Skip to content
Check my options
All debt solutionsIVADebt Management PlanDebt Relief OrderBankruptcyBreathing SpaceFull and final settlementProtected Trust DeedDebt Arrangement Scheme
All types of debtCredit card debtCouncil tax arrearsPersonal loansEnergy arrearsOverdraftsRent arrearsHMRC debtBuy Now Pay Later
All compareIVA vs DMPIVA vs DROIVA vs bankruptcyDMP vs DRODMP vs bankruptcyDRO vs bankruptcy
All toolsSolution comparisonMy Debt MapBudget calculatorCouncil finderDebt glossaryUK insolvency tracker
All urgent helpBailiff at the doorCouncil tax summonsCourt letter or claim formEviction threatEnergy disconnectionWages being deductedCan't afford foodCreditor threats
All local helpEnglandScotlandWalesNorthern IrelandWest MidlandsBirminghamWolverhamptonAll locations
Debt glossary How we make money
Check my options

IVAs in Northern Ireland: how they work and what to know

The IVA crossed the Irish Sea intact — same protocol, same vote, same write-off. What differs is everything around it.

Written by The My Debt Cleared editorial teamLast reviewed 30 August 2026Jurisdiction Northern IrelandEditorial policy
IVAs operate in Northern Ireland on substantially the same basis as England and Wales, under the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 and the 2025 IVA Protocol: usually 60 months of affordable payments, approval by creditors holding 75% by value of votes, interest frozen, and the remaining included debt written off at completion. The differences worth knowing are contextual — NI’s own DRO and bankruptcy alternatives, rates arrears instead of council tax, and the absence of the Scottish routes UK-wide advertising sometimes implies.

The framework you can rely on

Everything in the IVA guide and its cluster applies in Northern Ireland: eligibility, how payments are set, the vote, the 2025 Protocol’s home protections, completion. Licensed insolvency practitioners operate across NI, and the Individual Voluntary Arrangements register covers NI arrangements.

The NI differences that matter

Domestic rates arrears go in the way council tax does elsewhere. The comparison set is NI’s own: a DRO under the 2024 limits where the criteria fit, and court-based bankruptcy in Belfast rather than the English online process — which shifts the IVA-versus-bankruptcy arithmetic slightly, since NI bankruptcy is more procedural to enter. Trust Deeds and the Debt Arrangement Scheme are Scottish and do not exist here.

Advice in Northern Ireland

Free, authorised debt advice is available across NI, and an IVA always begins there — the adviser tests the alternatives first, then a licensed IP takes the proposal forward exactly as the application process describes. My Debt Cleared is an information and introduction service, not the provider, in Northern Ireland as everywhere else.

Check my options — about 60 seconds