sorry people more advice please

deanh1981

hello again, sorry to keep posting asking for help, but i get more help from you lot than anybody at CAB etc

Essentially without various benefits etc me and wife are bringing in a paltry £712 a month (we are getting our rent and council tax paid apart from £56 a month of council tax arrears)

so im trying to fill out my income and expenditure form - i know its all supposed to be my outgoings but at the mo we are getting money in bits and bobs were just using what we have between us to pay everything that we need to... so this is what i have can you all just look at it and offer any advice what to change etc

all figures monthly

my income £130 (JSA)
My wifes £307 (maternity allowance,stops in february)
Child Benefit £130
child Tax credit £145
total - £712

rent - £0 (currently housing benefit paying in full)
Council Tax £56 (arreras from previous years hoping to put in BR but this is in joint names)
Gas and Electric £100 ( guessing as we are so far in arrears and including in BR so not sure what to put here as they wants hundreds at the moment)
Car Insurance - £68
Payplan - £30 (currently in a joint DMP my stuff will becoming out,my wifes staying in a plan)
Phones - £100 ( this is both mobiles,and mobile broadband dongle)
TV Licence- £30 (behind with this at the moment, not even sure if we have one anymore-so may require one payment in full)
Water - £30
Housekeeping - £220 (nowhere near enough for a family of 4)
Petrol £80 (again nowhere near enough)

Total £714

and thats it really theres no allowances for clothes,haircuts,the housekeeping and petrol is short, no emergency fund, no car tax or maintenance,cancelled all life insurances etc, virgin media is going in BR so thats not included in the list,

Does this seem acceptable? or do I need to adjustobviosly when im back in work, the housekeeping will goup and we will get life and contents cover again, and also add in haircuts and all that jazz but for now does this seem reasonable?

thansk in advance

Ineedaname

As all your income is made up from benefits you won't be subject to an IPA, so all you have to do is put down what you spend.

However, you don't put down your wife's full income regardless. Who receives the CTC and CB? If it is your wife and you only receive JSA in your account then put down your JSA as your income and the amount from your wife's income which she contributes towards the joint household expenditure. Obviously, if that works out all of it at the present time then pop it all down. You need to inclue HB as well and then rent to go out, even if it's paid direct to your landlord.

Next, add expenditure up in order of priority, so rent, utility bills, groceries and then if there's any money left over, whatever else you need to pay for like phone. At the end, it just needs not to be showing a negative, no worries if there's a bit of surplus because as said above, you won't be subject to an IPA on benefits anyway.

The council tax arrears - is that £56 per month? If it's a debt then don't include it on your BR SOA. If it's still enforceable after you have gone BR then you should be able to renegotiate to a much lower figure.
Gas & electric - you should be able to find out how much is arrears and how much your actual monthly bill - just ring them up, no need to say why you want to know apart from "sorting the finances".
The DMP - don't include that as you won't be paying it after BR. Your wife will have to fund her DMP herself, you won't be given any allowance towards it.
Phones - again, not your wife's costs, this is an SOA for you going BR.
TV Licence - ring them up and find out how much the arrears are, might be able to include them in your BR. BUT, make sure you are licenced by continuing to pay the £12.?? pcm that it should be, even if that means cancelling on the day of BR and then setting it up again.
The car is your wife's so you shouldn't be putting anything down for that on your SOA.

If you want to then pop it up again using this SOA, format it for MSE at the bottom, and members can comment further tomorrow.

dojoman

As you are not working, you could find it difficult to keep your car, but as already suggested it would be best to post a full SOA up and then maybe we could help you more.


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