Evidence of school / children's meals!?!

[LifeAfterDebt]

Hey all
I'm so lost and confused today it was my creditors meeting but they have asked for further detail and evidence of school meals for my eldest and meal costs that I give to my mother in law if and when daddy gets called into work (we cannot afford childcare so this is how we get around it)
Thing is I don't keep receipts of this as it's a proportion over and above my food budget, I buy what I can each week for school meals and baby snacks equating to approximately £50 per month for the three children
I'm petrified as I feel they will decline because I don't have evidence of this, is this a normal expectation for them to want to view this? I simply don't have it #feelingdefeated I have said that I can make a cut to the smoking budget as they felt this was high (I have sadly been smoking more since all of this and appreciate that sacrifes must be made, which I am prepared to do)

TIA

[harrysmummy78]

Hi - Has your Creditors meeting been adjourned? Does your child have pack lunches rather than paid School meals? I think they mean evidence that you pay for school lunches, don't panic I am sure they wont decline your IVA due to this if anything may ask you to pay a higher monthly payment.

How many people are in your family and what allowance did you put down for Groceries ? I am surprised they have asked for evidence of this unless this is over the normal allowances but I would have thought your IVA provider would have picked up on this with you.

[Foggy]

I think there are guideline figures for school lunches which they normally accept, only requiring proof if you claim over the guideline amount. I claimed lunches but was never asked to prove it.

I doubt the IVA will be refused on these grounds, if anything, as harrysmummy says, they will simply increase your payment. Your IP should be fighting your corner here as too tight a budget at the start does not bode well.

[LifeAfterDebt]

Thanks for the responses harrysmummy and foggy
Yes my eldest has packed lunch as she just wasn't eating the school meals my younger two are 2 and 1 and I either buy food / snacks or give the money to my MIL to purchase food for them for example during the summer she will take them the the museum / park and buy food
I missed all the calls today as my area at work is undergoing redundancies (though I am not affected) it has been an increasingly stressful few weeks as a union rep for them and having this on my plate too
As I dont have any proof will I just advise my IP on Monday? Not sure but guessing the meeting is adjourned on that basis because he did say earlier they can adjourn for 14 days if creditors needed further info, just wondering why they didn't remove budget from the smoking (which they said was high for one person at £100pm,even given the availability of only 20 packs these days) but that is something I will totally flex on to make it work, but my kids meals... feels like the least I can do to support family who are giving up time to help us.

[LifeAfterDebt]

Harrysmummy there are 5 in my family and I think it was £450 per month in lieu of the kids meals so £500 per month

[harrysmummy78]

I would go back to them on Monday and say you were paying the school for lunches but now providing your own packed lunches but this is the amount you are spending on groceries to cover this and you had just shown this as a separate breakdown on your I&E form I would say a family of 5 should definitely have an allowance of £500 to cover groceries, stand your ground on this as you don't want to be struggling from the offset

I found this strange through our IVA how a smoking allowance was perfectly acceptable however they would always not allow me my full childcare costs which was about £85.00pm doesn't make sense at all.