www.iva.co.uk

I am nearly at the end of my first year of my IVA and I am getting the details ready for my first review but something has come up and I am not sure if the advice I have been given is right (or fair!)

I suffer from arthritis in my spine and after years of struggling to work full time I have been advised to reduce my hours by 25% starting beginning of Nov. I phoned my supervisor to make them aware of this upcoming drop in salary and how it would affect next years contributions. They informed me that they would not take it into account as they base the figures on the last 12 months pay stubs. They also said that if we were finding it hard to manage we could ask for it to be reassessed by our creditors! This seems to be a bit strange that they cannot use this information now and we may have to go back to them in a few months for another review!

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks Linda

Hmmm - I think as this is a material change then you should request a variation meeting. 25% is a huge drop and one that shouldn't be managed by trying to 'trim' down expenditure.

Ask your IP to put this forward to creditors. Will be best if you gather medical evidence to be forwarded to creditors with the variation request (you can tell I have medical problems! - we were lucky to be able to offer a full and final when I was medically retired at 46 2 years ago).

They need to base the annual review on your current salary - and if that is due to be reduced in November this needs to be taken into account now. I suspect that you have been talking to a case worker rather than the IP directly. Give them another call, and insist on speaking with the IP in person - am sure you will get a better quality of advice that way.