You must have less than £5,000 in unsecured debt, and at least one existing court judgment. If the court accepts your application for an administration order, you pay one payment to the court each month. This is an amount you are able to afford after paying for all your essential bills. The court then pays this to your creditors on your behalf.

There is no set up fee for an administration order. The creditors cannot contact you for payment or add any more interest onto the amount you owe.

If you can only afford a small amount towards your debts the court may also let you apply for a ‘composition order’. This sets a date for the administration order to end. The court only considers this when your current payment on the administration order will not clear the debts in a reasonable amount of time.

The creditor writes off any outstanding debt when you reach the end date that the composition order states.

Free debt advice

As the nation’s leading debt help charity, we provide free, impartial debt advice to thousands of people every year. If you would like an instant assessment of your situation and personalised debt advice, visit CCCS Debt Remedy, our online debt counselling service.