An Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) freezes your debts and allows you to pay them back over a set period. Any money you still owe after this period is then written off. You can apply for an IVA if you can afford to pay something towards your debts but not necessarily the full amount your creditors want.

IVAs are much more recent, introduced in 1986. The Insolvency Act 1986 created the procedure called an Individual Voluntary Arrangement, by which an individual with unsecured debts which they could no longer pay when demands fell due, could be offered an alternative to bankruptcy.