Employment

learningtheropes

Hi Everyone,

Firstly just like to praise the members of this board for help in the past and Im going to need some guidance again,

I am currently employed but my company is struggling quite badly and a good friend of mine is one of the company directors has warned me that staff numbers are going to be reduced and as I only started in Aug I will be one of the first to be let off and I dont qualify for redundancy due to my contract stating 1 year of employment minimum.

If i am let go I will struggle to gain employment in my current sector and i dont have any skills in other areas so I fear new employment could be a struggle.

My wife is on maternity leave from a good job at the moment and can earn enough to support us if she returns to work early however I was advised that my wife should stay off work whilst im undischarged to avoid household income increasing and being subject to an IPA,

Question is if me and my wife swapped roles and I looked after our child and she worked would my OR want to investigate her finances and gain a IPA from her as its classed as household income???

dancingfairy

I don't know the answer to the question but if you do loose your job (and it's an if) at the moment then I presume it will depend on IF and when you find a new job. If you can't find a job then your options will be to both be off work orforher to return to work. It sounds like it might be better for your wife to go back to work in that case ? Surely an IPA is only based on surplus income anyway?
When did you go bankrupt?
df

alastairq

Question is if me and my wife swapped roles and I looked after our child and she worked would my OR want to investigate her finances and gain a IPA from her as its classed as household income???

The OR is mainly interested in your own income.... regarding your OH? The OR will need to know what percentage of the household expenditure your OH will contribute.

If the OR does not know your OH's actual income [not mandatory to tell them]...then the OR can assume OH contributes at least 50% of household expenditure.

If you are unemployed, then it is taken that all your benefits [whatever they are] will contribute..with your OH making up the rest.

AN IPA cannot be sought against the total family income.....but solely against the BR individual....so if a surplus of income is identified, it is because the OR has deemed your own income and contribution to be sufficient to leave a surplus.

As I said, on unemployment benefits, there would be no surplus.

learningtheropes

I dont currently have an IPA in place however if my wife returns to work her annual income is almost double mine so I was concerned that my OR would want to take money from her earnings as they will be deemed more than sufficient.

IF I lose my job it will likely to be within the next 2/3 months and my AD is early december.

debt_doctor

learningtheropes wrote: »

Question is if me and my wife swapped roles and I looked after our child and she worked would my OR want to investigate her finances and gain a IPA from her as its classed as household income???

Hi, no, an IPA can only be taken from the bankrupts spare income.
If you had no income, that would = no IPA.
If you only had benefit income, that would = no IPA.

If you had no income or only benefit income then it would not matter how much income your wife had - there would be no IPA.

EDIT I presume only you are BR?

DD

learningtheropes

Good Morning All,

Yes its only me who is BR,

This is all a big IF however when a company is running at a loss its only a matter of time before cut backs are made and as previously stated I work in a very niche sector and jobs are not readily available.

Thanks for your responses as always you have all been very helpful

learningtheropes

Evening All,

Well the inevitable has happened I have just returned home from work after being informed that the company is going to be making cutbacks and jobs will be lost.

Now I have a slightly different dilemma to my original post as I have been offered a job role working in the industry but I will have to become a soletrader and work on temp contracts only.

Anyone had any first hand of experience in starting as a sole trader whilst undischarged? from what i can see on the forum its not illegal for me to set up as a sole trader if im only using my own name.... is this right?

Everytime i take on a new contract will i have to make the customer aware that I am bankrupt?

Many Thanks