grocery money

Bella_Smythe

what is an acceptable or allowable grocery (food, toiletries, cleaning stuff) allowance for two adults? ive been told everything between £330 and £505. we have to eat healthy as my husband has raised cholesterol and i have type 2 diabetes (even though neither of us is overweight lol!!!!)

izools

£180 per person per calendar month unless there are extenuating circumstances e.g. special medially-backed dietary requirements which you have.

In this instance there is no set figure but you must be able to justify the figure if it is in excess of £180/PCM/PP.

meg72

I do not have any experience in this but 180 per person seems rather generous. I had a friend who was in this situation and I dont think she was allowed this much.

rossireps

i have reactive hypoglycemea and spend £100 a month on food,bit more for shampoo etc

lilybankrupt

Don't forget though that this isn't just food - it's cleaning, loo roll, toiletries, lightbulbs, over the counter meds such as Nurofen, tampax etc etc. Also it's the only place where you can cover emergencies such as needing a new kettle.

I've been told that £250, or maybe a bit less, should be OK for a single person, so I would think £350 would be fine for a couple.

But I reckon Debt Doctor is the one to ask!

22bear

well I'm 3 months (today in fact!) into my bankruptcy as a single person and just started paying my IPA...I too have a Consultant-confirmed medical condition (one which is covered under the Disability and Equality Acts as a progressive condition) and I was allowed £350 per month for my groceries, my OR accepted that without any quibble whatsoever. I submitted a letter from my medical consultant which confirmed my condition and my greater need for higher quality food, toiletries, bedding and such like, and the OR was totally fine with that

So my advice is that you do the same..get a letter from your physician, and claim for the upper limit that you have been advised at if that is what you require

I totally agree with Lily: when people hear the word "groceries" they just limit their thinking to food, but it's so much more than that and the previous posters on this thread advocating £100-£180 need to bear in mind that groceries means a lot more than just food!

Hope this helps!

debt_doctor

Hi,

I certainly think £300 ish is ok for housekeeping for a single person - and £500 for a couple.
Such figures are accepted without question in a DRO (which I process every week) and according to the IS, "DROs are for the poorest in our society to obtain debt relief" - so if those figures are deemed to be for the poorest, they scrape the bottom end of 'reasonable' in my opinion - and 'reasonable needs' is the test for IPAs in bankruptcy as per the Insolvency Act 1986.

DD

Mmusic

The OR set mine at £400 for a couple living together. I find thats based on their guidelines. We've tried to bring household expenditure inline with that buts its not east. I estimate our monthly spend to be around £500 and i think that is reasonable.

Mmusic

The cost of food it quite scary though. My partner doesn't eat meat so we don't bother buying it at all now. Most of our grocery spend goes on fruit and vegetables.


I've started growing my own in the garden, might step up production next year!

luvchocolate

I spend £200 but thats all I have available, I live alone an extra £50 would make all the difference.....but I work full time and hope one day to earn a bit more...but I manage not complaining xx