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Breathing Space: what creditors can and cannot do

Breathing Space puts legal limits on your creditors. Knowing exactly where those limits sit helps you spot a breach — and understand the contact that is still allowed.

Applies to: England & Wales

Written by The My Debt Cleared editorial teamLast reviewed 18 October 2026Next review 18 April 2027Jurisdiction England & WalesEditorial policy
During Breathing Space, creditors must not add interest, fees or charges to covered debts, must pause enforcement — including bailiffs, new court enforcement and bankruptcy petitions — and must not contact you asking for payment. They can still accept payments you choose to make, contact you about other matters, reply to a complaint, and challenge the Breathing Space through your adviser or the court.

What to do now

  1. Keep every letter and note every call in the creditor contact log.
  2. If a creditor asks you for payment, tell your debt adviser straight away.
  3. Keep paying ongoing bills so the Breathing Space is not cancelled.

What creditors cannot do

  • Charge interest, fees, penalties or other charges on covered debts. If their systems cannot freeze them, you cannot be asked to pay them.
  • Contact you to ask for payment, or pass that job to a collection agency.
  • Take enforcement or recovery action themselves or through agents — including enforcement agents (bailiffs), warrants, repossession and liability order enforcement.
  • Enforce a court judgment or order without the court’s permission, or carry on with a bankruptcy petition.
  • Disconnect gas or electricity, unless the supply was taken illegally, or install or switch you to a prepayment meter without your consent.
  • Add interest or charges for the Breathing Space period afterwards, unless a court allows it.

What creditors can still do

  • Accept a payment you decide to make.
  • Contact you about something unrelated to the covered debt, when you ask them to, to deal with a complaint, where a court allows, or where the Consumer Credit Act or FCA rules require a notice.
  • Carry on reporting payments to credit reference agencies as before.
  • Talk to your debt adviser, and tell them about other debts they find.
  • Continue an existing court case up to a judgment — but not enforce it.

From when the rules apply

Each creditor must apply the protections from the date it is notified. An electronic notice counts as received on the day it is sent and a posted one four working days later. Creditors must also tell their agents, such as collection agencies and enforcement agents, and tell the DWP about any deductions from older benefits.

How a creditor can challenge it

  1. A review by your adviser. Within 20 days of being notified, a creditor can ask in writing, with evidence, for a review. The grounds are that it unfairly prejudices them, you do not meet an eligibility condition, a debt does not qualify, or you can afford to pay. Not paying ongoing bills is not one of those grounds — that is for the adviser’s own review.
  2. The court. If the creditor disagrees with the adviser’s decision, it can apply to the county court within 50 days of the start to cancel the Breathing Space for some or all debts.

If a creditor breaks the rules

Tell your debt adviser, who can contact the creditor. Complain to the creditor in writing, quoting the date your Breathing Space started. If an enforcement agent visits about a covered debt, tell them it is in a Breathing Space and ask them to check with the creditor. For a firm regulated by the FCA, an unresolved complaint can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Creditor harassment.

You can get free, impartial debt advice

You never have to pay for debt advice. MoneyHelper (government-backed), StepChange, National Debtline and Citizens Advice all give free, confidential advice with no obligation.

Common questions

Can creditors contact me during Breathing Space?

They must not contact you to ask for payment. They can still contact you about unrelated matters, if you ask them to, to deal with a complaint, or to send notices the law requires.

Can bailiffs come during Breathing Space?

Enforcement action on covered debts, including by enforcement agents, must pause. If an agent contacts you about a covered debt, tell them and your debt adviser straight away.

Can a creditor cancel my Breathing Space?

Not by itself. It can ask your adviser to review it within 20 days and, if it disagrees with the outcome, apply to the court within 50 days of the start.

Breathing Space explainedCreditor contact logCreditor harassmentBailiffsDebts covered
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