Separate the bill type
Before deciding what to pay, ask what happens if this bill is missed. Is it rent, mortgage, council tax, energy, court fine or essential hire purchase? Is it a credit card, catalogue, unsecured loan or overdraft? Is it a subscription that can be cancelled? The answer changes the route.
Citizens Advice recommends working out priority debts first. If a bill protects housing, heat, work, food, legal position or essential goods, it needs early attention.
Use plain words
"I cannot afford the full bill by the due date. I want to avoid the arrears getting worse. My essential income and spending mean I can currently offer [amount]. Please tell me what support, hardship, payment plan or breathing-space options are available, and confirm this in writing."
Do not promise an amount that will fail next month. A realistic lower offer is usually better than an impressive promise that collapses.
What to check
- Benefits and financial support through GOV.UK.
- Energy supplier hardship and repayment support.
- Council Tax Reduction if income is low.
- Debt advice if priority bills or multiple debts are at risk.
- Payment date changes if the issue is timing rather than affordability.
Next steps
Sources and useful guidance
Priority and non-priority debts are not the same
The single most useful idea in UK debt advice is that debts are ranked not by size or interest rate, but by what happens if you do not pay. A "priority debt" is one where the consequence of non-payment is severe: losing your home, losing an essential service, prosecution, or having goods removed. A "non-priority debt" still matters, but the worst realistic outcome is a county court judgment (CCJ) and a hit to your credit file — serious, but not the same as eviction or a prison sentence.
This ranking is counter-intuitive because it often means paying a small council tax bill before a large credit card. A £400 council tax arrears with a court summons attached outranks a £4,000 credit card, because the council can apply for a liability order, add costs, instruct bailiffs (enforcement agents), take money straight from your wages or benefits, and in England in the most extreme cases ask a magistrate to consider committal to prison. The credit card lender, by contrast, has to go to the county court and obtain a CCJ before it can enforce anything.
| Treat as priority | Why it ranks high | Usually non-priority |
|---|---|---|
| Rent and mortgage | Arrears can lead to eviction or repossession | Credit and store cards |
| Council tax | Liability order, bailiffs, attachment of earnings | Unsecured personal loans |
| Gas and electricity | Disconnection or forced prepayment meter | Overdrafts |
| Court fines and TV Licence | Enforcement action; fines can mean prison in extreme cases | Catalogue and BNPL debt |
| Tax, National Insurance and child maintenance | HMRC and CMS have strong direct-recovery powers | Money owed to family or friends |
| Hire purchase on an essential car | The asset can be repossessed | Payday loans |
Work out your priority debts first, make sure those are covered, and only then split whatever is left across the non-priority debts. A free adviser will help you build a "common financial statement" — a standard income-and-expenditure budget that creditors recognise — so offers are taken seriously.
Breathing Space can pause the pressure
If contact and offers are not enough to stop the situation escalating, England and Wales have a statutory scheme called Breathing Space (the Debt Respite Scheme). It does not write off anything, but while it is in force most creditors must stop interest, fees and enforcement action, and pause contact about the paused debts. There are two types.
- Standard Breathing Space lasts up to 60 days. You get it by going through a regulated debt adviser (for example StepChange, National Debtline or Citizens Advice) — you cannot apply directly yourself. The adviser checks you are eligible and notifies your creditors through the official register.
- Mental health crisis Breathing Space lasts as long as the person's mental-health crisis treatment continues, plus 30 days afterwards, with no 60-day cap. It can be requested by an Approved Mental Health Professional and is designed so that someone receiving crisis care is not also fielding debt letters.
Breathing Space is most useful as a window to get advice and agree a longer-term plan, not as an end in itself. Scotland has a comparable but separate scheme, the Statutory Moratorium, which works differently — a Scottish adviser will explain the local rules.
A calm triage order, and what not to do
When several things are due at once, working in a fixed order stops panic from making the decision for you:
- Maximise income first. Use an independent benefits calculator and the GOV.UK benefits check — many households miss money they are entitled to, such as Universal Credit, Council Tax Reduction, Pension Credit or a council Household Support Fund grant. A single missed entitlement can be worth more than any cut you make.
- List every debt with the balance, who it is owed to, and whether it is priority or non-priority.
- Cover the priority debts and contact those creditors with a realistic offer.
- Ask each supplier about hardship support — energy firms have hardship funds and the Priority Services Register; water companies run social tariffs like WaterSure.
- Split what is left fairly across non-priority debts, usually pro-rata to the balance.
- Get free advice if the numbers do not add up — that is the signal to call StepChange, National Debtline, Citizens Advice or MoneyHelper, all of which are free and impartial.
Three things make a difficult situation worse, and all three are avoidable. First, ignoring letters: silence removes your bargaining power and lets arrears and enforcement escalate. Second, paying a fee-charging "debt management" company for something the charities do for free — never pay up front for debt advice, and be wary of adverts that look official but are not. Third, borrowing your way out with payday loans, high-cost credit or further card spending, which simply makes next month's problem larger. If a debt looks unpayable, that is a reason to seek advice sooner, not later.
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