Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government with responsibility for administering the process of personal bankruptcy, administering the Debt Arrangement Scheme and recording corporate insolvencies in Scotland. AiB’s mission is to ‘ensure access to fair and just processes of debt relief and debt management for the people of Scotland, which takes account of the rights and interests of those involved.’
This consultation, which will run from 24 February 2012 until 18 May 2012, examines and makes recommendations on many aspects of bankruptcy law. The purpose of the consultation is to seek views on those recommendations with a view to modernising current Scottish insolvency legislation. The consultation looks at:
- Developing a “Financial Health Service” for debt advice, debt management and debt relief for the people of Scotland, and ensuring that financial education is a central to this
- Developing new statutory debt relief routes for individuals and businesses as well as refining the current range of options - while reinforcing the key principle that individuals who can pay their debts, should pay
- Strengthening the powers of AiB in relation to supervision of trustees in all personal debt relief products
- Streamlining the process by removing the court from non-contentious creditor bankruptcy petitions and modernising those parts of the current legislation that are outdated
- Introducing a single financial assessment tool to aid in the calculation of an appropriate contribution from individuals