BR and being on benefits

[pinkprincessangel]

Hi all,

 

I declared myself bankrupt on the 29th September 2009, and have the interview with the OR on the 6th October 2009, I've been looking through different threads and had some of my fears put at ease by them but I have one worry that seems not to have been covered. I'm on Income Support and in receipt of Child Benefit, Child Tax Credits, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, and am also receiving CSA. Some threads state that the benefits meant for my daughter (CTC, CB and CSA) will be taken into account. I thought these wouldnt be included as they are designed to support my child. Income Support is stated as the minimum a person can live on, so I'm worried that they'll take money that I cant afford to be without. We get by ok on the money as it stands but I dont think we'd manage on less. I had a look at the typical expenditure and i dont want to come across as making excess on my outgoings to the OR, because I do spend the money. I have prepayment meters for gas and elec so no proof of how much I put in, I pay TV licence and water rates, and I have 1 luxury which is my broadband. Any ideas on what to expect and if I'll have to live on beans until my BR is discharged?

 

Thanks in advance

[loobyloo85]

Hi

 

The OR will take a realistic household income and expenditure from you. The benefits that you are receiving will probably be cancelled out by any expenses for your children including housekeeping. If you need a certain expense within your budget, as long as it can be justified it should be fine to include these. You should not need to worry about living off beans and toast, as nice as it is xx

[phat256]

iof your incoem is made solely from benefit then no IPA should be done unless you deciued to make voluntary payment. However if you work they do take account chidl tax credit and so on when calculating surplus available.

 

here we go an extract form the technical manual

An IPA should not be sought where the bankrupt's only source of income is state benefit. In the context of this chapter "state benefits” refers to all forms of income supplement and support provided by central or local government including, but not limited to: income support, job seekers allowance, disability living allowances, incapacity benefit, council tax benefit, housing benefit, state retirement benefit, child benefit and all forms of tax credit (child, working and pension).

The official receiver should not automatically discount the possibility of obtaining a contribution from a bankrupt who is in receipt of benefit. The person making the income and expenditure calculation (usually the examiner) should initially ascertain whether the bankrupt is also in receipt of non-benefit income. If this is the case, an IPA should be considered, the total income should be established (see other income sources at paragraph 31.7.7) including state benefits and the bankrupt's reasonable expenses deducted (see paragraph 31.7.19) to cover his/her reasonable domestic needs. An assessment can then be made as to whether the bankrupt has a surplus real disposable income. If an IPA is to be sought, the amount any payment should be less than the income from the source other than benefits. Examples of calculations can be found at Annex A. 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 from non benefit income.

[pinkprincessangel]

so in essence they wont really touch state supplied benefits but they could take my daughters CSA money as its not state supplied?

[Wintry]

Hi Pink

 

With income support claims everyone has a calculation based on individual circumstances, this is called the applicable amount.

 

Income support is a means tested benefit - this basically means other income such as tax credits & maintenance are counted against the amount of income support you are allowed (your applicable amount).

 

In other words if your applicable amount for income support is £200 and you have tax credits of £45 and say £40 maintenance you would receive £115 income support (figure not including disregards).

 

Putting it in a more simple form is - if you were not receiving maintenance payments you would be receiving a higher amount of income support.

 

If you qualify for any amount of income support based on the above you are technically receiving the amount the law says you need to live on and therefore as far as I can see there should be no question of an IPA / IPO.

 

Based on what you have told us you should be fine

 

Hope you can make sense of this and try not to worry.

 

Best Wishes

Edited October 2, 2009 by Wintry

[pinkprincessangel]

Thanks Wintry, much appreciated.:grin:

[pinkprincessangel]

and thank you to all the others that commented, very much appreciated!

[Ginas1401]

Hi Princess

I'm in the same situation as you and became bankrupt in August. The OR was brilliant. I have no payment plan in place. I start a new job in a few weeks so will be letting the OR know but I don't think i'll have any excess income when i start working. I still have my broadband, mobile phone etc. Don't worry, it's not bad at all when you have your meeting. I felt overwhelming relief when i walked out of the office. I had made myself ill worrying for 2 weeks before it.

If you need to ask me anything, feel free. I'll do what I can to advise x

[phat256]

Hi Princess

I'm in the same situation as you and became bankrupt in August. The OR was brilliant. I have no payment plan in place. I start a new job in a few weeks so will be letting the OR know but I don't think i'll have any excess income when i start working. I still have my broadband, mobile phone etc. Don't worry, it's not bad at all when you have your meeting. I felt overwhelming relief when i walked out of the office. I had made myself ill worrying for 2 weeks before it.

If you need to ask me anything, feel free. I'll do what I can to advise x

 

you may start a new job but you will have an increase and new expenses to add into you statement of affairs . so there is thing you can stil ltake into accoutn suc as launch, travel expenses, clothes , hairdresser etc...

[pinkprincessangel]

Hi Princess

I'm in the same situation as you and became bankrupt in August. The OR was brilliant. I have no payment plan in place. I start a new job in a few weeks so will be letting the OR know but I don't think i'll have any excess income when i start working. I still have my broadband, mobile phone etc. Don't worry, it's not bad at all when you have your meeting. I felt overwhelming relief when i walked out of the office. I had made myself ill worrying for 2 weeks before it.

If you need to ask me anything, feel free. I'll do what I can to advise x

 

you had to go to the office????

[debtinfo]

some people have an office interview, about 20%. These are usually people who have had a creditor make them bankrupt or who have been trading, the rest have a telephone interview and a few where the case is very simple and the petition is informative dont have an interview at all