Glossary · UK
What is Administration Order (Debt)?
A County Court order consolidating several debts into a single affordable monthly payment, available where at least one debt is a County Court Judgment and total qualifying debts are below £5,000, freezing interest and enforcement action on included debts while it runs.
Full Definition
An administration order is a debt solution available through the County Court in England and Wales for someone with multiple debts, at least one of which is subject to a County Court Judgment, and whose total qualifying debt is below £5,000. Rather than dealing with each creditor separately, the debtor applies to the court, which reviews their income and reasonable outgoings and sets a single affordable monthly amount to be paid into court, which the court then distributes proportionally among all the listed creditors according to how much each is owed relative to the total debt. Once an administration order is made, creditors included within it cannot take further enforcement action, such as further court claims, bailiff action, or additional charging orders, against the debtor for the listed debts without the court's permission, and typically no further interest or charges accrue on the included debts while the order remains in force, giving the debtor breathing space and a manageable single monthly payment rather than juggling multiple demands. An administration order can run until the debts are repaid in full, though a debtor whose circumstances mean they cannot realistically clear the debts can sometimes apply for a "composition order" variant, under which a proportion of the debt is written off after a set period of affordable payments, similar in spirit to some individual voluntary arrangement outcomes but administered directly by the court at much lower cost. Worked example: someone owes £1,200 on one debt already subject to a County Court Judgment, plus a further £2,300 spread across two other unsecured creditors, a total of £3,500, comfortably under the £5,000 threshold; the court assesses their income and essential outgoings and sets an affordable payment of £70 a month, which it then divides between the three creditors in proportion to what each is owed, so the £1,200 CCJ creditor receives a larger share of each £70 payment than the smaller creditors; while the order runs, none of the three creditors can take further independent enforcement action or add further interest, and the debtor deals with a single monthly payment to the court instead of three separate creditor relationships.