Entered into an IVA just over two years ago at the time I was getting JSA ( £268 per month) and Child Benefit (148 per month) which in total £416 which was deemed to be the amount we could afford to pay for our IVA contribution. 2 months into the IVA my JSA payments stopped I have not received any since (24 months ago) we have managed to keep up the monthly repayments through extra bits of work my husband has managed to get.Over a year we try and make the equivalent of 12x 268 £3216.00 We do not get the benefit of the extra income but at least we manage to make the monthly payments.
The IVA stated that I was to actively seek full time employment keep my supervisors up to date and inform the immediately if I gained full time employment.
My Husband had not been able to earn the extra income we needed to make up the shortfall in our income this however I obtained a piece of consultancy work for which I was paid £3000.00 minus national ins and additional childcare £2400.00.
Just had our annual review and they are saying that they may have to extend the IVA because I may have broken the terms of the agreement by not informing them of my employment. This was not employment rather a very short term ad hoc consultancy piece of work. We have not gained anything by this work only that we have managed to make the regular monthly payments . We have the same income on paper that we did when we started the IVA it is just accumulated in a different way. We did speak to an IVA advisor with regards to this method when my husband received his bonus and they said it was fine to use the money that we would have had to pay into the IVA to budget monthly payments when there was going to be a shortfall because of lack of work/benefits on my part.
In January we will loose our child benefit which will mean that all of our disposable income will have disappeared if I can not get a job then we will not be able to make the monthly payments unless we can carry on the way we have been.
This is something that needs to be discussed with your IP asap.
I would have thought that if they asked you to look for employment as part of your agreement, then they would have expected to have been given notice that you were recieving an income for work completed, no matter how little the hours or the pay recieved.
It is common for an IVA to be extended to make up additional payments that have not been recieved, but again this is to be dicsussed with your IP.
Started IVA 27th Feb 2012 - Due to complete 27th Jan 2018 !!
Full & Final submitted and accepted 30th March 2015, paid 10th April 2015 - 3 yrs 1 month into IVA
Completion Certificate received- 30th April 2015!!
Common sense needs to prevail here. So long as you are affording to make the IVA payments, the mix of your incomes should create no issue - but if you start to earn more money then you will have to pay some of that into the IVA no doubt.
