About Debt Relief Order

What we do

We explain Debt Relief Orders in plain English. The official rules on GOV.UK are spread across several pages and assume you already know the terms. Many people looking them up are worried, short of time and unsure whether a DRO applies to them at all.

Our aim is to help you understand what a DRO is, whether it might be relevant to you and what happens if you go ahead. That way, your first conversation with an approved debt adviser is a confident one. In practice we offer:

• Plain-English guides to what a Debt Relief Order is, who qualifies, how to apply and what living with a DRO involves.
• A preliminary eligibility checker that runs in your browser and stores nothing.
• Balanced comparisons of a DRO with bankruptcy, an IVA and a debt management plan.
• A glossary and FAQ covering the terms you will meet in official letters.

What we are not

Being clear about our limits matters as much as being clear about the rules. Debt Relief Order is:

• Not the Insolvency Service and not a government website. We have no role in deciding, administering or revoking any DRO. Official guidance lives on GOV.UK.
• Not an approved intermediary. Only an approved debt adviser can assess your eligibility and submit a DRO application.
• Not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, and we do not give regulated debt advice. Nothing here is a recommendation about what you personally should do.
• Not a charity, and not affiliated with any debt advice charity, creditor, lender or insolvency practitioner.
• Not a paid service. We charge no fees, sell no products and take no payment for referrals.

If any commercial relationship, sponsorship or affiliate arrangement is introduced in future, it will be disclosed here and in our editorial policy before it takes effect. [LAUNCH BLOCKER: confirm there are no commercial relationships, sponsorships or affiliate arrangements at launch, or describe each one here.]

Our approach

We work from official sources first. Every threshold, time limit and fee on this site comes from the Insolvency Service's guidance on GOV.UK and the legislation behind it, and every page carries a "Sources" box. Where Citizens Advice, StepChange or National Debtline publish helpful explanations, we cite those too.

We check figures against GOV.UK rather than other websites, because secondary sources lag behind rule changes. When the debt limit rose to £50,000 and the £90 fee was abolished in 2024, many pages online still quoted the old numbers months later. Our editorial policy explains how and when we recheck.

We also aim to be balanced. A DRO is right for some people and wrong for others, and we say so. There are no countdown timers or "you may qualify" banners here, and the advantages of a DRO get no more weight than the disadvantages.

How to use this site

If you are new to the subject, start with what a Debt Relief Order is and then the eligibility guide. If you know the basics, the checker takes a few minutes and asks for no personal details.

Treat whatever you read here as preparation rather than a decision. The next step is always to speak to a free, approved debt adviser through the MoneyHelper debt advice locator, Citizens Advice, StepChange or National Debtline. Our guide to finding free debt advice explains what to expect.

Who operates this site

Debt Relief Order is operated by [LAUNCH BLOCKER: legal entity name of the operator]. Newcastle upon Tyne [LAUNCH BLOCKER: company number, if the operator is a registered company, or state that the operator is an individual or unincorporated body]

Pages are written and reviewed by the operator against the sources listed on each page. We do not claim professional insolvency qualifications or present our writers as advisers. [LAUNCH BLOCKER: add any genuine, verifiable credentials or review arrangements, or leave this statement as it stands.]

How to report an error

If you find an out-of-date figure, a broken link or a statement you believe is wrong, please tell us through the contact page, quoting the page address and the text concerned. We check reports against GOV.UK, correct promptly and note material corrections on the page affected. See our corrections process.