Trust deeds are counted in those statistics. In 2025-26 protected trust deeds fell by 5.6 per cent to 4,644, and our trust deed page sets out what one involves.

If money is already being taken from your wages, that difference is the whole story. A plan will not stop it, and a trust deed will, once it is protected.

No. A plan is informal and non-statutory, while a trust deed is formal insolvency, and granting one is itself an act of apparent insolvency under the 2016 Act.

An informal plan has no power to compel anyone

There is no statute behind it, so a creditor who does not want to take part does not have to. National Debtline puts it plainly for Scotland: a plan cannot force creditors to accept offers, and creditors may still take court action.

That cuts both ways. You are not tied in either, and you can cancel at any time.

A trust deed binds everyone once it is protected

It becomes protected under section 163 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 when the statutory conditions are met and the Accountant in Bankruptcy registers it.

Nothing has to be agreed. Section 170(2) deems creditors to have acceded unless the trustee receives written objection, within the relevant period, from a majority in number or no fewer than one third in value of them.

Under section 172(1)(a) a creditor who was not notified, or who objected in time, has no higher right to recover than one who acceded. What a protected trust deed is sets out the rest.

A plan gives none in law. An earnings arrestment, a bank arrestment or a charge for payment can all proceed while a plan is running.

Enforcement, item by item

Section 173 ends an earnings arrestment on the date of protection, automatically and with no application to any court.

The trigger is protection, not signature. Whether a trust deed stops a wage arrestment sets out the weeks in between, and a statutory moratorium is normally run alongside to cover them.

The one thing a moratorium does not reach

A statutory moratorium is the exception. It does not stop an earnings arrestment that was already running: section 197(5)(d) of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 lets a creditor carry on executing an earnings arrestment, a current maintenance arrestment or a conjoined arrestment order that came into effect before the moratorium began.

So a deduction already running keeps running until protection. That is worth asking about before you sign anything.

Two different regimes. A plan provider is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority for debt adjusting and debt counselling, and a trust deed trustee is authorised by a recognised professional body to act as an insolvency practitioner.

The two regimes side by side

Debt counselling and debt adjusting are specified activities under article 39E and article 39D of the 2001 Order, so any firm running a plan by way of business needs authorisation.

What a fee-charging plan can take

The relevant restraint is CONC 8.7. A firm is likely to be undermining your ability to make significant repayments if it allocates more than half of what it receives in any one-month period to its own fees.

Free providers are funded by the credit industry rather than by you, and where a firm holding your money fails the Financial Services Compensation Scheme covers a client-money shortfall. Whether to use a free debt charity or a paid adviser covers that choice.

The trust deed side

Section 183(1) is an exhaustive list, and the word it turns on is only. A trustee may be remunerated only by a fixed fee, a percentage of the estate realised, and outlays.

Because fees are paid from the same pot as dividends, a small contribution over the minimum term can leave little for creditors. How much a trust deed costs goes through it, and whether trust deed providers are regulated covers who is accountable.

A plan payment is whatever you and your creditors settle on, and it can be changed or stopped by agreement. A trust deed contribution is set by statute and takes the whole of your surplus income.

The trust deed figure

Section 168(5) of the 2016 Act sends your whole surplus income, meaning total income less allowed expenditure, to creditors during the payment period. Expenditure is assessed through the common financial tool.

Contributions cannot be drawn from universal credit, Social Security Scotland benefits or tax credits, although those are taken into account in assessing other income.

Interest is the difference nobody leads on

National Debtline is unambiguous for Scotland: creditors do not have to freeze interest under a plan. CONC 7.3 imposes forbearance duties on lenders rather than a mandatory freeze, and requires interest to be reduced, waived or cancelled only where an arrangement is agreed and you are keeping to it.

In a trust deed, interest is not claimable beyond the date of granting, because claims are valued as at that date. That is a rule about the claim rather than a promise about the account.

An old debt is worth checking first

Making payments under a plan is a payment on the debt, so it keeps the debt live for the five-year prescription rule. National Debtline sets that out, and it is a reason to have an old debt checked before you offer anything on it.

A plan runs until the debts are cleared or until you stop it. A trust deed has a payment period of 48 months from the date of granting and ends with a discharge that has to be applied for.

Ending, and what is left

Flexibility and fragility are the same feature seen from different sides. You can cancel a plan, and so can a creditor.

Discharge in a trust deed is conditional

The trustee applies with a statement that you met your obligations and co-operated, and the date of registration is your date of discharge. Since 1 July 2024 the trustee can also apply for agreement to refuse a discharge, which how long a trust deed lasts explains.

No percentage can honestly be promised at the outset. What is written off is whatever is left unpaid when you are discharged, which depends on what you can afford over the term and what your estate realises.

A trust deed goes on the Register of Insolvencies, which anyone can search. There is no statutory register of informal debt management plans in Scotland.

The register

The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s trust deed information document says the entry appears for the deed’s duration plus 12 months after completion, which is its own statement rather than a statutory period. Whether your trust deed appears on the register covers what is held.

The credit file

mygov.scot, the Accountant in Bankruptcy and National Debtline all give six years for a trust deed. Only mygov.scot says when the six years start, dating them from when the deed begins, and how long a trust deed stays on your credit file sets out what is recorded.

For a plan there is no register entry and no separate marker for the plan itself. What shows is how each creditor reports each account, so ask them directly.

A plan can suit a short-term problem where no enforcement is under way and creditors are co-operative. It is a poor answer to active diligence, or to debt you cannot repay.

Where a plan may be enough

• The shortfall is temporary and you expect your income to recover.
• No creditor has taken enforcement action and none is threatened.
• The debts are small enough that repaying them in full is realistic.
• You want to keep your name off a public insolvency register.

Where a statutory solution usually wins

• Wages or a bank account are already being arrested.
• A creditor refuses to freeze interest and the balance is not falling.
• You owe at least £5,000 and the arithmetic never reaches zero.

The missing middle option

The Debt Arrangement Scheme is statutory, freezes interest and charges by law, protects you from diligence, and is not insolvency. It is the option most plan-versus-trust-deed comparisons leave out.

How the Debt Arrangement Scheme works sets it out, the scheme against a debt management plan compares the two directly, and a trust deed against the scheme does the same for the insolvency route.