Financial services is not on it. Nor, as a matter of statute, is accountancy, nursing, teaching or care work, whatever you may have read.

Two provisions are genuinely unresolved and this page says so rather than guessing. How sequestration works covers the process around all of it.

Not in general. The Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 contains no employment bar, and the restrictions people meet come from other statutes and from private rules.

What the official guidance says

mygov.scot says going bankrupt may affect doing and applying for some jobs, gives an accountant and a solicitor as examples, and lists company director, Justice of the Peace, MP and insolvency practitioner among the rules you must follow by law.

It then adds, in terms, that this is not a complete list and that you should ask your trustee for full details. Any page presenting it as complete has gone further than its own source.

Three different kinds of restriction get merged

A statutory disqualification, a professional body’s rules and an employer’s contract are three separate things. National Debtline is one of the few sources that keeps them apart.

Only the first is a matter of law in its own right. The other two are documents you can obtain and read before you decide anything.

Five, and this is the whole sourced list. We have not added to it, because a constructed list is worse than a short accurate one.

The five, with their provisions and their end dates

The solicitor’s position is stronger than the guidance suggests

Section 18(1)(c) of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 makes the practising certificate cease to have effect on sequestration, and section 18(2) requires immediate intimation to the Council in writing.

It is not a may affect. Section 19(4) revives the certificate on discharge, and section 19(6) allows an earlier application to the Council to end the suspension, with an appeal to the Court.

The charity trustee rule names the Act by section

Section 69(2)(b)(i) disqualifies an undischarged bankrupt, and section 70(3) defines that by reference to sections 137, 138 and 140 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016.

A charity trustee is disqualified under section 69(2)(b)(i) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, and acting while disqualified is an offence, though the regulator may waive it.

Acting as a company director, or taking part in promoting, forming or managing one, is a criminal offence for an undischarged bankrupt without the leave of the court, under section 11 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.

It reaches further than the job title

Section 11(1) catches acting as a director and taking part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

So somebody running a company without ever being appointed is caught. Section 11(4) extends company to one incorporated outside Great Britain with an established place of business here.

Leave of the court is a real route

It is a prohibition without permission rather than an absolute bar. Section 11(2A) names the court that gives leave in Scotland.

Commercial pages routinely state this as absolute. If you run a limited company, take advice on this specific point before an application goes anywhere near the Accountant in Bankruptcy.

A restrictions order triggers it too

Section 11(2)(b) applies the prohibition to a person subject to a bankruptcy restrictions order under the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016, so it can outlast your discharge. Whether discharge ends everything at twelve months covers what else does.

Financial services work is not closed off. The Financial Conduct Authority’s fitness test treats bankruptcy as a matter to weigh rather than a disqualification.

What the Handbook says, and what it does not

FIT 2.3 lists having had assets sequestrated among the factors to have regard to in assessing financial soundness. It is guidance rather than a rule.

The Handbook says in terms that the fact a person may be of limited financial means will not, in itself, affect their suitability to perform a controlled function.

Which roles are and are not affected

We have not established the position on an SIA licence. Ask the Security Industry Authority directly before you apply, rather than relying on a general article.

An employer’s own policy is a different question again

A firm may have requirements the rulebook does not impose, and its compliance team can tell you what they are. Whether you have to tell a new employer covers where a duty to disclose comes from.

Members of Parliament and local councillors. Both provisions are written around a sequestration awarded by a court, and not every Scottish sequestration is.

The wording, and why it matters

Section 427(1) of the Insolvency Act 1986 opens where a court in Scotland awards sequestration, and section 31(1)(b) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 covers a person whose estate has been sequestrated by a court in Scotland.

A sequestration on a creditor petition is awarded by the sheriff. A sequestration on a debtor application, whether full administration or a Minimal Asset Process, is awarded by the Accountant in Bankruptcy.

So the route in may decide it

Nothing published resolves this and we have not resolved it either. If you hold or want either office, take advice on your own facts rather than relying on any page.

The restrictions order limb is clean

Section 31(1)(ba) disqualifies a person subject to a bankruptcy restrictions order, with no reference to a court at all.

mygov.scot’s rules page lists MP, local council member and Justice of the Peace among the roles a bankrupt cannot hold, and it is describing those provisions.

Yes, and it is a separate thing from the sequestration. Most sequestrations do not involve one.

How one is made

The Accountant in Bankruptcy may make an order itself, or apply to the sheriff for one. Where it proposes to make the order itself, it must notify you and take account of your representations first, and the grounds are in section 156.

The grounds include carrying on any gambling, speculation or extravagance that may have materially contributed to the sequestration.

Where you have been sequestrated before, section 156(3) requires the decision maker to consider whether you remained undischarged from that sequestration at any time during the five years ending with the date of this one.

What an order carries

The company director prohibition applies to a person subject to one, so that restriction can run long after your discharge.

The credit restrictions are not automatic. Section 157(1) lets the decision maker specify that they apply, which means some orders carry them and some do not.

Scotland has orders only

There is no such thing as a bankruptcy restrictions undertaking in Scotland. The 2016 Act provides for orders and interim orders only, and undertakings belong to the law of England and Wales.

One page in this market links a Scottish article’s restrictions reference straight to guidance for England and Wales on orders and undertakings. Which jobs a trust deed can affect deals with the equivalent question on that route.

Three clocks run and they are easy to confuse. Your discharge, your trustee’s discharge and any restrictions order all end at different times.

The clocks, side by side

Duration for an order is set by section 159, and an order comes into force when it is made.

The discharge provisions in sections 137, 138 and 140 have all been in force since 30 November 2016 and the periods in them are unchanged. So the clocks above are the current ones.

The register outlasts your discharge as well

An employer who searches the register can still find the entry after you are discharged, and no statutory period sets when it comes off. Whether your sequestration is public sets out what each source says about that.

The credit file is a separate record again. How sequestration affects your credit file covers it.

What to do if you think your job is affected

• Read the employment contract, the staff handbook and any code of conduct they refer to.
• Check your professional body’s published rules on financial difficulty, or ring its helpline in confidence.
• If you are a director, get that point advised on before applying.
• If you hold public office, get advice on the court wording rather than assuming either answer.
• Ask a free money adviser to compare sequestration with the alternatives for your circumstances.

Money advice from an approved adviser is a statutory requirement before a debtor application in any event. How to apply for sequestration sets out the order it happens in, and a trust deed against sequestration compares the two.