Debts That Cannot Go Into a Debt Relief Order

A debt relief order (DRO) is a way of dealing with debts you cannot pay. You pay nothing towards the debts for 12 months, and if your situation has not improved by then, the debts included in the DRO are written off¹. Discharge from debts takes place 12 months after the DRO is granted².

Not every debt can go in. Court fines, child maintenance and student loans will not be allowed³, and the same goes for social fund loans such as budgeting loans and crisis loans⁴. You stay liable for these debts, and the DRO does nothing to reduce them.

This page covers which debts are excluded, what happens to them while the DRO runs, and where to get free help with the debts a DRO cannot touch. A DRO is only available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; you cannot get one if you live in Scotland⁵.

Debts a DRO leaves you still owing

A DRO covers most unsecured debts, but a defined list sits outside it. You cannot include magistrates' court fines, maintenance, CSA and CMS payments and arrears, student loans, budgeting loans and crisis loans, criminal confiscation orders, or certain personal injury claim debts⁸. Independent guidance for Northern Ireland puts the same exceptions as student loans, court fines, maintenance arrears, child support arrears and debts built up through fraud⁹.

The rule matters because of what happens next. If you forget about a debt and find out about it after the DRO has been agreed by the official receiver, the debt cannot be added later, the creditor can continue to take action, and if it takes your total debts over £50,000 the official receiver will consider revoking the DRO¹⁰. Getting the list right at the start is therefore the whole game.

Debts incurred through fraud behave differently again. Qualifying debts incurred through fraud have to be included in your DRO and count towards the £50,000 debt threshold, but they are not written off when the DRO ends¹⁰. Official guidance confirms that if any of your debts are a result of fraud, they will not be discharged and you will still have to pay them⁶.

Fines, child maintenance and student loans stay outside a DRO

These three are the ones people ask about most, and the answer is the same for each: they cannot be included, so they are not written off.

Court fines. Magistrates' court fines cannot be included in a DRO⁸. Criminal fines, including debt incurred under the Proceeds of Crime Act, are excluded too⁴. Criminal confiscation orders are on the same list⁸. If you are dealing with a fine, the route is to speak to the court about your circumstances rather than to expect the DRO to clear it.

Child maintenance. Debts to the Child Maintenance Service cannot be included in a DRO⁴, and child maintenance is considered a government debt¹¹. The CMS has strong enforcement powers: you do not need to be in arrears for CMS to enforce a deduction of earnings order¹². That means unpaid maintenance can be taken directly from your pay even where the DRO is running.

Student loans. Student loans cannot be included in a debt relief order, so the debt is not written off at the end of the DRO¹³. This covers all student loans, old and new styles⁴. The same rule appears in National Debtline's guidance¹⁴. Repayment continues on the loan's own terms.

Social fund loans: budgeting loans and crisis loans

Social fund loans cannot be included in a DRO⁴. That covers budgeting loans and crisis loans, which are advances from the Social Fund rather than ordinary commercial credit.

Budgeting loans have their own rules. They are not provided to cover living costs¹⁵, so they are not a substitute for day-to-day income. When the Social Fund decides on a budgeting loan, it cannot take certain things into account: urgency of need, health problems, loans for expenses less than £100, and payment if you already owe £1,500 or more to the Social Fund¹⁶.

In Scotland the equivalent support comes through the Scottish Welfare Fund rather than the Social Fund, and the guidance there is separate¹⁷. If you are in Scotland, a DRO is not available to you in any case⁵, so the question becomes one about sequestration or another Scottish solution.

What happens to excluded debts while you are in a DRO

The DRO protects you from most creditor action on the debts it covers. Creditors included in your DRO cannot take action to recover money you owe, though they can still take action to recover assets in some cases¹⁸. That protection does not extend to the debts left out.

On the debts inside the DRO, creditors can still add interest and charges, but it has no effect on you unless the DRO is cancelled¹⁹. At the end of the 12 months you will, provided your circumstances have not changed, be freed from all debts included in your DRO²⁰. The same wording appears in Northern Ireland guidance²¹, and official statistics confirm discharge takes place 12 months after the DRO is granted².

For excluded debts, none of this applies. You keep paying them, and the creditor keeps its normal enforcement options. Rent arrears show how the split works in practice: even if you include rent arrears in your DRO, your landlord can still take court action to evict you, though they cannot recover rent arrears built up before your DRO¹⁰.

If a DRO is not the right fit

Where a large share of what you owe is excluded, a DRO may clear less than you expect. Other options exist, and they treat some of these debts differently.

An administration order is a court-based option for smaller debts, and sometimes a judge may leave out some debts, like council tax arrears or criminal fines²³. Bankruptcy in England and Wales has its own exclusions: student loans, magistrates' court fines, maintenance payments or maintenance arrears ordered by a court, Child Support Agency or Child Maintenance Service arrears, debts you build up through fraud, and debts you owe as a result of a personal injury claim against you²⁴. Other guidance lists criminal fines among the debts not included in bankruptcy²⁵, and debts taken out by fraud are excluded as well²⁶.

In Scotland, bankruptcy is called sequestration, and specific debts including student loans, fines and debts incurred through fraud cannot be included. These remain your responsibility to pay²⁷. The pattern is consistent across the UK: fines, maintenance, student loans and fraud debts survive every formal solution.

If you are weighing a DRO against bankruptcy, the comparison of a debt relief order and bankruptcy sets out how the two differ. For the wider picture of what each solution does, see debt solutions across the UK.

Free help with debts a DRO cannot cover: National Debtline on 0808 808 4000

National Debtline gives free, impartial debt advice, and as a registered charity it does not charge for it²⁹. It has been helping people in the UK with debt for over 30 years³⁰, and it is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority³⁰. You can reach it on 0808 808 4000⁷, by webchat, or through its My Money Steps tool³⁰. Its advice is free to use, always³⁰.

The service is confidential. National Debtline states that your details will never be shared³⁰, and that it will not share your details with any other organisation unless you ask it to and it agrees³¹. Calling from abroad is not free of charge³¹.

Other free routes exist. Shelter England lists where to get debt advice³³, and the Money Advice Trust runs a service to help people check that an advice service is genuine³². If you are worried about someone else's debts, National Debtline has separate guidance²⁹. For the full list of free services and what happens when you contact one, see free debt advice.