Administration Order

You can apply for an Administration Order by firstly completing an N92 form. This can be obtained from your local court office. You must list all your debts. If you have joint debts and both want to apply, you must apply separately and both include the whole debt on your form. Where a couple make individual applications at the same time and they have joint debt, it may be acceptable to divide the debt equally between the two applications.

• The N92 form comes with guidance on how to complete it.
• Put the name of your local county court on the form.
• List your debts on the form, including arrears on priority debts as well as credit debts.
• List creditor details and account numbers for the court payments. If your creditor has passed your details on to a debt collection agency, provide their address instead.
• List your family details (if applicable).
• List your employment details.
• List you Income, Expenditure and Financial situation.
• List what you can realistically afford to pay. You will get an idea of this if you deduct your expenditure from your income and see what you are left with.
• If you are on income support or another benefit, or on a low income, the court may accept a payment between £1 and £5 per month.
• You need to sign the form infront of a court officer at the court.
• Take along statements, creditor letters and anything that will show your proof of debt. Include any CCJ's.
Photocopy your form for your own records.

For employed applicants an attachment of Earnings order will be made unless they request otherwise. Some applicants will not want their employers to know of their current situation, so they would prefer not to have an Attachment of Earnings Order.

• After your form has been accepted by the court they will notify your creditors of your Administration Order application.
• Your creditors have 16 days to respond with any objections to the payment amount. They can also request to be removed from the order.
• If there are no objections and the court staff and judge are happy with the payment offer, then the order will be put in place. If you adhere to your payments, your creditors can take NO further action against you.
• If there are any problems or rejections, a hearing will be arranged in court with the district judge where you and your creditors will be given a change to state your case. If the issues are resolved, the order will go ahead.
• When the order is in place you make your payments to the court and they pay your creditors.

You must keep up your payments on an Adminstration Order. If you do not, the court can revoke your order and your creditors will be entitled to pursue you for the full maount of the debt. If you feel you cannot afford to pay the amount asked for in the order, maybe due to a circumstantial change you can ask the court to review the order and reduce the payments.

An Administration Order has no set length. It will continue until the debts are paid in full. You or your creditors can review the terms and payment amount if and when necessary. However, if a composition order is made along with the Administration Order, you may get a fixed date of completion and have some of your debts written off. An administration order will remain on your credit reference file for six years.

On successful completion of an Administration Order you will receive a "Certificate of Satisfaction" from the court. This certificate costs £15. Details of the Administration Order are kept by the Registry of County Courts Judgements and also Credit Reference Agencies, who will mark that you have completed the Order.

Different courts in different areas of the country handle Administration Orders in different ways. Your application should never be refused with a court hearing. If you do have to go to a court hearing, you might want to consult a money advice centre or Citizens advice bureau for details of the court policy. Some of the things that may cause problems in your application are:

• Debts over £5000
• Debts in joint names
• No available income

• Your creditors cannot take any further action against you once bound by the Administration Order (without the courts permission).
• The court deals with everything on your behalf, including distributing your payments to creditors.
• Interest and Charges are frozen on your debts.
• There is no upfont fee. The court usually retains 10p of every £1 you pay.
• You can apply to make payments for a limited time, such as 3 years, using a 'Composition Order'.
• If your circumstances get worse whilst in the administration order, you can apply to the court to make lower payments.
• If you own a business, you may be able to continue trading.

• Creditors can put objections to your application and ask to be exempt from the Order.
• If you do not keep up payments, the Administration Order can be withdrawn, meaning you no longer have protection from creditors for the debts.
• If the court makes an attachment of earnings order, your employer will find out about your situation.