Are there government-backed schemes to help with debt?
Not in the way the adverts mean. There is no government programme that writes off consumer debt on application — but there are government-created legal routes, and knowing the difference protects you from the firms trading on the confusion.
What the government has actually created
Parliament created the legal machinery: the Insolvency Act behind IVAs and bankruptcy, the rules behind Debt Relief Orders, and the Breathing Space scheme, which pauses creditor enforcement for 60 days while you get advice. In Scotland, the Debt Arrangement Scheme and sequestration are statutory. Using any of them goes through an authorised adviser or insolvency practitioner — not through a government application to “have debt written off”. The genuinely free, authorised help is the debt charities — a short guide to who does what.
Why adverts say “government scheme” anyway
“Government-backed” borrows trust. An advert that pairs it with a write-off percentage is usually a commercial firm or a lead generator routing you toward an IVA — a real product, wrapped in a misleading frame. The FCA has warned publicly about debt write-off offers, and the Advertising Standards Authority has upheld complaints against write-off adverts that concealed the lead-generation service behind them. The tell is simple: government sources tell you where to get advice; they never quote a percentage.
The support that does exist
Beyond the legal routes, real public support is local and specific: council tax reduction schemes, section 13A discretionary reductions on council tax, and crisis support through your council — in England the Crisis and Resilience Fund, which replaced the Household Support Fund. Find what your council actually offers, because it varies by authority and much of it goes unclaimed. Wales runs its own framework — the Wales guide covers the Discretionary Assistance Fund and Welsh council tax rules.
Can you really write off 80%, 85% or 90% of your debt?
Sometimes — but the number is decided by arithmetic, not adverts. In an IVA, the write-off is simply whatever remains after you have paid what you can genuinely afford over the term; creditors vote on it case by case. “Up to X%” describes a firm’s best recent cases, and the small print beneath those adverts typically states what share of customers actually achieved the headline figure — read that line first, because it is the only number in the advert that describes odds rather than a ceiling. No percentage can be promised to you before an adviser has seen your income, and any firm implying otherwise is describing its incentive, not your outcome.
The fact the adverts never lead with: the routes that write off the most are the ones without fees. A Debt Relief Order generally discharges the qualifying debts included in it in full when it completes successfully (some debt types are excluded and remain payable) after 12 months and costs nothing to enter, if you fit its tests. Bankruptcy discharges the debts it covers in full. The “up to 81%”-style product is the one where fees are taken from your payments along the way. Which route fits you is exactly the question the write-off guide and a free adviser answer — for nothing.
What to do with a “government scheme” advert
Ignore the frame and test the substance: which legal route is it actually selling, do you meet the published criteria, and what would your own arithmetic look like? Then take it to someone authorised to advise you. My Debt Cleared is an information and marketing introduction service, not a government body and not an adviser — and anything that claims to be both is telling you what it is.