Advice about my IVA please...

SG_28

Hello,

I am currently in an IVA and have been for 2 years. I have recently moved in with my partner and I am wondering if anyone know if it will affect my IVA at all?

I used to be a single parent on working tax etc but I dont claim for anything anymore. I just get my normal salary and my child benefit. So my income has gone down. I am about to send off all my pay slips etc as my annual review is up and I know I am gonig to have to put in my new income and expenditure in the table.

I am hoping that my partner will not have to be included in my IVA as the arragement is ongoing and has been for 2 years. Does anyone know?

Many thanks

FoggyBrain_2

Hi. His income will be considered as it will affect the amount of household expenses. He will be expected to contribute to the expenses in proportion to his salary, which will increase your disposable income. However, some of that increase will be taken up by the increase in expenditure caused by the need to house another adult.

That all said, if you are with Payplan, they could take a different approach, as they calculate disposable income on household income.

SG_28

Thank you for your reply. I think I have got myself into a bit of bother with it all. My IVA co only contact me annually and I always start to get stressed when they do.

I dont mind paying more into my IVA I was just hoping that my partners income would not have to be included as I only pay him rent every month. I have no idea how much his bills are or what he earns...

FoggyBrain_2

If you pay him rent each month take the line that you are lodging, or house sharing. That way, as far as your IVA goes, he has nothing to do with you financially, apart from taking rent !

SG_28

Thank you! I was thinking along the same lines but wasn't sure I could use that.

One more thing which is worrying me, as I used to claim working tax credits and no longer do -will they not assume he is a partner and want to know his income etc as I don't claim those benefits anymore?

On my last review I sent all documents with a covering letter stating that I has increased my hours at work but also my outgoings had increased. I did not hear back from them so assumed it was fine. Now on my latest review they have still got my income as my old income... I has sent them copies of my new benefit award notice etc. And even called them to confirm receipt which they said they had received. I am worrying about this too. I am just hoping that this is just an admin error on their part and that someone forgot to change my income on the I&E form.

FoggyBrain_2

I am not sure about the tax credit side of things. Depending on the size of the company and their workload, they might not even make the connection.

However, as I mentioned above, as long as your not with Payplan they should have no call on your partner's wage, other than assessing his share of the expenses.

SG_28

I am not with PayPlan. Thank you so much for all your help.

I will gather all my info and send it over to them and hope for the best.

SG_28

Hi, sorry to message you about this again. I was wondering how they would assess my partners share of the expenses? Will they want to see evidence of bills etc or do you think they would be hapoy with a letter from him confirming that he takes money from me each month for rent and bills?

FoggyBrain_2

It depends on how you describe your relationship to your IP. If you are house sharing they will want confirmation from your partner of the rent you are paying, and this will form part of your expenses. If you tell them you are a couple they will need evidence of his income and the various bills and will split them pro-rata between you. They will assume that if, say , he earns twice as much as you he will be paying a bigger share of the bills in relation to his pay.