IVA: Illness, DLA and Overtime

[Indebtagain]

Sorry I've not been on apart to ask questions.

Me and my partner are now nearly a year into our IVA, since starting our daughter has been in and out of hospital due to being ill. The illness will be with her more then likely for life.

We have told the IVA IP about her illness but as she spent a lot of time in hospital I've had to have a lot of time of ill so all our money went to paying the bills which meant we were unable to save for car tax, emergency purchase etc etc.

The iva allowed us to reduce payments but by the time it went though it was only reduced for a month. So we were unable to catch up. I don't want to reduce them again as I want to go though the IVA correctly but my daughters illness means that one day she will be fine the next she could be in hospital. With this in mind and the fact that I may being having a lot of unpaid time of work will the IVA let me do overtime so a) we can catch up with our emergency saving and b) use the overtime so we can save up and use for the times she is ill and I'm able to work. We're happy to pay a lump sum into the IVA if the money is not used.

I've also applied for DLA if this comes though will the iVA take it away from us. If we get this the over time will stop as its not something I want to do as working and looking after a sick 5 year old is not easy without doing overtime as well.

We trying to work out how we can deal with next year without failing the IVA but we know they are very strict with everything, if we don't do the overtime and my daughter spends a lot of time in hospital we will fail the IVA and we just don't want the pressure. We talking about £200 a month in overtime maybe a little more.

Hope this makes sense.

Thanks

[emma_t]

Hi there

Sorry to hear about your daughters illness, it must be a tremendous strain.

I am not at all qualifies to answer your questions, but sure a professional will be along shortly.

Best of luck
Emma

[Indebtagain]

Thanks its been a tough year what with starting the IVA and my daughter illness.

We're living without a fridge freezer at the moment as it broke about a week ago but we've got no emergency saving to buy a new one.

Hope things will pick up soon

[freelili]

Hi there and welcome

This must be a hell of a stress for you to deal with. The way I see it the needs of your daughter must come first. When I applied for my IVA (I have two disabled kids living at home) They wanted to take the DLA as income. I knew that one day things might be fine but the next, all hell could break loose, I ended up having a lot of time off work unpaid and I know having kids in hospital isnt cheap. I dont know of a case where the DLA has started after the fact though, but what I did was offset the amount of money, so I kept it.

As I had already said, the needs of your daughter must come first, followed very closely indeed by the needs or her main carer, you. You must be able to manage the IVA without putting added pressure on yourself, youre a human being with your own special needs. Its so important to remember that.

I understand fully that you dont want your IVA to fail, your IP and creditors will not want this either, so in the first instance you need to inform them of what you can realistically do (without compromising your extra needs) to prevent it. Its then really up to them to agree to it.

I remember coping wih my job and half killing myself to make ends meet, until eventually I burned out and had to take time off work through illness. Quality of life for the disabled or sick person does depend also on the well being of the carer.

Do you have a sympathetic IP? Have you tried to approach him/her? My advice would be to email, setting out the amount of reduction you need, and please make sure you offset that DLA.

Best wishes, if you have any further questions, please ask away.

[freelili]

PS, I have a spare fridge freezer, half and half its a bosh (I dont think that spelling is correct). I would glady donate it to you, I live in the midlands area and it will not fit in my car.

Its too big for my kitchen, it was a gift, brand new 21/2 years ago. Perfect inside and out and it works.

I had to move house due to the disabilities which exist in my children and I am slowly replacing everything that dosent fit.

[Indebtagain]

Thanks - It feels like I'm always writing to the IVA people ask for this asking for that and now I need to ask for yet another favour. We stuggled on for the fist 6 months using our emergeny money, car tax etc etc but we didn't know the illness was going to be with her for life. Its the little things that cost the most, she not being treated under her local hospital but under one thats an hour away and petrol isn't cheap.

I guess I need to look at it like if I don't do the overtime then the IVA will fail and the creditors will get no money and we're have the added pressure of maybe losing our home.

Thanks again.

[Indebtagain]

Thank you sadly we live too far away but thanks millions

[freelili]

I am not a financial expert and have no idea what youre going through really. I just feel for you in that situation with your daughter, knowing how stressful it is being a carer.

Looking at it from an outsider and perhaps frankly. If you have no equity in the house then you might not lose it anyhow. On the other hand, if youre going to have to beat yourself up keeping it, is it worth it? Even after the IVA is done youre going to be looking at extra mortgage payments. Its easy for me to say I know, but the fact that youre caring for a sick child has to come first and if you end up BR, that would be the first priority of the OR, I would think. Also is there anyone who could buy the BI, like a family member so that you could keep it?

There just has to be an answer that will bring long term relief for you in your situation, somewhere. If you break you neck with overtime when your child is well, just to keep the IVA going, you'll end up sick yourself.

I do feel for you and hope someone can come up with something for you.

Very best wishes.

[freelili]

And another thing, dont worry about writing or emailing the IVA people. You didnt know what was around the corner, its not your fault youre in this position.

The disability living allowance might just take the financial pressure off you enough to calm the waters and enable you to manage things when you have to lose time.

Have you tried the family fund with regards to the fridge freezer? They help families with disabled sick children, when they are in need. It may be worth contacting them. There is an upper wage limit before they will consider you for a claim but they gave me washing machines tumble dryers, virtually anything I asked for.

If you want the address I will post it for you.

[MelanieGiles]

Your little girl's health and welfare are far more important than worrying about the debts - so if the IVA has to come to an end that will be unfortunate, but your efforts will be in the best place.

Bankruptcy is not as bad as you might initially thing, and I am sure that your IP will be happy to discuss this with you in further detail should the need arise.

[go_4_broke]

Hi,

There's no way DLA should be treated as income for debt purposes and neither your IP or anyone alse should even attempt to take it off you.

I've just been on a disability benefits course yesterday!

If you are getting DLA middle or higher rate care component for your child, consider applying for Carers Allowance for your self or another member of the family.

You are allowed to earn a max £95 under CA so you would need to do the sums to see if you would be better off.

As CA is an earnings replacement benefit the treatment for debt purposes is less clear though I think it should still be disallowed at least as non-disposable income.

Any questions on DLA or CA seek out your local Welfare Rights organization or ask me here if I'm about.

Best Regards, Simon

[rachellxx39]

Hi ,I know exactly how you are feeling . My daughter is also disabled and we started our ivas Jan o8(i havent posted for a while ).We had the same problems as you ,we were struggling due to the fact that our daughter needs major surgery and with the extra costs involved travelling to hospital etc we had to sit down and think whats more important here ? We took advice off melanie and decided that we would fail our ivas and go bankrupt . We have been in touch with our iva company and they have been very good actually,understanding about our situation. We claimed for a higher rate of disability benefit and we have just been awarded it for her and ive just claimed for carers allowance. I know we have tried our best but at the end of the day our family comes first no matter how much debt we owe . Good Luck to you ,hope everything works out ok . p.s My daughters operation is on 19TH November at Leicester Royal ,just to keep you updated.

[David Mond]

I hope both children get better soon.

In both your cases why don't you ask your separate Supervisor's to suggest a payment break for initially 3 months to enable matters to sort themselves out. This must be a preferred route than bankruptcy. If after 3 months nothing has changed for the better consider another 3 months - my firm have done this on two occasions over the past 3 years and creditors accepted. Both cases are now running smoothly.

Never give up - but your childrens health and welfare are paramount.

[rachellxx39]

Hi , We had struggled from the very start of our ivas, as i have posted before ,everything went wrong . Our car blew up, fridge broke etc . Then our daughters condition got worse and we couldnt cope with the added stress. Bankruptcy may seem sometimes as a cop out but after being in debt for so long, trying every other avenue ie. debt managment ,iva . We should have gone bankrupt in the first place. We have no assets,we rent our property from local council ,and we had basically had enough of the worry. We want an end to it all,and to put all our concern to our daughter and our other two children . We have learnt from our situation and i dont think i would ever get credit again .

[go_4_broke]

Hi Rachelle

I think your story ie DMP->IVA->Bankrupt is unfortunately not that uncommon.

Were you steered away from bankruptcy by your advisers at the time, or was it just your choice not to go there?