PIP for paying off debts?

Fuzzycat93

My partner gets PIP for PTSD and OCD. He has been working with a debt advisor to manage his debts. The debt advisor has prepared a financial statement and says we have £379 disposable income but has included the PIP (£490) as income. Is this right? It doesn't seem right that he should be expected to use this to pay off his debts. She's also included my Carer's allowance but the debts are unsecured debts in his name only.

Rob5342

Debt camel has an article on this - they should either include the pip and the expenses it covers or leave them both out:

https://debtcamel.co.uk/should-i-include-dla-money-in-my-incomeexpenditure-sheet/

Fuzzycat93

Do you know if this also applies in Scotland? And are there any guidelines on this issue? Thanks. 

Fuzzycat93

Sorry I should have explained more. His only income is from a student nurse bursary and his PIP. I get Carer's allowance and we get a small amount of UC (just over £100 a month). I've read the debt camel article (it was the only one I could find) but I'm not clear on what's what because I live in Scotland and we have different debt/bankruptcy arrangements. My partner would prefer a MAP (Minimal Asset Process) arrangement but the debt advisor says he has too much disposable income. The other thing is that he's waiting for an operation which will require significant time off from his course to recover from, and then he won't get the bursary, only UC, which would make it difficult to stick to a debt payment plan. I hope this makes sense. 

DjangoUnchained

change your debt advisor

sourcrates

PIP, or DLA, are benefits designed to help you with care and/or mobility costs.

You should deal with them as per Debt Camel guidelines, in the income section you list your PIP/DLA, in the expenditure section you list an equivalent amount for care/mobility costs.

PIP is not there to be used for debt repayment, wherever you may live.

You should only take debt advice from one of the free to access debt charities such as Stepchange/Payplan and CAB/National Debtline, and don`t be afraid to question anything you may not agree with, most of the time they give you opinion, rather than facts.

Fuzzycat93

Thank you. He has emailed CAB to get a second opinion because this feels very wrong. His debt advisor is a money advisor from the local council, so we thought should be ok. He's also queried her advice but no reply as yet. If she sticks to her guns, we may make a complaint. 

Fuzzycat93

As an aside, he gets PIP for a mental health condition. So it's difficult to list an equivalent amount of disability costs (he gets £490). We can list some things he finds therapeutic but not that much. 

sourcrates

Fuzzycat93 said:

Thank you. He has emailed CAB to get a second opinion because this feels very wrong. His debt advisor is a money advisor from the local council, so we thought should be ok. He's also queried her advice but no reply as yet. If she sticks to her guns, we may make a complaint. 

Debt advice is like opinion, sometimes it differs depending on who you ask.

Its real simple, you just list what he gets in income, so £490.
You then list "care expense's", as £490, no need for further detail on what exactly its spent on, it`s no one else`s business but yours.

There are no hard and fast rules, only guidelines, unless your taking an insolvency solution, then things are a bit more formal, but basic debt management has no rules other than basic fairness to all, so if you want to include the PIP, you can, if you don`t then you also have that choice too.

If you want to give us a little bit more info on your circumstances, for example how much debt you have, are you a homeowner or renting, what type of debts they are and what default dates are for each account, we might be able to help further.

Suseka97

Hopefully the CAB will set things straight, but it's clear that the PIP is not there to service debts, it exists to cover the care expenses (as has been said).  Unfortunately this 'money advisor' isn't a proper debt counsellor and so has got this wrong and it's good you've sought clarity from the CAB.   I wouldn't pursue any further advice from the local council rep.