through an approved money adviser

You cannot apply directly. You need to find an approved money adviser to act for you¹². This is a legal requirement, not an administrative preference: a debtor is not entitled to apply for approval or variation of a debt payment programme unless they have obtained the advice of a money adviser in relation to their financial circumstances, the effect of the proposed programme and the preparation of the application²². The application itself must be made by the money adviser on behalf of the debtor²³.

An approved money adviser must meet the criteria set out in Regulation 8 of the Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2011, as amended²⁴. The Scottish Government maintains information on approved money advisers, and guidance and forms are available through the Accountant in Bankruptcy, the body that administers the scheme²⁵. Free advice from an approved money adviser is available through national debt charities and through the Scottish Government's cost of living advice provision²⁷.

Once the application is in, your creditors are asked to agree to it. If a creditor does not respond to the request within 21 days, the DAS Administrator treats them as if they have agreed⁸. For a debtor who is an individual, creditors representing not less than nine tenths in value of the debts must consent for the programme to be approved automatically by the DAS Administrator¹⁷. If your programme is approved, it is effective from midnight on the day before the date the DAS Administrator confirms this on the DAS Register⁹.

How long a debt payment programme lasts and how it ends early

Programmes can run for any reasonable length of time, but usually within 10 years for individuals, couples and sole traders²¹. In practice they are shorter: official statistics show a DPP approved in the last three financial years is expected to last between 5.1 and 6.1 years¹³, and the Accountant in Bankruptcy describes the average duration of a DPP as around six years²⁹. A programme may last up to 20 years, but it is rare for DPPs to last that long⁶.

A programme ends in one of a small number of ways⁸:

• You have made all the agreed payments and the debts have been cleared.
• You clear the debts with a lump sum payment.
• All your creditors agree in writing to complete it early.
• All your creditors agree to an offer of composition.

There is also a statutory route to ending a programme early. If you have made payments for 12 years and have paid 70% of your debts, you may be able to end the debt payment programme early⁸. One guidance source adds that the 12 years does not include any payment breaks²¹. Once the programme is completed, you cannot be held liable for any further payments towards the debts included in it, or for any further penalties, interest or charges⁹.

Payment breaks and changing your payments

Circumstances change, and the scheme recognises this. A debtor who is an individual may request a short term financial crisis payment break in the circumstances set out in the regulations¹⁷. There is also a longer type of payment break that can last up to six months¹¹. Since 2019, the circumstances in which a payment break can be granted have been extended to cover cohabitees separating in joint programmes¹⁷.

Payments themselves can be varied. When you are on a DPP, you can apply for your payment to be varied at any time, to pay more or less depending on what has changed¹⁶. Changes can be made to suit your situation, but your creditors and the Accountant in Bankruptcy must agree to any changes put forward⁶. The regulations also provide for deemed creditor consent to variation applications and automatic approval of variations where all creditors have consented or where the period of the programme will be reduced¹⁷.

One time limit is worth knowing: a creditor application to vary a programme because of an omitted or wrongly assessed debt, made more than 120 days after approval, must be accompanied by a statement of reasons¹⁷.

Missed payments and revocation: when the protection is lost

The protection DAS gives you depends on keeping up the agreed payments. If you miss payments, or make part payments, so that your arrears add up to the value of two months' payments and another payment is due, this triggers the revocation process⁹. The legislation puts it in similar terms: revocation can follow where a payment becomes due and there remains unpaid a sum of not less than the aggregate of two payments³⁰.

Before a programme is revoked, the DAS Administrator will contact you and the other parties to tell you they intend to revoke it, and you get at least four weeks to respond⁹. If you do not respond and the programme is revoked, your creditors cannot take action against you for 14 days from the date of the decision to revoke⁸. After that short window, creditors can apply interest and charges again and take court enforcement action¹⁶.

Revocation can also happen for other reasons: if you make yourself bankrupt, obtain a protected trust deed, breach a condition of the programme, were untruthful in the application, if a creditor petitions for your bankruptcy, if a joint programme ends because the couple separate, or on death⁸. Where a joint programme is revoked on the grounds of separation, creditors must continue to freeze all interest and charges for six weeks afterwards⁸.

The DAS Register, credit files and complaints

Your DAS will be recorded on the DAS Register¹¹. The register is an online public register which holds information about those intending to apply for, or applying for, a debt payment programme in DAS²⁶. It records a wide range of statuses: moratorium applications granted, applications awaiting approval, withdrawn applications, consent requests sent, approved programmes, approval or rejection notices, variation applications and variations, corrections of accidental error, compositions not agreed by all creditors, review applications and outcomes, and sheriff appeals and their outcomes³¹. The legislation establishing it describes a public register of debt payment programmes, maintained by the DAS Administrator²³.

The DAS Administrator is responsible for approving debt payment programmes, approving money advisers, approving payments distributors and maintaining the register⁸. Complaints about the DAS Administrator are handled under the Accountant in Bankruptcy's complaints procedure⁹.

Complaints about credit records are a live issue for people in debt solutions. The Financial Ombudsman Service's annual complaints data for 2025/26 records 934 complaints opened about credit records³². If a creditor records your account incorrectly while you are in a programme, or chases a debt included in it, you can complain first to the creditor and then to the ombudsman. The guide to how lenders must treat you when you fall behind covers the rules they must follow.

Where to get free help

Advice before you apply is not just sensible, it is a legal requirement, and it does not have to cost anything. The Scottish Government's guidance is that you need to get advice from an approved money adviser first before you can apply²⁷. National debt charities provide DAS advice in Scotland, set up and manage debt payment programmes free of charge, and their DAS services are run with the Scottish Government³. Free advice is also available through the Scottish Government's cost of living support, which covers debt and money²⁷.

If you are not sure whether DAS is the right route, a money adviser will look at your whole situation and compare it with the other options available in Scotland: an informal agreement, DAS, a protected trust deed or sequestration⁷. The overview of debt solutions across the UK shows how the Scottish options compare with those elsewhere, and the guide to free debt advice lists where to get it.