Breathing space is not a debt solution — it is a legally protected pause, and it is deliberately temporary. Under the Debt Respite Scheme in England and Wales, most interest, fees and enforcement action on qualifying debts stop for a set period while you receive debt advice. Nothing is written off, nothing is decided, and the debts do not go away. What you get is room to make a considered decision instead of a forced one.
You cannot apply for it yourself. Breathing space is started by an FCA-regulated debt adviser, which is one of the practical reasons the first step in any debt problem is booking free advice rather than researching solutions.
The two types
Standard breathing space is available to anyone who receives debt advice and meets the eligibility conditions. It runs for a defined period, with a midway review to confirm you are still engaging with the advice process.
Mental health crisis breathing space is available to someone receiving mental health crisis treatment. It is started on the evidence of an approved mental health professional, it lasts as long as the crisis treatment does plus a further period afterwards, and it does not carry the same restriction on how often it can be used. A nominated person — a carer, an approved mental health professional, or someone else acting for the individual — can request it on their behalf, which matters when the person concerned is not in a position to make the call themselves.
What it stops
- Interest, fees and charges on the included debts
- Enforcement action by included creditors, including most bailiff and enforcement agent activity
- Contact from included creditors chasing payment
- Certain legal proceedings being started or continued in relation to included debts
For most people the second and third of those are what changes the week: the letters stop, the calls stop, and the space to think returns.
What it does not stop
This is where expectations most often break down.
- Ongoing liabilities. Current rent, mortgage, council tax, energy and other bills falling due during the period still have to be paid. The protection covers the arrears, not your ongoing obligations.
- Debts you must keep paying. Where a debt is ongoing rather than historic, you are expected to keep up with it during the period.
- Every type of debt. Some liabilities sit outside the scheme entirely — an adviser will identify which of yours qualify.
- Advice not being taken. The protection exists so that advice can happen. Disengaging from the process can end it early.
It also does not improve your position by itself. At the end of the period the debts are exactly where they were, minus the interest and charges that were paused. What should have changed is that a decision has been made.
What happens during the period
The adviser notifies the creditors, and the protection begins. Meanwhile the real work happens: a full picture of what is owed, a budget in the standard format creditors recognise, and an assessment of which routes your circumstances allow. Our guides to the first seven days of acting on a debt problem and to the documents to gather cover the groundwork that makes the period productive rather than merely quiet.
Standard breathing space includes a midway review to confirm you are still engaging. It is not a test to be feared — it exists to ensure the pause is being used for the purpose it was granted.
What happens at the end
The protection lifts. Creditors may resume contact and, where interest and charges were paused rather than waived, may apply them again from that point.
By then the intended outcome is that a route has been chosen — an informal arrangement, a statutory solution, or better arrangements directly with creditors. Our comparison of debt solutions in England and Wales sets out what those routes involve.
Scotland and Northern Ireland are different
The Debt Respite Scheme is an England and Wales scheme. Scotland’s equivalent is a statutory moratorium on diligence, which provides protection from Scottish enforcement while advice is taken — covered in our guide to debt solutions in Scotland. Northern Ireland operates under its own framework, and protections work differently again — see debt solutions in Northern Ireland.
This is a case where reading the wrong nation’s guidance leads directly to asking for something that does not exist where you live.
Breathing space compared with a debt solution
| Breathing space | A debt solution | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Time to take advice | Deals with the debt |
| Duration | A defined, short period | Months or years, or permanent |
| Debt reduced | No | Depends on the route |
| How it starts | Through a debt adviser | Through an adviser or insolvency practitioner |
| Credit file | Recorded, but it is not an insolvency event | Depends on the route |
Does it affect your credit file?
Breathing space is not an insolvency solution and it is not a debt solution, but it is recorded and creditors are notified, so it is visible. What lenders see and how they weigh it varies between them. The more significant entries on a file are usually the defaults and arrears that preceded it — see how to check all three credit reports free.
Who tends to benefit most
Breathing space is most valuable where creditor pressure is actively preventing a good decision. Someone facing enforcement action, or fielding daily calls from several creditors, is rarely in a position to weigh a five-year commitment carefully. Removing that pressure for a defined period is the whole point.
It is less useful where there is no pressure to remove. If creditors are not chasing and interest is not the main problem, the pause changes little and the time is better spent going straight to a decision about the route.
It is also worth knowing that a pause does not count against you. Using it is not evidence of mismanagement, and it is not a step towards insolvency — plenty of cases end with better arrangements directly with creditors rather than with any formal solution at all.
Common questions
Can I apply for breathing space myself?
No. It has to be started by an FCA-regulated debt adviser. Free advisers — StepChange, National Debtline on 0808 808 4000, Citizens Advice — can do this, and the MoneyHelper debt advice locator will find one.
How often can I use it?
Standard breathing space is limited in how frequently it can be used. Mental health crisis breathing space is not restricted in the same way, and can be used more than once where crisis treatment is being received.
Will bailiffs stop if they are already involved?
Most enforcement action on included debts is stopped during the period. If enforcement agents are already at the door, say so immediately when you contact an adviser — it changes the urgency and the order in which things are handled.
Does it cover my partner’s debts?
It covers the debts of the person it is granted to, including debts held jointly with someone else so far as that person’s liability is concerned. A partner with debts in their own name would need their own.
What if a creditor keeps contacting me?
Tell your adviser. Contact from an included creditor during the period is a breach of the scheme’s rules, and it is dealt with through the adviser rather than by you arguing with the creditor.
Next step
Book free regulated advice and ask specifically whether breathing space applies to your situation. It is most useful where enforcement or creditor pressure is making a considered decision impossible — which is exactly when people are least likely to think of asking for it. The compare debt options page sets out what the pause is meant to lead to.
Scheme eligibility, durations and the debts covered are set in regulations and can change. Nothing on this page is regulated debt advice, and no outcome described here is guaranteed. Confirm the current position with an FCA-regulated debt adviser.