Our BR Diary, from start to finish......

Scarlett.1974

fermi wrote: »

I queried the inclusion of Child Tax Credit with the IS the other day, and was told that it should be counted towards an IPA as long as their is a significant amount of income not comprised of benefits.

Plus, the most up to date version of the TM on the IS Intranet seems to have dropped the "similar benefits" part from that section. The public version available to us is out of date (which is nothing unusual).

This is the frustrating part - what do they class as "significant"?

fermi

Scarlett.1974 wrote: »

This is the frustrating part - what do they class as "significant"?

If an IPA is to be sought, any surplus should be less than or equal to income from the source other than benefits. It should be remembered that whilst the bankrupt's total income (including state benefits) should be included in the calculation of surplus income, it is the income from sources other than the benefit(s) which is providing the payments under the IPA/IPO, which is why an IPA should only be sought to the extent of the non benefit income.

In other words, any surplus can't be any more than the earned income.

Scarlett.1974

fermi wrote: »

In other words, any surplus can't be any more than the earned income.

Ah, thanks Fermi, I missed that bit

So, taking away my arguments about the child benefit etc...... the figures would be correct then? My wage will drop to £400. They think I have a surplus of £320, wanting half of that for the IPA.

debt_doctor

Yes, you can quote that Scarlett- actually they are quoting themselves !

The only way that can be altered is if the high court decision has been reviewed.

Good luck

DD

Scarlett.1974

debt_doctor wrote: »

Yes, you can quote that Scarlett- actually they are quoting themselves !

The only way that can be altered is if the high court decision has been reviewed.

Good luck

DD

Thank you :T

fermi

Scarlett.1974 wrote: »

Ah, thanks Fermi, I missed that bit

So, taking away my arguments about the child benefit etc...... the figures would be correct then? My wage will drop to £400. They think I have a surplus of £320, wanting half of that for the IPA.

The surplus will be:

Surplus = Total income - Benefits not counted for an IPA - Allowed expenditure.

So how much surplus is available for an IPA depends on which benefits they will/won't count. The maximum it can be is the figure for earned income, but would normally be less.

I haven't got your I&E to hand, but you can work out what the consequences are of including/excluding each type of benefit.

Scarlett.1974

Incoming:
H incapacity benefit - £310
My salary - £758 (net) - dropping to £400 from next week.
Tax Credit - £593 - this is made up of approx. £530 CTC and £63 WT
DLA (son) - £186
DLA (H) - £147
Child Benefit - £131
Maintenance for son - £120
Total - £2250

Outgoing
Rent - £620
Council tax - £105
Gas - £45
Electric - £27
Water - £39
Contents Insurance - £6
TV Licence - £11
Petrol - £40 (we won't have a car, the one we have now is on finance and we're not paying it so they can re-posess it. This cost is for H to borrow my Dad's car at the weekends to collect and drop off his son who lives 25 miles away)
Car insurance - £20 (as above, to be added onto my Dad's insurance)
BT phone - £55
My mobile - £18
Pet insurance - £5
Food / Housekeeping - £450
Clothing - £145
Holidays - £80
Hairdressing - £30
Pets - £15
Care needs son - £186 - didn't allow
Care needs H - £147 - didn't allow
Child costs and expenses - £131 - didn't allow
Christmas/birthdays - £20 - didn't allow
Personal expenses - £20 - didn't allow
Total - £2215


This is the exact I&E we submitted. I've added in red what the OR disregarded. But, the confusing thing is, those come to £500ish, so a lot more than the £320 he mentioned when he talked of the IPA for £160

What's frustrating is that apart from clothing, I didn't put any childrens' expenses down, like after school activities, pocket money, birthday party costs, school trips (of which there are plenty!) etc..... because I thought they would all be included in the 'child costs & expenses'.

The other thing that confused me was I didn't think that he could include H's DLA because his only source of income is his benefits. But it seems that the OR has looked at our I&E completely jointly, instead of individually.

fermi

Scarlett.1974 wrote: »

Care needs son - £186 - didn't allow
Care needs H - £147 - didn't allow
Child costs and expenses - £131 - didn't allow

Ok.

Excluding those from your allowable expenses, but at the same time including the benefits that are paid specifically for that purpose as income is UNACCEPTABLE.

On those figures, asking for an IPA looks out of order to me.:mad:

If your examiner insists on one, then definitely appeal/challenge it.

Scarlett.1974

fermi wrote: »

Ok.

Excluding those from your allowable expenses, but at the same time including the benefits that are paid specifically for that purpose as income is UNACCEPTABLE.

On those figures, asking for an IPA looks out of order to me.:mad:

If your examiner insists on one, then definitely appeal/challenge it.

I definitely, absolutely will, no question of that.

Wonder how long it will take them to get in touch......

fermi

Scarlett.1974 wrote: »

I definitely, absolutely will, no question of that.

Wonder how long it will take them to get in touch......

That's one of those "How long is a piece of string?" questions.