The following changes have been made to the Scottish insolvency legislation which came into effect on 25 June 2025.
Section 12 of the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024
This inserts sections 147A - 147B into the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016. The sections provide that where a debtor fails to co-operate, and the criteria below has been met, a trustee may apply to the Accountant in Bankruptcy ('AiB') to resign from office. The AiB will then be deemed to be trustee. However, authority to resign does not constitute discharge from office and a separate application is required for discharge.
Required criteria for application:
- the debtor is not discharged
- a period of at least five years since the date of sequestration has elapsed
- the trustee has not been able to carry out their statutory functions due to the non-cooperation of the debtor
- the trustee has made reasonable efforts to secure that cooperation
More information is available in Dear Trustee issued by the AiB.
The Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024 (Consequential Amendments and Forms) Regulations 2025
These regulations make consequential changes to other legislation to support the commencement of sections 4 and 12 of the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024 ('2024 Act').
They also provide forms to support the trustee seeking their resignation from office due to a non-cooperative debtor and for the AiB to be appointed as trustee.
Further information is available here.
The Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024 (Commencement No. 2, Transitional and Savings Provisions) Regulations 2025
These regulations commence sections 4, 5, 11 and 12 of the 2024 Act.
These consequential regulations affect the notification process where the AiB is trustee and acts of its own accord in proposing the recall of a sequestration. It aligns the notification process with the equivalent recall made by another party to the AiB. They also added a transitional provision to determine the amount of interest payable on debts in relation to a recall of a sequestration, where the sequestration was awarded before 25 June 2025 but had not been recalled.
More information is available on the AiB website.
