DRO Change in circumstances

miner-dave

i'm under a DRO and need to get in touch with the official receiver due to changes in circumstances. i've started a new part time job which means that my benefits are going down but other income and outgoings are going up. i need to use the train a lot more, so will have to put increased travel expenditure.

anyway i'm not sure how my benefits are going to balance out but from what i can figure so far, i'm only going to be marginally better off. do i need to contact the official receiver even if my disposable income remains under 50? if so i'll need to do a budget sheet again. at the time of applying my household spend was very low (about 70 per week for 2 adults 1 child) obviously this will increase now with me working but at what point would it become unreasonable?
i remember the CAB talking about acceptable ammounts but dont know what these are.
if anybody has any info it would be much appreciated. thanks!!

fatbelly

Hi miner-dave

This is what we were told most recently about increases in income during the morotorium period:

Notification of increase in income
The Insolvency Legislation requires a debtor to notify the Official Receiver if there is an increase in their income during the moratorium period applicable to their order.
The legislation is in force to detect when an individual no longer meets the parameters for a DRO i.e. their disposable income exceeds the existing parameter (currently £50 per month).
Whilst debtors are clearly required to comply with the legislation, they should not overly worry about small increases in income affecting their eligibility, as provided the increase in benefits or income does not increase their income, such that the income parameter is breached, no further action will be taken by the Official Receiver.

and from the booklet you should have:

If your circumstances change enough for you to make payments to your creditors, the official receiver will need to consider whether or not to terminate the DRO. If the changes in circumstance occur close to the end of your 12-month moratorium, the official receiver can extend the moratorium for up to 3 months to allow you to come to an arrangement with your creditors. You will, during this extension time, be subject to the same limitations and receive the same protection as during the first 12 months of the DRO.

It sounds like you have had a significant change, so to cover yourself, you should get in touch with the DRO unit. With increased expenditure and decreased benefit income you may well still be within the £50 per month surplus income limit, so would not necessarily lose the DRO.

miner-dave

do you think there is a time limit on informing them as i think its going to be another few weeks before i have an accurate picture of my income. i'm still waiting on my first wage slips to take for my housing benefit to be re-assessed. so things are still subject to change untill everything is finalised.

fatbelly

Personally I think it's fair to wait till the new benefit awards have been calculated.