Purpose

People reading about Debt Relief Orders are often making a big financial decision under stress. A wrong number or an outdated threshold can send someone to an adviser with false expectations, or put them off seeking help at all. This policy sets out the standards we hold ourselves to.

Debt Relief Order is an independent educational resource, not the Insolvency Service, an approved intermediary or a provider of regulated debt advice. Our about page explains this in full.

How information is researched

Every page begins with the primary sources for Debt Relief Orders in England and Wales:

We then use MoneyHelper, Citizens Advice, StepChange and National Debtline to check how the rules work in practice. We do not treat forums, social media, comparison sites or fee-charging debt firms as sources of fact. Where a point depends on an adviser's judgement, we say so.

Source priority and citation

When sources disagree, the primary source wins. If GOV.UK and a charity fact sheet differ, we follow GOV.UK and note the difference if it looks like more than a timing lag. If GOV.UK itself is unclear, we go to the legislation.

Every page carries a "Sources and further reading" box listing the documents its facts came from. We cite only sources we have consulted, and we do not invent statistics or quote case studies we cannot verify.

How content is reviewed and when

DRO figures are rechecked against GOV.UK whenever the Insolvency Service changes its guidance, and in any case at least [LAUNCH BLOCKER: state the review cadence, for example every six months]. The debt limit, spare income limit, asset limit and vehicle disregard are checked first, as they are the figures most likely to change.

A "last reviewed" date is added only when a review has actually taken place. Until then, pages state the GOV.UK guidance date they were checked against, currently 28 June 2024. They also note the Insolvency Service review published in July 2026, which confirmed no further changes to the thresholds. Reviews also cover whether links still work and whether the organisations we recommend still offer the services described.

Corrections

If you spot an error, please use the contact page and tell us the page address, the text concerned and, if you can, the source showing the correct position. We verify each report against the primary sources above.

Typing errors and broken links are fixed quietly. Errors of fact, and any change that would alter what a reader takes away from the page, are corrected promptly and noted on the page. We do not remove pages to hide mistakes.

Why thresholds matter

DRO eligibility is all or nothing, so small changes in the limits change who qualifies. On 28 June 2024 the debt limit rose from £30,000 to £50,000 and the vehicle disregard from £2,000 to £4,000. Someone with £40,000 of debt or a £3,500 car became potentially eligible overnight, and a website still showing the old figures would have told them the opposite.

So we quote thresholds exactly as GOV.UK states them, with their effective dates. Our income and asset limits page is the reference point for the site's figures, and the eligibility checker is updated at the same time.

Guidance versus regulated advice

This site explains the published criteria, the process and the consequences in general terms. Advising a person means looking at their actual income, spending, debts and assets and recommending a course of action. That is regulated debt advice, and for a DRO it is done by an approved intermediary.

We do not assess individuals or tell anyone whether they qualify or whether a DRO is right for them. The eligibility checker shows which published criteria your answers may touch; it cannot make a determination. Our writing rules ban phrases such as "you are approved", "guaranteed" and "write off all your debts".

Independence and commercial relationships

Debt Relief Order has no commercial relationship with any debt advice organisation, creditor, lender, insolvency practitioner or debt management company. We receive no fees, commissions or referral payments and accept no sponsored content.

If that ever changes, this section and the about page will be updated first, before any affected content is published. [LAUNCH BLOCKER: confirm no commercial relationships exist at launch, or describe each one and how editorial independence is protected.]

Accessibility and plain English

We write in British English, address the reader as "you", keep paragraphs short and define technical terms the first time they appear, with a glossary for reference. Where an official term such as "Official Receiver" matters, we use it and explain it.

The site is built to meet WCAG 2.2 level AA: tables carry captions, headings are structured, interactive components work with a keyboard, and nothing autoplays or imposes a time limit. Our accessibility statement has the detail.

Contact

Questions about this policy, corrections and media enquiries can be sent through the contact page. We cannot give personal debt advice; the free services listed there are the right place to start.

Sources and further reading