The Debt Relief Order register: who can see it and when your name comes off
When your Debt Relief Order was approved, your name went onto a public register that anyone can search for free. That sits uneasily with a lot of people, so here is exactly what the register is, what it shows about you, who actually looks at it, and the date your entry disappears. The short version is kinder than most people expect: you come off it far sooner than the marker leaves your credit file.
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Written and reviewed by the AfterMy team
Last reviewed: August 2026
Quick answer
Your DRO is recorded on the Individual Insolvency Register, the public record kept by the Insolvency Service, from the day it is approved. Your entry is removed automatically about 3 months after the 12-month moratorium ends, so roughly 15 months after your DRO started. That is a separate, much shorter clock than your credit file, where the DRO marker stays for 6 years from approval. Nothing you do can remove the entry early, and nothing is needed from you for it to come off on time.
On this page
What the register actually is
The Individual Insolvency Register is the public record of insolvency in England and Wales, kept by the Insolvency Service. It lists current bankruptcies, Debt Relief Orders and individual voluntary arrangements, and anyone can search it online, free, without giving a reason. Being on it is not a punishment and it is not a blacklist: it exists so that the position is a matter of public record while your DRO is active. Scotland and Northern Ireland keep their own separate registers, so a DRO made in England or Wales appears on this one.
Key point
Public, free to search, run by the Insolvency Service. Your entry is there because the law requires it while the DRO runs, not because of anything you did wrong.
What it shows about you
Your entry shows your name, your address, your date of birth, and the details of the DRO itself, including the date it was made. If having your address public would put you at risk of violence, you can apply to the court for an order that keeps it off the register, which is worth knowing about but applies only in genuine safety cases. What the register does not show is the detail of your debts: the amounts, the creditors and your payment history are not part of the public entry.
How long your name stays on it
Your entry appears when the DRO is approved and stays for the whole 12-month moratorium. It is then removed about 3 months after the moratorium ends. In practice that means roughly 15 months on the register from start to finish for a standard DRO. Removal is automatic: the Insolvency Service takes the entry down without you asking, applying, or paying anything. If your DRO was revoked partway through, the entry comes off about 3 months after the revocation instead.
Key point
About 15 months in total: the 12-month moratorium plus roughly 3 months. Removal is automatic and free.
The register and your credit file are two different clocks
This is the confusion that brings most people to this page. Coming off the register does not clear your credit file. The register entry lasts about 15 months, but the DRO marker on your credit file lasts 6 years from the date the order was approved, and it is the credit file that lenders check when you apply for anything. So there is a long stretch, from around month 15 to year 6, where you are off the public register entirely but the marker is still visible to lenders. If you want the full picture of what happens at the end of the moratorium itself, our guide to what happens after 12 months covers the write-off, and the 6-year clock has its own mechanics.
Key point
Register: about 15 months. Credit file: 6 years from approval. Lenders look at the credit file.
Who actually looks at the register
Fewer people than you might fear. Lenders rely on your credit file rather than the register, because the file is what their systems read. The register is occasionally checked by some employers in regulated financial roles, some landlords and letting agents, and insolvency professionals doing their jobs. For most day-to-day life, including ordinary job applications, renting through most agents and applying for accounts and credit, nobody is searching the register, and once your entry is removed at around 15 months there is nothing there to find at all.
How to check your own entry, and what to do if it does not come off
You can search the Individual Insolvency Register on the government's website using your own name, and it is sensible to look twice: once while your DRO is running, to check the details are right, and once around 3 to 4 months after the moratorium ends, to confirm the entry has gone. If your entry is still showing well after the 3-month removal point, contact the Insolvency Service and ask for it to be removed, quoting your DRO reference and the date the moratorium ended. Errors are rare but they happen, and they are fixed by asking, not by waiting.
Key point
Search it free on the government website. Still showing 4 months after your DRO ended? Contact the Insolvency Service with your DRO reference.
What this means for your rebuild
The register is the clock you can mostly ignore, because it takes care of itself and few decisions depend on it. The credit file is the clock that shapes what you can get and when, which is why the rebuilding work, the electoral roll, on-time payments and credit-builder products, is aimed at the file rather than the register. By the time your register entry quietly disappears at around month 15, your rebuild should already be moving.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a DRO stay on the Insolvency Register?
Can I get my name taken off the register early?
Does coming off the register clear my credit file?
Who can see the Insolvency Register?
My DRO ended months ago and I am still on the register. What do I do?
Want both clocks worked out from your own dates?
Your Comeback Plan takes your DRO dates and shows when you leave the register, when your file clears, and what you can realistically get at each stage.