IPA Advice

helen0961

I'm currently in the process of considering declaring myself bankrupt. I expect to get an IPA as once bankrupt I will have maybe a couple of hundred pound disposable income. My question is, if I decide to move in with my baby's Dad in the next few months, and my benefit claim then becomes a joint claim with him, will all of the payment, or only half, be included in reavaluating the IPA? I will also have to leave my job once maternity ends, due to working hours, what happens then?

Fighter1986

The OR will assess your circumstances as and when they change and you inform them of the change.

The OR cannot asess any income belonging to your other half - therefore if you have a joint income, half will be used to asess your income, and half of all joint household expenses will be used to asess your outgoings. 

Each time your circumstances change, the OR will asess your personal income and your personal expenditure.

Also worth noting is that if your income is made up entirely of state benefits / welfare, an IPA cannot be levvied against it as this would be a breach of the social security act 1992.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/5/section/187/enacted

"Subject to the provisions of this Act, every assignment of or charge on—

(a)benefit as defined in section 122 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

(b)any income-related benefit; or

(c)child benefit,

and every agreement to assign or charge such benefit shall be void; and, on the bankruptcy of a beneficiary, such benefit shall not pass to any trustee or other person acting on behalf of his creditors."