Questions

PippaGirl_2

I've a couple of questions that I haven't seen answered in the 2.5 months since I arrived here.

1. If a man goes BR and he's on a high wage and once he is no longer paying huge debt off monthly will no doubt be paying a significant sum in an IPA for 3 years has a wife who for health reasons only works 18 hours a week in a job where had she worked full time would still only earn her a quarter of the mans wage, would they still be expected to contribute 50% of the household outgoings each? Or is it accepted that due to their desparity of incomes he (who is the BR) would pay more?

2. If someone applies for a job 10/11 months into BR and the whole HR and occupational health process takes forever and the job offer takes a while, is it frowned upon by the OR if that person actually starts the job on a date a day or two after AD? So, are you expected to say to the OR that you are in negotiations for a job prior to AD or is it ok to keep quiet and start soon after?

OutofDebt-NOT-OutofDanger

PippaGirl wrote: »

I've a couple of questions that I haven't seen answered in the 2.5 months since I arrived here.

1. If a man goes BR and he's on a high wage and once he is no longer paying huge debt off monthly will no doubt be paying a significant sum in an IPA for 3 years has a wife who for health reasons only works 18 hours a week in a job where had she worked full time would still only earn her a quarter of the mans wage, would they still be expected to contribute 50% of the household outgoings each? Or is it accepted that due to their desparity of incomes he (who is the BR) would pay more?

Each person will be expected to pay in proportion to their income for joint costs such as rent & council tax e.g. 75/25 providing proof of income of both people are sent to the OR (if no proof is sent then 50/50 is assumed)

2. If someone applies for a job 10/11 months into BR and the whole HR and occupational health process takes forever and the job offer takes a while, is it frowned upon by the OR if that person actually starts the job on a date a day or two after AD? So, are you expected to say to the OR that you are in negotiations for a job prior to AD or is it ok to keep quiet and start soon after? Not totally sure on this one but I believe you need to notify within 21 days of change of circumstances so I would time it from when I had confirmation of securing the job - presumably you won't have confirmation that you have the job until you have successfully completed the HR and OH procedures.

Hope this helps.

PippaGirl_2

Yes that's helpful thanks.

So as long as the offer of a job came less than 21 days before AD you ought to be ok, possibly.

sniggings

The first question I think is down to what you and the OR agree is "reasonable" 50/50 or 75/25 both sound that to me, any IPA is based on reasonable living expenses and is meant to take each case on it's merits, I don't think there is a set answer to that question but I also have wondered that so would love it if someone knew for sure.

The second question I agree with the answer already given, I had cause to ring my OR to inform her about changes and was told to ring back after the change happened.

OutofDebt-NOT-OutofDanger

I would think so as you would be discharged and if no IPA is in place prior to AD then the OR can't attempt one after AD.

tigerfeet2006

The OR will look at the income and if he thinks that the partner is not contributing enough he will ask for proof of income. He then puts it into a calculater which will show the precise percentage of what each person should contribute.

r710

Hi,

I'm curious about the first question too. My husband is soon to go bankrupt and I currently work part time, so my husband pays more towards rent/bills etc. I've been offered the chance to increase my hours but all I can see is that the extra income I generate will be put towards my husband's IPA. Realise morally my husband owes his creditors but given he was a sole trader and suffered with the recession, and the only reason we are in this position is due to the loss of his business, I am loathe to take on the extra hours knowing it won't benefit my children financially because my percentage to the household will be expected to increase. My work are expecting me to take on the extra hours, so seems I'll end up working these hours essentially for no financial gain for the family. I just can't accept that increasing my hours, seemingly a good move for me professionally, will leave the family no better off.

It's really getting me down and I'm stalling giving a final decision to work. Anyone have any thoughts or advice to help me view it differently?

OutofDebt-NOT-OutofDanger

You'd need to calculate the effect of the extra hours - you should end up better off just not to the same extent as if your DH wasn't BR. Remember it's only the joint expenses that the OR will look at - anything that is his own expenses such as travel will remain 100% his responsibility.

Link to IPA calculator kindly provided by Ferni in post 14.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1116295

Try putting the figures in based on your incomes now and what you expect them to be with the extra hours and compare the amount that you are expected to contribute towards the household expenses.

debtinfo

r710 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm curious about the first question too. My husband is soon to go bankrupt and I currently work part time, so my husband pays more towards rent/bills etc. I've been offered the chance to increase my hours but all I can see is that the extra income I generate will be put towards my husband's IPA. Realise morally my husband owes his creditors but given he was a sole trader and suffered with the recession, and the only reason we are in this position is due to the loss of his business, I am loathe to take on the extra hours knowing it won't benefit my children financially because my percentage to the household will be expected to increase. My work are expecting me to take on the extra hours, so seems I'll end up working these hours essentially for no financial gain for the family. I just can't accept that increasing my hours, seemingly a good move for me professionally, will leave the family no better off.

It's really getting me down and I'm stalling giving a final decision to work. Anyone have any thoughts or advice to help me view it differently?

It would depend on how you measure being better off, if you measure it only by the number of wordly goods you will be able to buy next week then you are better of not taking on any extra hours, if you measure it by career progress, usefullness to your employer, example to your children etc then you might be better of taking them, in any event teh OR will never tell anybody that they should be doing a certain number of hours or anything like that, they simply assess the situation as it stands.

Other than that OODNOOD's (have you considered a snappier username btw:)) original answers were spot on

r710

PippaGirl, sorry to have hi-jacked your thread.

Thanks for the replies to my predicament. I will take a closer look at the figures. Just seems quite a task to determine what expenses are his, mine and household, given that although thankfully we never had joint accounts, our money and expenses were shared. We've not looked at things this way until now.

debtinfo - I do hear what you say about the career progression and the longer term goal. I'm not so sure about the increased hours suggesting a better example to my children, but take on board that I'd be taking an opportunity offered to me. I'm not wanting the extra for material things per say, an example is that to date, we have no life insurance, pensions, small savings in case something goes wrong, money to send my child on a residential school trip.. I'm not sure I explained that well in my post. If I take the hours on, which as I said, I'm prepared to do if I can start to use the money to secure a few things for the family, but increasing will be to my children's detriment so I guess it's a question of how you measure this stuff, and a decision only I can make. I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

colmac71

HI just a quick response to this one
I was earning approx 35k a year and my IPA was approx £490 a month
Regards,