Benefits v Job on an IPA

SomebodyToldMe

Dear all,

Has anyone had a weigh up if would be better to be on benefits or getting a job while 'serving time' on an IPA?

Any non- sanctimonious advice- from anyone who has experienced an IPA while working/ benefits would be useful

thanks
stm

alastairq

How long has the IPA got left to run?

TheGardener

Hi
It kind of depends on your circumstances and how much you earn. As a rudimentary rule of thumb; an income of £25K gross for a small family (so receive a small amount of child tax credits) and all standard expenditure stuff like a car, rent/mortgage, utilities etc and its unlikely you will have an IPA at all other than a NT tax IPA.

debt_doctor

TheGardener wrote: »

Hi
It kind of depends on your circumstances and how much you earn. As a rudimentary rule of thumb; an income of £25K gross for a small family (so receive a small amount of child tax credits) and all standard expenditure stuff like a car, rent/mortgage, utilities etc and its unlikely you will have an IPA at all other than a NT tax IPA.

I would broadly agree with that, the deciding factor perhaps being the housing costs.


DD

geek_girl

SomebodyToldMe wrote: »

Dear all,

Has anyone had a weigh up if would be better to be on benefits or getting a job while 'serving time' on an IPA?

Any non- sanctimonious advice- from anyone who has experienced an IPA while working/ benefits would be useful

thanks
stm

I didn't go on benefits but I chose to spend my br year studying for my masters - was prepaid by the company I used to be a director of but which I volunteered for for the year

Zero IPA

I know of a few people who delayed a pay rise by hanging a word in the bosses ear and getting it all as a bonus after the br year

Depends on the sums

debt_doctor

geek_girl wrote: »

I didn't go on benefits but I chose to spend my br year studying for my masters - was prepaid by the company I used to be a director of but which I volunteered for for the year

Zero IPA

I know of a few people who delayed a pay rise by hanging a word in the bosses ear and getting it all as a bonus after the br year

Depends on the sums

If a regime is oppressive (as I believe the more recent IPA rules have become) then this is how people engineer a way out - probably the same people who would have been prepared to pay a reasonable amount, but not the draconian amount that I see being 'requested' by OR's these days with no spare cash for the bankrupt. Self defeating policy.


DD

SomebodyToldMe

Thanks guys...currently in a council house, 3 kids, wife works P/T- reason for my BR is ill health- but would love to do my old job with good salary
Only income is wife salary, child benefit & child tax credit....
Love to work- but after years of banks wearing my wages down with their huge charges, penalties etc- want a clean slate without paying the scums anything ...IPA yet to be determined- guessing 3 years
I was also thinking studying/ P/T work while 'term served' provided we can live off benefits.....

TheGardener

Perhaps its worth doing an SOA based on your potential salary if you went back to work - there are some online tools to do that if you look on the stickies at the top of the board. Based on the brief description you give, I think and IPA is not going to happen, the OR is not allowed to take income derived from benefits.

Louk

This is one area that has me a little confused an dumbfounded, please correct me if I am wrong but the way I see it is that someone who doesn't get an IPA can look to improve their financial situation as soon as they are discharged without having to pay anything back at any stage. Someone who does get an IPA cannot improve their situation until their IPA ends as the IPA will take any more extra income earned in that time.... I think I am on the borderline for an IPA... A single mother on several benefits but also working part time at a stage where in the near future, due to child going to school full time I'd be able to improve things but it won't be worth doing...

Louk

I'm not saying that money shouldn't be paid back but perhaps a nil IPA should be applied to those who at the point of going bankrupt can't afford repayments. It wouldn't be fair if 1 day after discharge 2 bankrupts won the lotto and the one with an IPA had to pay money to the OR while the other who didn't have an IPA didn't.... Would it?

TheGardener

Hi

Louk wrote: »

...I think I am on the borderline for an IPA... A single mother on several benefits but also working part time at a stage where in the near future, due to child going to school full time I'd be able to improve things but it won't be worth doing...

With part-time earnings and benefits it doesn't sound like you would get an IPA to me - I work fulltime at just below the average national salary with one child and a bit of tax credits and I didn't get one - just the Nil Tax code.
When you go back to work the chances are your before and after school + school holiday childcare will cost you far more than you think. I know I under estimated that cost

Lordy, I wish life was 'fair' but it aint. and yes, you are right - if you get an IPA you are going to lose more in the long run - but lets face it - it will still be a lot less than if you hadn't gone BR.