No Interview and got IPA Today

fiveyearplan · 7 May 2009 at 7:42PM

What about the son's DLA though - should that have been included for calculating IPA?

restofmylife · 7 May 2009 at 7:46PM

blind-as-a-bat wrote: »

As long as your OH is contributing his 'share' to the joint household expenditure, then she has no right to investigate his income.

But, there is always a but:rolleyes: if his contribution is less than 50% then they can ask him to 'volenteer' the info, if he does not they will just put down he is contributing 50%, so the important question is how does it break down on your I&E?

Dont worry about her getting the hump, and ignore her comment for now re you getting an IPA, its unlikely she she will be able to justify it;)

Thanks Blindasabat,
I have put down what he can afford to contribute but it is less than 50% of our outgoings. I have advised her today of his salary and what he pays for his own debt. She is counting DLA for my son as income so I will still get an IPA of about £79 I reckon, but can she change my allowances after advising me already? I now wish I had never questioned it

restofmylife · 7 May 2009 at 7:48PM

fiveyearplan wrote: »

What about the son's DLA though - should that have been included for calculating IPA?

Hi FYP,

She just said she shouldn't have included the Child Benefit - thats all??

blind-as-a-bat_2 · 7 May 2009 at 8:22PM

The DLA is a dificult area, as you have to be fair, if any expenses are higher than normal, because of the childs needs, then that should be offsett against the DLA, so it cant just be disregarded, but if any of it is 'left over' after that, it is not your income, end of, its awarded to the child, not the parent, if there is any left it should be banked for there future needs, not paid towards the parent's BR estate.

And yes, she could start messing with the allowences, but with the above in mind, anything lower than the normal living expenses will take a lot of justifying.

At the end of the day, once we have the exact figures, we will help, if you want, decide if its fair, if its not all you do is refuse to sign the IPA.

The OR must then go to the court for an IPO, i doubt very much they will risk that on the strength of your childs DLA, because they will fail if they do;)

The main problem is your effectivly supporting your OH too, which they wont like, and that may be a problem, but considering the amount we are talking about in a possible IPA/O, it is not going to benefit your creditors, it will probebly just cover the OR.s fees, that alone will go against them in court if they tried that route

restofmylife · 7 May 2009 at 8:51PM

blind-as-a-bat wrote: »

The DLA is a dificult area, as you have to be fair, if any expenses are higher than normal, because of the childs needs, then that should be offsett against the DLA, so it cant just be disregarded, but if any of it is 'left over' after that, it is not your income, end of, its awarded to the child, not the parent, if there is any left it should be banked for there future needs, not paid towards the parent's BR estate.

And yes, she could start messing with the allowences, but with the above in mind, anything lower than the normal living expenses will take a lot of justifying.

At the end of the day, once we have the exact figures, we will help, if you want, decide if its fair, if its not all you do is refuse to sign the IPA.

The OR must then go to the court for an IPO, i doubt very much they will risk that on the strength of your childs DLA, because they will fail if they do;)

The main problem is your effectivly supporting your OH too, which they wont like, and that may be a problem, but considering the amount we are talking about in a possible IPA/O, it is not going to benefit your creditors, it will probebly just cover the OR.s fees, that alone will go against them in court if they tried that route

Thanks I am just feeling so down about it all my marriage is not going well anyway because if the debt and trying to manage, he was not happy about me going BR as he thinks it would affect him getting a job in financial services again(too stubborn to read info) I had told him it was MY DEBT and MY BR and he would not be involved. But we had got to the stage of me trying to do a food shop some weeks with £40 - not great when you have a 6ft 13 year old who eats us out of house and home. I am a worrier and have not eaten since she called this morning_pale_. I had put down on reasons for BR that it was affecting my marriage. My OH and I had already split for 3 years and only got back together 2 years ago - I cannot put my boys through this again. Sorry for the ramble and a big thanks for your help xx

bluebird36 · 7 May 2009 at 9:10PM

Rest-of-my-life,
so sorry you are having such a rough time of it. I really think your OR may not really understand the DLA for your child situation very well. If she already got the Child Benefit part wrong (which is a no brainer in my opinion) then DLA must have boggled her mind completely. Maybe she is a new member of staff? Maybe she then had to ask for advise, but forgot to mention that it is DLA for a child?
I know speculation like this does not help you right now, but I think I would maybe send her another e-mail, this time explaining about your son's disability, why you consider this to be HIS money and not YOUR income, maybe giving examples of the things the money is spent on.
I have so far still not applied for DLA for my little boy, but once I have all my OR info in writing (especially the exemption for the car) I will call him and simply ask.
A while ago DebtDoctor on here (who I think advises for CAB) had told me that he considers DLA for children exempt. Maybe try to PM him?
I will keep my fingers crossed for you, really want this to work out for you!xx

restofmylife · 7 May 2009 at 9:18PM

Thanks I will PM Debtdoctor and see what he says, I just think she is annoyed with me now and will try everything to get an IPA. I am just so worried now that she will try to put 50% as my OH contribution when he has his own debts!! Again I am really pleased things have worked out for you and will keep you fully informed xx

debt_doctor · 9 May 2009 at 1:12PM

Hi, thanks for the PM.

In my area, childs DLA is not taken in to account as income in the calculation of an IPA. Now of course we all know how OR's vary accross the country, and the tech manual is not much help re DLA, especially for children.

Your examiner has already made a glaring error re the child benefit. She has already written to you accepting your expenditure

My argument would be that DLA is a benefit granted to the person with the disability, to enable them to enjoy a quality of life that otherwise may well be denied to them. This money is not awarded for the benefit of someone's creditors, and the denial of such funds may well amount to disability discrimination.

Dla is not counted by the government in many means tested benefits such as income support, housing and council tax benefits. It is also not counted by the courts when assessing payment of court fees.

Now you might 'annoy' your examiner by knowing more about IPA's than she does, but thats not your problem. They are there to be challenged if neccessary, i'm sure there are many IPA's out there that should never be or are far too high, and OR's DO have targets and bonuses for IPA's.

Its up to you how strongly you want to push this, but my advise is as always, if your not happy with your IPA then dont sign it, and be prepared to go to court.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/RightsAndObligations/DisabilityRights/DG_4001068

Good luck.

DD

restofmylife · 9 May 2009 at 5:18PM

debt_doctor wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the PM.

In my area, childs DLA is not taken in to account as income in the calculation of an IPA. Now of course we all know how OR's vary accross the country, and the tech manual is not much help re DLA, especially for children.

So they can include it if that is he rule in my area?

Your examiner has already made a glaring error re the child benefit. She has already written to you accepting your expenditure

Do you think as she has done the above that she couldn't reduce allowances or try to make my OH put in a bigger contribution?

My argument would be that DLA is a benefit granted to the person with the disability, to enable them to enjoy a quality of life that otherwise may well be denied to them. This money is not awarded for the benefit of someone's creditors, and the denial of such funds may well amount to disability discrimination.

Agree fully, it's for my son and if she comes back with a bigger IPA because I have seemed to "annoy" her I will challenge it.

Dla is not counted by the government in many means tested benefits such as income support, housing and council tax benefits. It is also not counted by the courts when assessing payment of court fees.

Thanks I didn't know that.

Now you might 'annoy' your examiner by knowing more about IPA's than she does, but thats not your problem. They are there to be challenged if neccessary, i'm sure there are many IPA's out there that should never be or are far too high, and OR's DO have targets and bonuses for IPA's.

Its up to you how strongly you want to push this, but my advise is as always, if your not happy with your IPA then dont sign it, and be prepared to go to court.

Thanks, she allowed me £84 for Gas and Electric for a family of 4 and I didn't challenge it (I have bills to prove it is more like £150) so if she comes back without reducing IPA or eve increasing it above is exactly what I will have to do.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/RightsAndObligations/DisabilityRights/DG_4001068

Good luck.

DD

Debt doctor, many thanks for your help I have been so worried as I spoke to her thursday morning and she said she would be Emailing back Thu afternoon and up to COB yesterday still no news - I guess she is making me sweat for a while:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

ROML

debt_doctor · 9 May 2009 at 5:52PM

Originally Posted by debt doctor

Hi, thanks for the PM.

In my area, childs DLA is not taken in to account as income in the calculation of an IPA. Now of course we all know how OR's vary accross the country, and the tech manual is not much help re DLA, especially for children.

So they can include it if that is he rule in my area? It should be the same in every area, but OR's interpret the rules in different ways, poor interpretation needs to be challenged. Just because the manual is vague on DLA doesnt mean they can count it.

Your examiner has already made a glaring error re the child benefit. She has already written to you accepting your expenditure

Do you think as she has done the above that she couldn't reduce allowances or try to make my OH put in a bigger contribution? She could try it, but she has already accepted your outgoings earlier, and gas and elec are far too low. Who is she to tell you how much your home should cost to heat and power. I pay £ 130 for gas and elec for a small 3 bed end house, cavity wall insulated and double glazed.

My argument would be that DLA is a benefit granted to the person with the disability, to enable them to enjoy a quality of life that otherwise may well be denied to them. This money is not awarded for the benefit of someone's creditors, and the denial of such funds may well amount to disability discrimination.

Agree fully, it's for my son and if she comes back with a bigger IPA because I have seemed to "annoy" her I will challenge it.Good !

Dla is not counted by the government in many means tested benefits such as income support, housing and council tax benefits. It is also not counted by the courts when assessing payment of court fees.

Thanks I didn't know that. It also doesnt count in Debt relief orders either.

Now you might 'annoy' your examiner by knowing more about IPA's than she does, but thats not your problem. They are there to be challenged if neccessary, i'm sure there are many IPA's out there that should never be or are far too high, and OR's DO have targets and bonuses for IPA's.

Its up to you how strongly you want to push this, but my advise is as always, if your not happy with your IPA then dont sign it, and be prepared to go to court.

Thanks, she allowed me £84 for Gas and Electric for a family of 4 and I didn't challenge it (I have bills to prove it is more like £150) so if she comes back without reducing IPA or eve increasing it above is exactly what I will have to do.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Disabled...hts/DG_4001068

Good luck.

DD

No Interview and got IPA Today

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