Antonio and Andy are joined once more by Luke Oliver of Shelter's Specialist Debt Advice Service, to continue our discussion of the Debt Respite Scheme (a.k.a. breathing space) and the court decisions that have shaped it.

Topics of discussion include: the interaction between breathing space and bankruptcy proceedings, the inclusion of mortgage debts in breathing space, evidence requirements for mental health crisis breathing space and the big question - have the various court judgments for breathing space served to strengthen the scheme, or undermine it?

Corrections corner: About five minutes into the episode, we start discussing the case Yianni v Paliouras, incorrectly referring to it as an unpublished County Court judgment. It's actually a High Court judgment, and since we recorded the episode, a transcript is now available to subscribers of Lexis+. We apologise for the error.

Court cases cited in this episode:

• Bluestone Mortgages Ltd v Stoute [2024] (unpublished, County Court at Canterbury) - summary on Shelter Legal
• Brake & Anor v Guy & Ors [2022] EWHC 2797 (Ch)⁠
• ⁠Carter v Davies [2024] EWHC 1536 (Ch)
• IV Fund Limited SAC v Mountain [2021] EWHC 2870 (Ch)
• ⁠Kaye v Lees (2) [2023] EWHC 152 (KB)⁠
• ⁠Kaye v Lees (3) [2023] EWHC 758 (KB)⁠
• West One Loan v Salih [2022] (unpublished, Central London County Court) - ⁠summary on Shelter Legal
• Yianni v Paliouras [2024] EWHC 1301 (Ch) - summary on Shelter Legal

Other links:

• IMA Virtual Conference 2024
• Debt Respite Scheme regulations⁠
• ⁠Shelter Specialist Debt Advice Service⁠ - sign up for their ebulletin
• Join the IMA

The Debt Respite Scheme, commonly known as 'breathing space,' has been in place for over three years, and has been the subject of numerous court judgments in that time. But what is the overall impact of those cases? Have they served to strengthen the scheme, or undermine it?

Andy and Antonio are joined by Luke Oliver of the Specialist Debt Advice Service at Shelter for the first part of this two-part discussion of breathing space and the court decisions that have shaped it.

Court cases cited in this episode:

• Brake & Anor v Guy & Ors [2022] EWHC 2797 (Ch)
• Carter v Davies [2024] EWHC 1536 (Ch)
• Kaye v Lees (2) [2023] EWHC 152 (KB)
• Kaye v Lees (3) [2023] EWHC 758 (KB)
• West One Loan v Salih [2022] (unpublished, Central London County Court) - summary on Shelter Legal

Other links:

• Debt Respite Scheme regulations

• Shelter Specialist Debt Advice Service - sign up for their ebulletin
• Join the IMA

The UK general election is upon us, slightly earlier than anticipated, which means it's time to have a really good Debt Reckon about what the next government should change about the world of debt and debt advice.

Andy has been speaking to delegates at the IMA Conference, asking them what one change they would make to Make Advice Great Again (don't abbreviate that). In this episode, he and Antonio discuss their answers - from changing funders' targets to fixing Universal Credit - and reflect on what the priorities for the next government should be.

Become a member of the IMA: https://www.i-m-a.org.uk/membership/become-a-member/