Can I have some feedback on my SOA please?

Wasabi74

Hello,

I would be grateful for opinions on my SOA please, and whether some of the amounts are too high/too low


No. adults: 1
No. children: 3 (two of them babies)

No car as I sold it a couple of weeks ago for 3K (PS. I'm using a small amount of that money to get a bike as a mode of transport, some clothes for the kids, a small printer for home and replacing a clothes heater that broke a few weeks ago ...... would any of these get me into trouble?).

Some comments on my SOA:

Sky+ - only used for television (broadband access included as part of the rental agreement). No landline at home.

Childcare - Not working at the moment. I am a single parent with no family/support network in the UK and therefore need roughly once a month the services of a babysitter to stay with the younger kids so I'm able to attend things like parent and teacher evenings for my eldest etc.

Presents - I noted £37 monthly but that is too low and unrealistic but I'm trying to stick to the guideline amounts ..... should I increase the amount or leave it as it is?

Spotify - I'm aware this cannot be included on expenditure but, will they make me cancel it or just merely not take it into account in calculations (same for Sky+ if it can't be included)

Holidays/flights - all my family are abroad (I'm not an UK citizen). My parents are elderly and unable to fly, therefore I have included flights for the kids and myself once a year to visit. Would this be accepted by the OR?

Anything else I have missed?

Thank you in advance for all your advice.

Income Type
Monthly Net Income £0
Income Support £313
Child Tax Credit £740
Child Maintenance £563
Housing Benefit £900
Child Benefit £190

Available Cash £2,706




Expenses
Rent £1,395
Electricity £41
Heating £26
Water £35
Clothing/footwear (incl. uniform) £95
Council Tax £25
House Contents Insurance £12
TV License £12
Sky Plus £28
Travel (public transport) £28
Childcare (babysitting) £28
Mobiles (mine and daughter’s) £59
Child expenses (pocket money for one child, school activities) £30
Presents (bdays, Christmas) £37
Medical (contacts, medicines...) £26
Waxing, haircuts £35
(Spotify) £10
Groceries (includes nappies and wipes for two children) £410
Entertainment £50
Holiday/flights £55
Emergency fund £40
Dry cleaning £20
Newspaper, magazines £15

Total Monthly Expenses £2,512


Thank you

mwarby

They can't force you to cancel anything, they just don't include the expenses when working out disposable income.

With sky and similar, worth remembering you can cancel and include debt in your insolvency. Sky also have very good deals for those that really want to cancel(I left last year and constantly get 50% off for a year offers, I was offered more off while cancelling)

mwarby

I'd say your not likely to get entertainment +sky + spotify + presents + flights £180 a month in all.

I'd also say mobile is a bit high.

dancingfairy

Was the car sold substantially below value?
What sort of bike is it? pushbike or motor bike? What sort of price? If it's a motor bike then the OR *may* have an issue with it. I don't know enough about it but I know cars can be a tricky area so research into the bike is recommended. It may be that you are allowed one within a certain budget or for certain reason so you should be prepared. Childrens clothes would be no problem, a printer is probably not essential but is probably quite cheap and a heater is fine too.
In terms of your expenses, how you spend your money is up to you. You may be allowed 400 for food but if you choose to live very cheaply and spend more on say spotify instead then that's fine. The OR will agree the budget with you, how you spend it is up to you. They are not there to micromanage your finances and account for every penny you spend in the supermarket
df

Wasabi74

Thank you both, much appreciated.

The car was sold through Webuyanycar.com; I would have liked to get a bit more but it had a few dents and they discounted quite a bit for those. The bike is a push bike, retail price is about £350. The printer is around £100 with all the required cartridges etc.

mwarby

I think you'll be fine with both of these, the push bike will help keep your expenses down. It may be an issue if the rest of the £3k was seen to be frittered away

Brock_and_Roll

On the face of it, there is almost £3,000 per annum here of "non-essential" spending here (Sky, Mobiles, Presents, Hols, Dry cleaning, spotify, mags, Ents). Some of this may be allowed, some not and some might have to be re-classified.

Are you sure you are going down the right route re bankruptcy?

If you do go bankrupt, will you really change your spending habits given that at present you rely mostly on state benefits and partially on maintenance which cannot always be relied upon?

tigerfeet2006

Wasabi74 wrote: »

Hello,

I would be grateful for opinions on my SOA please, and whether some of the amounts are too high/too low


No. adults: 1
No. children: 3 (two of them babies)

No car as I sold it a couple of weeks ago for 3K (PS. I'm using a small amount of that money to get a bike as a mode of transport, some clothes for the kids, a small printer for home and replacing a clothes heater that broke a few weeks ago ...... would any of these get me into trouble?).

Some comments on my SOA:

Sky+ - only used for television (broadband access included as part of the rental agreement). No landline at home.

Childcare - Not working at the moment. I am a single parent with no family/support network in the UK and therefore need roughly once a month the services of a babysitter to stay with the younger kids so I'm able to attend things like parent and teacher evenings for my eldest etc.

Presents - I noted £37 monthly but that is too low and unrealistic but I'm trying to stick to the guideline amounts ..... should I increase the amount or leave it as it is?

Spotify - I'm aware this cannot be included on expenditure but, will they make me cancel it or just merely not take it into account in calculations (same for Sky+ if it can't be included)

Holidays/flights - all my family are abroad (I'm not an UK citizen). My parents are elderly and unable to fly, therefore I have included flights for the kids and myself once a year to visit. Would this be accepted by the OR?

Anything else I have missed?

Thank you in advance for all your advice.

Income Type
Monthly Net Income £0
Income Support £313
Child Tax Credit £740
Child Maintenance £563
Housing Benefit £900
Child Benefit £190

Available Cash £2,706




Expenses
Rent £1,395
Electricity £41
Heating £26
Water £35
Clothing/footwear (incl. uniform) £95
Council Tax £25
House Contents Insurance £12
TV License £12
Sky Plus £28 (As this is the basic package then this is 9/10 acceptable)
Travel (public transport) £28
Childcare (babysitting) £28 (Just put it down as childcare.)

Mobiles (mine and daughter’s) £59
Child expenses (pocket money for one child, school activities) £30 (just put it down as other childrens expenses and also add £5 per child per week for activities for the other 2)
Presents (bdays, Christmas) £37 (This is usually an non allowable expense but some OR's let it go. So leave and see.)
Medical (contacts, medicines...) £26
Waxing, haircuts £35 (just put as hair cuts)
(Spotify) £10 (Not allowed on SoA but you can use a £10 from else where to pay for it if you don't want to cancel it.)
Groceries (includes nappies and wipes for two children) £410 £530
Entertainment £50 (see presents)
Holiday/flights £55 (Just put as holiday)
Emergency fund £40
Dry cleaning £20
Newspaper, magazines £15(Not allowed comes from housekeeping)

Total Monthly Expenses £2,512


Thank you

Have a play with that.

Your utilities are low, will that cover winter payments?

Wasabi74

The reliance on benefits is due to me being unable to work (full time childcare fees for two children just don't make it viable). I'll return to work in 1.5 years in which my financial situation will improve; hence me going for BR instead of an IVA (three years vs. five of paying a large portion of my earning back). An IVA was initially dismissed as there wasn't any surplus income to give to the creditors. This has now changed since I sold the car (car park space, fuel, insurance etc expenses are now not relevant).

Tiger - thank you for your notes, very helpful too. It's a small place and very well insulated. I'm lucky in that my bills are not as high as they could be :-).

Wasabi74

Re childcare .... would I be able to increase the amount to £40 even though I'm not working, due to the reasons explained on my original post? It's a more reasonable amount and would give me some room in months were there are more than one school event that I need to attend (likely especially when my youngest kids start school next year too).

Thank you

tigerfeet2006

Go for it. As you are on benefits the OR cannot give you an IPA so you don't have to worry too much. They just want to see you are not spending in a silly way.