Help with I&E please

fiveyearplan

My daughter is in temporary accommodation and has to fill in an income and expenditure before they will house her. She has a 2 year old daughter and a 10 month old son. She is solely on benefits and doesn't receive any money from the children's father so she certainly doesn't have much surplus.

What we need help with is how much she should put on her form for things like food, household goods, car costs, laundry, clothing & shoes and leisure spending. All these are are listed on the form (along with many other things that don't pertain to her situation. I don't want to put the bare minimum or to try and budget to the bones or something that isn't realistic.

If she has too much surplus (which is highly unlikely!) they will expect her to go in to private rented accommodation however in London this will be very difficult to get anything that she could afford. She is in college part time and won't be in a position to go back to work until the youngest is at nursery - probably 15 months or so.

Thanks for your help and advice.

[Deleted User]

The only way really is to tell it as it is, if her is income is 100% benefits then there shouldn't be much spare, why doesn't the father pay any maintenance?

fiveyearplan

She plans on 'telling it like it is' however how much is reasonable to spend on clothes and shoes per month (bearing in mind her children are very young and growing out of clothes and shoes frequently) for the 3 of them. How much is reasonable to spend on food etc.

I'm sure I've seen some kind of I&E that is generally accepted as average costs for these things which is why I've come on this board to ask. I don't think my daughter would have a clue how much she actually spends on these things as she doesn't keep records of that nature.

Any help gratefully received - thanks.

Placitasgirl

I think the information you mention you've seen in comments on Statements of Affairs (or SOAs) which people post on the bankruptcy board for comment. Have a read through the previous threads by searching for SOA in this or the bankruptcy board for some guidance.

fiveyearplan

Thank you Placitasgirl.

MrsTinks

It's a tricky one and you're potentially better off posting this on the benefits board to be honest. A DMP which is what we would be more likely to base a budget for (or IVA) can be a little different in nature as it's not about how much you're entitled to, it's people trying to repay their debts as fast as possible so we would try to cut things down to the bone where possible.

I don't personally know if benefits would work out more or less generous than a bunch of hard core DFW'ers...

If this was a DMP situation I would say you can manage one amazingly little money for clothes and food - part will also depend on if she uses formula or breast feeds the youngest still to supplement their food. If she cooks from scratch and freezes baby meals or if she relies on jars etc.

Clothes - buy second hand - at that age they are in and out of a size so quickly it's barely worth buying anything new. I picked up sacks of clothes on the local FB groups and ebay for £5 then when she had out grown it I would sell it for near enough the same as I originally paid.
This goes for toys etc too.

I've seen figures bandied about that £200 is a reasonable amount per month for groceries and sundries for a single person - £80 additional per child per month. That should apparently cover clothes, food, toiletries and presents etc that we normally budget separately for. It wouldn't include things like heating and bills.

I don't think there is a definitive "what you can reasonably expect to get allowed" but this is why I'm saying you probably need to post it on the benefits board for more expert help on that situation.

determined_new_ms

I recently helped some with a a Discretionary Housing Benefit application and was advised the rates the la allows are £5 pp pw for clothes and food I think was £20pp pw and advised additional £15 per child, factor I real costs for formula and nappies.

The idea would be to match her income with her outgoings or in a deficit. Also be advised even though she is hoping to be housed in temp accommodation the reality is her long term options will be to rent privately. You can wait in excess of 30 years on the housing register in some parts of London and still not be housed. A lot of people are still in temp housing many years after the authority accepts a duty under homelessness legislation, which is not ideal. Factor this with social housing is now rented for fix term periods of either 1, 2 5 or 7 years and then if you are a high income household (income of more than £31k) then you would be expected to move in private rented accommodation at the end of this period

nkkingston

Can she go back through bank statements to see what she does spend? Presumably she's already budgeting carefully, so it should be a decent reflection of what she needs to spend (rather than what she thinks she can keep it down to, or what she'd love to spend if she won the lottery).

if she's really struggling to figure it out, she should try her local CAB - if they've got money advisers then they'll know what kind of figures the council is expecting to see.

enthusiasticsaver

Even if your daughter does not monitor her spending closely now she should do as this will help with budgeting. Personally we budget for £250 for 2 adults per month but that is food and household and presumably she has nappies and maybe milk to budget for. The majority of us tend to spend within income so it depends very much on her income from benefits and outgoings re fuel - a prepaid meter is more expensive than direct debit and her housing situation, travel will depend where she lives. No one size fits all. What a lot of people have done is put an soa up and ask dfw members to comment.