Go to ...
- What is Minimal Asset Process bankruptcy?
- Who does the Debt Arrangement Scheme suit instead?
- Why can most people not choose freely between them?
- Which conditions rule you out of the Minimal Asset Process?
- How long does each one last, and what does it cost?
- What does each do to public records and your credit file?
- What happens if your circumstances change part way through?
- Related guides
- Frequently asked questions
In most cases you do not choose. The Minimal Asset Process is built for someone who can pay nothing towards their debts, and the Debt Arrangement Scheme is built for someone who can repay them from surplus income.
They sit at opposite ends of the same problem. One writes a line under debts you cannot pay, and the other gives you protection while you pay them.
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
Not sure which route fits your income? Get free advice before you commit.
Free & confidential
No obligation
★★★★★Rated 5 stars on Google
No obligation
★★★★★Rated 5 stars on Google
Because the Minimal Asset Process conditions are strict and largely arithmetical, the answer often appears the moment an adviser runs your figures.
It still helps to know what is being tested and why. How the Debt Arrangement Scheme works and how Minimal Asset Process bankruptcy works cover each on its own.
What is Minimal Asset Process bankruptcy?
A short form of sequestration for people with small debts, very few assets and no capacity to contribute. Discharge comes six months after the award, automatically.
The conditions
| What is tested | The limit | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Total debts | No more than £25,000 | Section 2(2)(b) |
| Total assets | No more than £2,000 | Section 2(2)(c) |
| Any single asset | No more than £1,000 | Section 2(2)(d) |
| A vehicle you reasonably require | Left out of the asset calculation altogether where it is worth no more than £3,000 | Section 2(3)(b) |
| Land | You must not own any, whatever it is worth | Section 2(2)(e) |
| A previous Minimal Asset Process | Ten years must have passed since the award | Section 2(2)(g) |
| Any other award of sequestration | Five years must have passed | Section 2(2)(h) |
All of those are in section 2 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016, and whether you are eligible for the Minimal Asset Process goes through each in turn.
The vehicle rule people get backwards
A vehicle you reasonably require and which is worth no more than £3,000 is left out of the asset calculation altogether, under section 2(3)(b).
That is a disregard, not an exemption from a total. A qualifying vehicle does not eat into the £2,000 and it does not breach the £1,000 single asset cap.
The other £3,000 in the same section
Full administration sequestration has a minimum debt of £3,000 under section 2(8)(a). That figure is unrelated to the vehicle disregard, which happens to use the same number.
Two unrelated figures, the same number, one section apart. What the £25,000 debt limit means sets out how the debt ceiling is counted.
It is still bankruptcy
The award goes on the Register of Insolvencies and the consequences of insolvency follow with it. That is the price of the six months.
You are normally discharged six months after the award.
Who does the Debt Arrangement Scheme suit instead?
Someone with regular surplus income who can repay what they owe in a reasonable period. There is no minimum or maximum debt, and a single debt is enough.
What the scheme is
A Debt Payment Programme is not an insolvency solution. You repay the debt in full, and what changes is the pressure rather than the balance.
There is no minimum debt and no maximum. A programme may be approved where it provides for the payment of one or more debts, so a single debt is enough.
What it protects you from
Once approved, section 4 of the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002 makes it incompetent to serve a charge for payment, to commence or execute diligence for the debts in it, or to found on one of them in petitioning for your sequestration.
Approval recalls any arrestment of your income or property, and notice of the recall goes to the employer or to whoever is holding the arrested funds.
Interest, fees, penalties and other charges stop being owed on the debts in an approved programme, under the Debt Arrangement Scheme (Interest, Fees, Penalties and Other Charges) (Scotland) Regulations 2011.
What it costs
Since 4 November 2019 a money adviser may not charge an individual a fee for Debt Arrangement Scheme work, under regulation 12(2) as substituted by SSI 2019/315.
A payments distributor may make no charge of any kind to a debtor either, and do you qualify for the Debt Arrangement Scheme sets out the entry conditions.
Not sure which of these your figures point to? Get free help in under 60 seconds
Why can most people not choose freely between them?
Because the income test pulls in opposite directions. The Minimal Asset Process requires that you can contribute nothing, and a Debt Payment Programme requires something to pay from.
The two routes into the Minimal Asset Process
| What the income test asks | |
|---|---|
| Minimal Asset Process | Either the common financial tool shows you can pay nothing towards your debts, or you have been receiving certain benefits for at least six months and those payments are your only income |
| The Debt Arrangement Scheme | You need a surplus to pay from, because the whole scheme is a schedule of payments out of it |
| Where that leaves you | The two are built for opposite positions, so in most cases your figures decide which one is open to you rather than your preference |
There are two ways in. Either the common financial tool shows you can pay nothing towards your debts, or you have been receiving certain benefits for at least six months.
The condition on the benefits route
The benefits route only works if those payments are your only income. Someone receiving universal credit alongside wages goes through the common financial tool assessment instead.
That opening condition sits in the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Regulations 2016, and pages that give the benefits route as a flat list of six benefits leave it out.
Where the overlap actually is
A small number of people sit near the line, with a surplus so small that either route is arguable. That is precisely the case to take to a money adviser rather than decide from a web page.
The tool used to assess it is the common financial tool, and it is the same assessment the DAS Administrator applies to a programme under the same 2016 Regulations.
Which conditions rule you out of the Minimal Asset Process?
Owning land, assets over the limits, debts over £25,000, and having been through it before. Any one of them closes the route.
The bars on applying again
Ten years must have passed since any previous MAP, and five years since any other award of sequestration.
Both periods run from the previous award and end on the day before the new application. A Minimal Asset Process awarded in the last five years bars both routes into bankruptcy.
A trust deed that was converted into sequestration counts here, because the conversion produced an award. A trust deed that ran its course did not.
Land, and what it means for a homeowner
You must not own land. Section 2(2)(e) rules out a MAP for anyone who does, whatever it is worth.
So a homeowner is choosing between the scheme and full administration, not between the scheme and the short form. The scheme against sequestration for a homeowner deals with that comparison.
The bar people ask about that nobody addresses
The conditions in section 2(2) refer only to an award of sequestration, and a protected trust deed is not one. No published guidance addresses the point either way, so ask your money adviser before relying on it.
One caveat travels with that answer in any event. A trust deed that was converted into sequestration produced an award, and that award engages the five-year bar.
So it is a statutory reading rather than a published answer. Put your full history in front of a money adviser before relying on it.
Where you have to live
The bankruptcy test is habitual residence in Scotland or an established place of business here, at any time in the year immediately before the application, under section 15 of the 2016 Act.
The Debt Arrangement Scheme test is not the same one, and whether you have to live in Scotland to use the scheme sets out what it requires.
How long does each one last, and what does it cost?
The Minimal Asset Process is six months to discharge. A Debt Payment Programme runs until the debt is repaid, and for recent cohorts that is expected to be several years.
Length
Discharge in a Minimal Asset Process is automatic six months after the award. The section provides no power to defer it.
No maximum length applies to a programme for an individual. The five-year limit that appears on some pages belongs to Business DAS.
Cost, and the figure this page will not print
A Debt Arrangement Scheme costs an individual nothing. The money adviser may not charge you and the payments distributor may not charge you.
There is no fee to apply for Minimal Asset Process bankruptcy. The fee that used to apply was removed on 6 February 2023, and the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s own guidance lists no application fee.
The instrument is regulation 4(3)(c) of the Bankruptcy Fees (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2023, in force 6 February 2023. Pages still printing £50 or £90 for a Minimal Asset Process are quoting a repealed figure.
Full administration sequestration carries a £150 application fee, and that is waived for people receiving certain benefits or assessed as having no surplus income.
That is a separate figure on a separate route, and it is not the Minimal Asset Process one. The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s 2025-26 figures record more than nine in ten debtor applicants paying no application fee at all.
What each does to what you own
A programme takes nothing. Nothing vests in anybody, and the only asset mechanism is a discretionary condition with its own list of exceptions.
A Minimal Asset Process is a sequestration, so the asset limits are an entry condition rather than a protection. That is what the £2,000 and £1,000 figures are doing.
What does each do to public records and your credit file?
Different registers, and only one of them is an insolvency. On credit files, less is published about the scheme than any ranking page suggests.
The registers
The DAS Register is free to search and open to anyone, and it is kept by the Accountant in Bankruptcy.
A Minimal Asset Process award goes on the Register of Insolvencies instead. Both are legal registers rather than credit files.
The credit file
No credit reference agency publishes a retention rule for a Debt Arrangement Scheme. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion all publish what they hold and for how long, and none of them lists a Debt Arrangement Scheme at all.
The widely quoted six years is the rule for insolvency entries, and a Debt Arrangement Scheme is not an insolvency. What your creditors report is the state of each account, so ask them and check your own file.
Bankruptcy is insolvency, and the agencies do publish rules for insolvency data. How to rebuild your credit after a programme sets out the statutory tools for correcting a file.
The restrictions that come with bankruptcy
mygov.scot says a bankrupt cannot set up a limited company or be involved in running one, be an MP, be a local council member, or be a Justice of the Peace, and it says expressly that this is not a complete list.
There is also a disclosure duty on borrowing, which National Debtline and the Accountant in Bankruptcy both describe. None of that attaches to a Debt Payment Programme.
The 2016 Act provides for bankruptcy restrictions orders only. Undertakings belonged to the 1985 Act regime and did not survive into the current one.
What survives a discharge
Not everything goes. Section 145(3) of the 2016 Act keeps fines, penalties due to the Crown, compensation orders, liabilities incurred by fraud or breach of trust, and obligations to pay aliment.
What happens if your circumstances change part way through?
The scheme has machinery for it and the Minimal Asset Process does not need any. A programme can be varied, and a Minimal Asset Process is over in six months.
Side by side
| What happens | In a Debt Payment Programme | In a Minimal Asset Process |
|---|---|---|
| Your circumstances improve | Apply to vary the programme. The instalment can go up and the length can come down | Discharge is at six months and section 140 gives no power to defer it |
| Your circumstances get worse | A variation, a payment break of up to six months, or a one-month crisis break approved by your adviser | The contribution in a Minimal Asset Process is fixed at zero, so there is nothing to reduce |
| You stop being able to keep it up | Arrears reaching the two-month measure are a ground on which the programme may be revoked | Not applicable in the same way, because there are no payments |
| You are refused | You ask the DAS Administrator to review, and only then does an appeal to the sheriff lie | A refusal can be reviewed and the review appealed to the sheriff, under section 27(5) to (8) |
How to vary a programme when your income changes sets out the grounds and the two kinds of payment break.
The appeal right most pages say does not exist
A refusal can be reviewed, and the review decision appealed to the sheriff, under section 27(5) to (8) of the 2016 Act.
That right is in section 27 of the 2016 Act, and it is cross-referenced elsewhere in the Act. Pages saying there is no appeal against a refusal are wrong.
The whole comparison in one place
| Debt Payment Programme | Minimal Asset Process | |
|---|---|---|
| Is it insolvency? | No | Yes. It is a form of sequestration |
| Do you repay your debts? | Yes, in full | No. You are discharged from them |
| Debt limits | No minimum and no maximum | No more than £25,000 |
| Asset limits | None. Nothing vests in anyone | £2,000 in total, and no single item over £1,000, with a qualifying vehicle disregarded |
| Length | Until the debt is repaid | Discharge six months after the award |
| Public register | The DAS Register | The Register of Insolvencies |
| An existing wage arrestment | Recalled on approval of the programme | Ceases on the date of sequestration |
| Who advises you | A money adviser, who may not charge an individual a fee | A money adviser, and the application goes to the Accountant in Bankruptcy |
If neither fits, the middle option is a protected trust deed, which choosing between the scheme and a trust deed compares.
What to do next
Take your income, your debts and a list of what you own to a free money adviser. The figures decide most of this, and the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s debtor guide sets out the bankruptcy side, while our Debt Arrangement Scheme page explains how we help.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, a Debt Arrangement Scheme or MAP bankruptcy?
They are built for opposite positions. The Minimal Asset Process requires that you can contribute nothing towards your debts, and a Debt Payment Programme requires a surplus to pay from, so your figures usually decide it.
What are the MAP limits?
Total debts of no more than £25,000, total assets of no more than £2,000, no single asset worth more than £1,000, and no land. Those are in section 2 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016.
Can you keep a car in MAP bankruptcy?
A vehicle you reasonably require and which is worth no more than £3,000 is left out of the asset calculation altogether under section 2(3)(b). It does not count towards the £2,000 or breach the £1,000 cap.
Can you use MAP bankruptcy if you own your home?
No. Section 2(2)(e) rules out the Minimal Asset Process for anyone who owns land, whatever it is worth, so a homeowner is looking at full administration instead.
Does being on benefits qualify you for MAP?
Only where those payments are your only income. The regulations open with that condition, so someone receiving universal credit alongside wages goes through the common financial tool assessment instead.
How long does each one last?
Discharge in a Minimal Asset Process comes six months after the award and is automatic. A Debt Payment Programme runs until the debt is repaid, and no maximum length applies to one for an individual.
How soon can you apply again after a MAP?
Ten years must have passed since any previous Minimal Asset Process, and five years since any other award of sequestration. A trust deed that was converted into sequestration produced an award and engages the five-year bar.
Can you appeal if a MAP application is refused?
Yes. A refusal can be reviewed and the review decision appealed to the sheriff, under section 27(5) to (8) of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016.
Get free, confidential help with your debts 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, National Debtline and Advice Direct Scotland.