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- Who can you talk to today if the worry feels unbearable?
- Is Breathing Space the same as the debt Breathing Space you have read about?
- Where can you get help with the money and the mental health together?
- How does getting debt advice help with the worry itself?
- Is there a Mental Health Moratorium in Scotland yet?
- Does your mental health count for anything in how a creditor deals with you?
- What should you do if a wage arrestment is causing the stress?
- Related guides
- Frequently asked questions
Free help in Scotland is a phone call away: Samaritans on 116 123 at any hour, Breathing Space on 0800 83 85 87, and NHS 24 on 111 for the mental health option. For the money side alongside it, Change Mental Health’s National Advice and Support Service on 0808 8010 515 covers both, and free debt advice is available from Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange and National Debtline.
Worrying about money is one of the commonest reasons people in Scotland pick up a helpline. There is no shame anywhere in it.
Part of your pay is protected by law
The deduction is set by statutory tables, not the creditor
An arrestment can be stopped or replaced
Debt worry can weigh heavily. Free support in Scotland is a phone call away.
Free & confidential
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Debt does not stay in the envelope. It follows people into work, into conversations at home, and into the small hours.
The two halves of it need different help. Talking to somebody about how you feel is one thing, and getting somebody to look at the actual debt is another.
You are allowed to ask for both. Every number on this page was checked in August 2026, against the organisation’s own website or the Scottish Government’s own signposting page, and if you are dealing with an arrestment as well, how to build a budget when money is taken from your wages is the practical companion to this one.
Who can you talk to today if the worry feels unbearable?
Samaritans on 116 123 is free and answered at any hour of the day or night. Breathing Space on 0800 83 85 87 is Scotland’s own confidential listening service, and NHS 24 on 111 will connect you to the Mental Health Hub if you choose the mental health option.
You do not have to be in crisis to call
None of these services asks you to have a diagnosis. None of them asks you to have your finances in order first.
If someone’s life is in immediate danger, that is a 999 call. Everything else on this page can wait until after that.
The services, side by side
| Service | What it is | How to reach it |
|---|---|---|
| Samaritans | A confidential listening service for anyone struggling to cope, at any hour | Free on 116 123, day or night, 365 days a year |
| Breathing Space | Scotland's free confidential phone and web service for people experiencing low mood, depression or anxiety | Free on 0800 83 85 87, evenings and overnight, and right through the weekend |
| NHS 24 Mental Health Hub | Phone 111 and choose the mental health option to speak to a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner | 111, and it is open to everyone in Scotland of all ages |
| NHS Living Life | Telephone support using talking therapies based on cognitive behavioural therapy, by self-referral | 0800 328 9655, Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm |
| SAMH Information Service | Information and support on mental health for anyone looking for it, for themselves or for somebody else | 0344 800 0550, 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday except Scottish bank holidays. Not a freephone number |
| Change Mental Health, National Advice and Support Service | The one service that covers both sides: benefit checks, grant applications and debt advice, for people affected by mental illness | 0808 8010 515 or advice@changemh.org, Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm, closed 12.30pm to 1.30pm |
| Your GP | An assessment of how you are, and a referral on to local services | Your own practice |
Breathing Space’s own site describes the phone line as an evening and overnight service, opening at 6pm on weekdays and running through from Friday evening to Monday morning. The current hours are on breathingspace.scot.
Samaritans also takes calls through Relay UK for d/Deaf callers, on 18001 44 116 123. Details of the Scottish service are on the Samaritans Scotland page.
Your GP is a reasonable place to start
Money worry affecting your sleep, your appetite or your concentration is a legitimate thing to bring to an appointment. NHS inform sets out what the NHS 24 mental health services offer, including self-referral to Living Life on 0800 328 9655.
Is Breathing Space the same as the debt Breathing Space you have read about?
No, and this catches people out badly. Scotland’s Breathing Space is a free NHS 24 listening service, while the Breathing Space that pauses creditors is a statutory scheme that applies in England and Wales only.
Two things, one name
| Breathing Space in Scotland | Breathing Space in England and Wales | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A free NHS 24 telephone and web listening service | A statutory debt moratorium |
| Where it applies | Scotland | England and Wales |
| What it does | Somebody listens, and can point you towards further help | Pauses most creditor enforcement and interest for a set period |
| Where it comes from | NHS 24, as part of Scotland's mental health services | The Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 |
| What the Scottish equivalent of the debt scheme is | The six-month statutory moratorium under section 198 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016, applied for through the Accountant in Bankruptcy | Not applicable |
Why it matters which one you have found
If you phone 0800 83 85 87 expecting your creditors to stop, they will not stop. Somebody kind will listen to you, which is worth having, but it is not legal protection.
Scotland’s equivalent of the debt scheme is the six-month statutory moratorium, applied for through the Accountant in Bankruptcy and usually arranged by a money adviser. How a statutory moratorium protects you explains what it does.
Debt worry keeping you awake? Apply for free help in under 60 seconds
Where can you get help with the money and the mental health together?
Change Mental Health runs a National Advice and Support Service on 0808 8010 515 that does both. It carries out benefit checks, completes applications with you, applies for grants including fuel vouchers and crisis grants, and offers debt advice and support.
What that service does
It is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 4pm, closed for lunch between 12.30pm and 1.30pm, and you can email advice@changemh.org. Its own page is at changemh.org.
The service says plainly that it is not a crisis line. If you are in crisis it points you to Breathing Space on 0800 83 85 87, NHS 24 on 111 and Samaritans on 116 123.
SAMH, for information rather than casework
SAMH runs an Information Service on 0344 800 0550, open 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday except Scottish bank holidays. It is on samh.org.uk, and 0344 numbers are not freephone, so check what your provider charges.
And for the debt itself
Citizens Advice Scotland’s Money Talk Team is free on 0800 028 1456, 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. StepChange is on 0800 138 1111 and National Debtline on 0808 808 4000, and that list is the Scottish Government’s own, at mygov.scot.
Most Scottish councils also run their own welfare rights or money advice team. What free debt advice is available in Scotland sets out who does what.
How does getting debt advice help with the worry itself?
Because most of the fear is about what might happen next. Once somebody has looked at your actual position, the unknown shrinks to a short list of things that either can or cannot be done to you.
Things people lie awake about that are not true
- You cannot be sent to prison for council tax arrears in Scotland. It is a civil debt and there is no committal power of the kind used in England and Wales, as whether you can go to prison for council tax arrears explains.
- Council tax arrears do not appear on your credit file, because councils do not report to credit reference agencies.
- No law lets an employer dismiss you simply for having a wage arrestment, and only payroll needs to handle the paperwork.
- Sheriff officers cannot force entry to a home for ordinary council tax arrears. Forced entry needs an exceptional attachment order, which is rare and which the sheriff may still refuse.
- Money in the home cannot be attached at all, apart from a narrow exception for antique or collector’s coins.
What an adviser takes off you
An adviser can apply for a statutory moratorium, set up a Debt Payment Programme under the Debt Arrangement Scheme, check whether a debt is still legally enforceable, and deal with the correspondence.
That last one does more for anxiety than people expect. A large part of debt worry is the post, and an adviser can take the post off you.
Is there a Mental Health Moratorium in Scotland yet?
Not yet. Sections 1 to 3 of the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024 require Scottish Ministers to make regulations establishing one, those regulations have not been made, and no commencement date has been announced.
What the Act actually does
Section 1 of the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024 is a duty on Ministers to make regulations rather than the moratorium itself. Its own page records that it is not yet in force.
The mental health moratorium is a duty on Ministers to make regulations, and those regulations do not exist.
A draft was consulted on and the responses were published in July 2025, with no timetable since. Nothing about it is law yet.
The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s position, on its mental health moratorium page, is that commencement will proceed when the regulations are ready to be laid, and that further stakeholder engagement is needed on matters such as the eligibility criteria.
What exists instead, today
The ordinary six-month statutory moratorium is available now and does a good deal of the same work. What the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024 changed sets out what is and is not in force.
A statutory moratorium gives six months of protection and you get one per rolling 12 months. It stops service of a charge for payment, stops new diligence and stops creditor petitions for sequestration.
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.
Does your mental health count for anything in how a creditor deals with you?
It counts, but not yet as a right to stop the diligence. It counts in how a council has to deal with you, it counts against a sheriff officer’s professional code, and it counts as evidence supporting a formal solution.
What counts, and what it does not reach
| What it is | What it gives you | What it does not do |
|---|---|---|
| The Equality Act 2010 | Where a mental health condition amounts to a disability, a council must have due regard to the needs it creates and must make reasonable adjustments in how it deals with you | It is not a right to have the debt reduced or the diligence stopped |
| The sheriff officers' own code | Officers of court must be aware and sensitive to issues of vulnerability, and alert the creditor where they identify one | A professional rule binding on members of their society, not a statutory duty |
| Evidence for a formal solution | Health is relevant to a time to pay order and to a Debt Payment Programme application, and to how an adviser presents your case | It does not create a route that would not otherwise exist |
| The Mental Health Moratorium | Provided for by the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024 | Not in force. The regulations that would switch it on have not been made |
| The Financial Conduct Authority's vulnerability rules | They bind lenders, banks and debt collection firms the FCA regulates | They do not bind a council collecting council tax, or a sheriff officer executing diligence |
The public sector equality duty sits at section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, which extends to Scotland. Whether a particular condition amounts to a disability turns on the statutory test, so that is a question to put to an adviser.
Telling your adviser is worth doing
It is relevant to what they recommend and to how they present your case, and it is confidential. If a sheriff officer’s conduct is the problem, how to complain about a sheriff officer’s conduct sets out the route through the Society of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers.
mygov.scot keeps a page on mental health and money with further resources, though the organisations’ own pages carry the current numbers.
What should you do if a wage arrestment is causing the stress?
Get free money advice quickly, because the routes that stop an earnings arrestment are formal ones. The deduction itself is fixed by Schedule 2 to the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 and worked out on your net pay each period.
What the deduction is, and is not
Monthly net pay of £750.00 or less produces a nil deduction, on tables in force since 6 April 2025. There is no hardship application against an ordinary earnings arrestment, which is exactly why advice matters here.
The answer is a change of route rather than an appeal. Can a wage arrestment be stopped once it has started covers what does work.
The routes that stop one
An approved Debt Payment Programme stops an existing arrestment, and what the Debt Arrangement Scheme is explains how one is approved. Sequestration, Minimal Asset Process bankruptcy and a protected trust deed all stop one by statute.
A time to pay order is competent against a summary warrant debt, and where the sheriff makes one the sheriff must recall any existing earnings arrestment. The debt outstanding must be £25,000 or less excluding interest, and what a time to pay order is covers the application.
If today feels like too much
Make one call rather than a plan. Whichever number you choose from this page, it is free, it is confidential, and it is a reasonable thing to do.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I get free mental health support in Scotland for money worries?
Samaritans on 116 123 and Breathing Space on 0800 83 85 87 are both free and confidential, and NHS 24 on 111 has a mental health option. Change Mental Health’s advice service on 0808 8010 515 covers the money side alongside it.
Is Breathing Space in Scotland the same as the debt Breathing Space?
No. Scotland’s Breathing Space is a free NHS 24 phone and web listening service for low mood, depression and anxiety, while the Breathing Space that pauses creditors is a statutory debt scheme for England and Wales that does not apply here.
What is the Scottish equivalent of a debt breathing space?
The six-month statutory moratorium under section 198 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016. It is applied for through the Accountant in Bankruptcy, usually with a money adviser, and you can normally have one per rolling 12-month period.
Is the Mental Health Moratorium available in Scotland?
Not yet. It is provided for by sections 1 to 3 of the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024, but those sections have never been commenced and the regulations that would establish the scheme have not been made.
Will telling a debt adviser about my mental health count against me?
No. It helps an adviser recommend the right route and present your case, the conversation is confidential, and many creditors have their own processes for customers in vulnerable circumstances.
Do the Financial Conduct Authority's vulnerability rules protect me from the council?
No, and it is a common misunderstanding picked up from guidance written for England. Those rules bind lenders, banks and debt collection firms the Financial Conduct Authority regulates, and a council collecting council tax is not one of them.
Can I go to prison for debt in Scotland?
Not for council tax. It is a civil debt in Scotland, non-payment is not a criminal offence, and there is no committal power of the kind that exists in England and Wales.
What if I cannot face opening my post?
That is common and advisers hear it every week. A money adviser can take over the correspondence for you, and in the meantime sorting letters into priority and non-priority is enough of a first step.
Talk to someone free and in confidence today
Free, confidential advice on where you stand and what can be stopped.
Written as general information about Scottish debt law rather than regulated financial or legal advice, and your own circumstances may change the answer. Free, impartial help is available from Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange, Money Advice Scotland and National Debtline.