The Register of Insolvencies

The Register of Insolvencies is a free, public online register kept by the Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB). It lists people and businesses in Scotland who are bankrupt, have a trust deed or have a moratorium. If you sign a trust deed, your name and address appear on it from the start, and your details are removed 12 months after the trust deed ends.

AiB is the Scottish agency that supervises trust deeds and bankruptcy. It must keep the register by law and make it available for anyone to inspect.

What is the Register of Insolvencies?

It is the official public record of formal insolvency in Scotland. AiB’s guidance says it records bankruptcies (called sequestration in Scotland), protected trust deeds, bankruptcy restrictions orders and corporate insolvencies, and has recorded moratorium applications since April 2015. A moratorium is a 6-month pause on creditors’ enforcement action.

The Debt Arrangement Scheme has a separate register of its own, the DAS Register, which is also free and public.

When does a trust deed go on the register?

Your trust deed is added in stages.

1. The notice. As soon as you deliver your signed trust deed to the trustee, they must send a notice to AiB without delay for registration. This happens before protection, and it is what starts the 5-week period for your creditors to object. See how a trust deed becomes protected.
2. Protection. If the trust deed becomes protected, AiB registers it in the register, and protection starts on that date.
3. Your discharge. If you complete the trust deed, AiB registers the application for your discharge, and the date of registration is the date you are discharged.
4. The trustee’s discharge. At the very end, the trustee sends AiB a statement of how your estate was realised and distributed, and AiB records the trustee’s discharge.

If protection is later removed because of a material error, AiB must remove the entry for the trust deed from the register.

What does the register show?

AiB’s guidance lists the information the register holds for a protected trust deed. In plain terms, it includes:

• your name and address
• your trustee’s name and address
• the date or dates the trust deed was signed
• the date the trust deed was registered
• the date the trustee’s statement of how your estate was realised and distributed was registered
• the date of the trustee’s discharge
• the date of any court order that a creditor is not bound by the trustee’s discharge

Some technical details about where your main interests are based may also be recorded. The list does not include your creditors or how much you owe.

Before you sign, AiB’s guidance says you should be told that a notice will be recorded in the public register and that any member of the public will be able to view it. The law also requires the trustee to warn you that signing a trust deed may become public information.

Who can search it?

Anyone can search the register for free, using a person’s name and details. mygov.scot links to the Register of Insolvencies search.

AiB’s guidance explains who typically uses it:

• creditors and lenders, who should check the registers before lending money, as part of their credit checks, and to find out who to send a claim to
• money advisers, who check whether a client is already, or has been, in a formal debt solution

Some employers restrict employing people who have signed a trust deed, most commonly financial institutions, according to mygov.scot. If this could apply to you, check your contract before you sign. See will a trust deed affect my job?.

How long does your entry stay on the register?

AiB’s information document says your details stay on the register for as long as the trust deed lasts and are removed 12 months after it ends. mygov.scot puts it as 12 months after the date of the trustee’s discharge.

The trustee’s discharge is a separate step from yours. It comes after the trustee has made the final payment to your creditors, when they ask your creditors to agree to their discharge. So ask your trustee when their discharge is expected, as the 12 months run from then. Our guide to getting discharged from a trust deed explains both steps.

Can your details be kept off the register?

The law allows AiB to leave information off the register where it thinks including it would be likely to put anyone at risk of violence, or otherwise put their safety or welfare at risk. AiB’s published guidance explains how it uses this power.

• Your name is always shown. AiB’s view is that only address details can be withheld.
• It is for real and specific risks. Examples AiB gives include someone who witnessed a crime and fears reprisals, and someone who has moved to get away from abuse and is afraid their abuser could find their new address.
• For a trust deed, your address is shown as care of your trustee.
• The request goes through your trustee, who must send it to AiB with supporting evidence before the trust deed is advertised.
• Evidence is needed. A statement from you or an adviser on its own is unlikely to be enough. AiB would normally expect something from a third party, such as a court order, or a letter from the police, a solicitor, a health professional, or a support agency such as Women’s Aid.
• AiB’s decision is not open to review.

How is the register different from your credit file?

The register and your credit file are separate records, kept by different organisations, for different lengths of time.

The two periods are measured from different starting points, so coming off the register does not mean your credit rating has recovered, or the other way round. See how a trust deed affects your credit rating.

Every formal debt solution in Scotland involves a public register entry of some kind: sequestration and the Minimal Asset Process appear on the Register of Insolvencies, and the Debt Arrangement Scheme has the DAS Register. An adviser can explain how each would affect you. Free, impartial advice is available from the services in free debt advice in Scotland.

Official sources

• mygov.scot: Register of Insolvencies
• AiB Notes for Guidance, Annex A: information on the Register of Insolvencies
• AiB guidance: sensitivity obligation and public registers
• Bankruptcy (Scotland) Regulations 2016, regulation 30: information that need not be registered
• AiB protected trust deed information document