benefits, bankruptcy, income and partner HELP!!

ematoppa

I am in the early discussions with the official receiver whom on a quick check have advised I may have to repay an IPA of £211 per month. I find this impossible as I struggle to find £100 after bills, food, rent and travel to work. I am a 31 year old single mum of a 7 year old with an income including benefits of £23012. I pay fuel of £140 monthly as i live rural and travel 55 miles 4 days and 40 over a weekend. I pay rent and the usual bills and food, what will happen if i can't make payments

(bankruptcy caused by ex vacated joint property and not agreeing to get me off the mortgage despite me trying, I have tried to sell but no joy and can't afford mortgage so I have handed it over in severe negative equity).


On another note my current partner who is unemployed since leaving college has become homeless and sleeps on his mum's couch, we are looking at him living with me but obvioulsy I can't afford him, we have been told he will loose his jobseekers. He is seeking an apprenticeship which has has interviews coming up (fingers crossed), this will mean if successful he would stand a chance of living with me but his income will be £100 a week and a fuel expense of £40 pweek. What benefits may we be entitled to and how much of his wages and any benefits will the Official Receiver take into consideration. The overwhelming stress of this is making me consider reducing my hours and I am unsure of how this will affect matters?

Please can someone offer advice?

fermi

Moved this here as it's mainly bankruptcy questions.

Perhaps repost on the benefits board to ask specific benefits questions that we can't answer here?

The OR can only claim surplus income made up of non-benefit income. However, benefits are taken into account when calculating that surplus.

So the best thing to do is to post up an I&E for people to have a look at.

Template here: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

The OR cannot tell you what hours you should work, so reducing those to cut down on stress may be an option. Especially if you would just lose the extra earnings anyway.

ematoppa

Hi, thanks, bit of a con then really as they dooo take it into consideration, they are do or don't lol. Could you advise, how will any joint claimed benefits be affected by the bankruptcy?

Thanks

fermi

Not quite a con, but it certainly is confusing.

Basically they will include benefits when calculating the surplus, but they are not allowed to claim any of the benefits themselves.

This is a very simplistic and unrealistic example, but it gives you the idea.

Say you have an income made up of £1,000 of benefits topped up by £200 of earned income?

Looking at your outgoings, the OR would calculate you surplus using the full £1,200.

However, the OR cannot claim benefit income under an IPA, so.....

- If the calculated surplus was say £400, then as only £200 of that is non benefit income, the maximum the OR could take would be £200.

- If the calculated surplus was £100, then the max they could take would be £100.

In other words, they can use the benefit income to calculate the surplus, but they can only take any non-benefit part. They not allowed to take any more than that and cut into the actual benefits to fund the IPA.

kepar

how will any joint claimed benefits be affected by the bankruptcy?

Joint claimed by who and what for?

ematoppa

Hi,

Firstly, my incme is as follows:
£1179 earned income pm after tax
£48 tax cradit pw
£81 child benefit pm
£41 child maintence

rent £495
CTAS £89 PM
fuel £140 (get to work)
food £380 pm
car ins £20 pm
Sky and internet £46 pm
Gas/elec £82 pm
Water £21 pm
TV Lic £13 pm
Land line £13 pm
Mobile £22 pm
clothes x 2 £60 PM
Pets £20 PM
Dental/medical £15 pm
emergerncy £20 pm
school trips kid hobbies £20 pm
hair £30 pm
dry cleaning £20 pm

I think these are the allowances

Secondaly, joint claim are regarding the matter of my partner is has been made homeless due to his younger sister having a baby, if he moved in with me he is either going to loose his job seekers as not contribution based or if successful apprenticship of annual income of £4909, I am sure we must get some benefit support surely 3 of us on bankruptcy can't live off me?? I try my bloody best!

All very complicated

kepar

£41 child maintence: Is that weekly or monthly?

In your SOA above are the figures what you hoping to claim or what has been agreed?

Are they just for you and your child?

dojoman

Try reposting your SOA using the link below and maybe we can point you in the right direction:)

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

ematoppa

This is the current single claim, all costs are based on my current spending from my son and I, and what they say I am allowed from a quick check by the OR the other week, but I am waiting for the official letter. I am doing my homework so I can make an informed decision as to whether he can live with me, unfortunately this is looking like he will have to wait until he has starting earning. His mother and council will have to rehouse him until that time.

£41 per week. i tried the card but got all muddled up.

Thanks

kepar

With your figures your income is £1645 a month. Your outgoings you are trying to claim are £1508 a month, leaving £137. But you are not allowed sky, mobile phones, the internet and your food bill could be classed as high.
If the OR takes these and adds them to your £137 then it would be around £200 and therefore correct.

dan10

The OR should only be taking 50% of your "excess income" as is laid out in the Insolvency act.

I agree that there are some areas where the spending is a little high but there are others where she would be allowed a higher spend according to the CCCS guidelines.

If it was me i would produce a proper SOA and display that your costs are such that you only have £137 per month after essential household costs and therefore would be willing to enter an IPA at £65 per month.

I think its worth remembering that the OR is overwhelmed with cases at the moment/been stripped to the bare bones of staffing through redundancy and someone willing to pay £65 is going to be a far more attractive proposition than someone they are going to have to take to court to obtain an income payments order. to get perhaps another £50-£80 a month more. Especially in a case where there isn't going to be a return to creditors.