The mind boggles, truly. How on earth can expenses be seen as income?

The industry really does want to take a good look at itself.

So the money you earn to pay into the trust deed is effected by you working to provide said funds, so if you incurred expenses to provide funds to pay into your trust deed , how if you had not incurred the expenses to pay the funds , how could you have done otherwise ?? . Sounds like a episode of red dwarf . No employment no funds , expenses incurred to provide funds equate to reasonable expenses to enable you to pay into your trust deed, so salary minus expenses .

Hi gavriel.

Acquirenda is another term for a windfall.

In terms of the income and expenditure statement used to work out your trust deed payment, was an allowance made to cover these work expenses that you incur?

hi no account was taken of expenses, no guidance or advice given on the subject of expenses, in fact no advice at all! pinalta this was part of the case that i have been trying to make to them i:e i am being penalised for incurring expenses to the point that i am seriously considering giving up work and that would not benefit my creditors! this is driving me nuts i am stressed to the max i really need this money to cover the coming years fuel costs etc, i dont know about red dwarf but it is like one flew over the cuckoos nest!, this punitive action by them is manifestly unfair

Hi gavriel.

My instinct is that there is a misunderstanding between you and your trustee at the heart of this situation. Establishing what that might be could be the starting point for getting this resolved.

Two ways that this work expenses situation could be dealt with fairly for all parties:

1 - An allowance is made in your "income and expenditure" for the money you need to fund work expenses. So if you spend £100 per month on petrol for work, your expenditure allowance includes £100 for petrol for work. Your monthly trust deed payment is therefore lower than it might otherwise be, but you'd have to pay over the expenses to your trustee when your employer reimburses you (because it's basically extra income at that point in time).

2 - No allowance is made for work expenses in your "income and expenditure". Your monthly trust deed payment is higher than it would be otherwise, but you get to keep the reimbursement when it comes (because you need it to cover your other bills and expenses).

I get a feeling that your trustee thinks the first scenario is in effect and that you think the second one is.

Maybe you could ask your trustee to provide you with a copy of the "income and expenditure" record they're using to work out your trust deed payment?

That may start to reveal whether there's a misunderstanding at the heart of this, or whether you're being treated unfairly.

We really need to know whether an allowance has already been given to you to cover these work expenses before you've been reimbursed.

hello again, i emailed the company on 26th jan and as of todays date no response! i phoned them on monday of this week as when going over the paperwork they had sent me i discovered some discrepancies ie a debt for £3.500 which i did not recognise, also the income and expenditure form contained errors! ie a sum for pet food, no pets in the house! only one adult listed as living at the address when in there is myself and my wife! this whole thing is beginning to stink! any thoughts on my next move? do i simply stop paying them and what are the consequencies of that? it seems that they will not interact with me what do i do?

I think you need to work through the income and expenditure form with them gavriel.

Firstly it should of course be an accurate reflection of your circumstances.

Secondly you need to get to the bottom of whether an allowance for these expenses has already been made or not.

If you cannot get a reasonable response in a reasonable period of time you do have the right to complain. This will likely ensure that someone quite senior will work with you to address your concerns and hopefully resolve them.

I'd advise against stopping payments - the consequences for you could be significant. Dealing with the underlying issue seems to be a better plan of attack.

i have tried my best to talk to them! i have already emailed my concerns to them, i have phoned them to ask for another income /expenditure form to be sent to me i obviously want this resolved it they who are being obstructive to what end i do not know! the last income /expenditure review was done in 2014 and certainly does not reflect my circumstances, am i expected to continue paying for something that is obviously based on the wrong information held by them

Ironic thing is if you did miss a payment you would certainly get a chance to talk to them then! As TDA says though, not wise.

Hopefully you can resolve this - a complaint seems the next step for you.

Hi gavriel

Could you consider creating an income / expenditure breakdown on an excel spreadsheet. I found the standard form given by my IP too difficult to categorise properly. I listed all standing orders for bills, insurance etc. then other weekly/monthly expenditure.
(I would have highlighted expenses to be put out for my job separately at the bottom).

I used to print that, sign it and attach it to the Income and Expenditure sheet. No idea if they then re-allocated or categorized it but I never had any questions or problems with it.

Perhaps highlight on their I/E form the errors and return with your spreadsheet of real costs and take it from there?

I noticed the question asked earlier. If you are given allowance in your budget for expenses to do your job, technically you have been given them (all it an advance), so if they are returned, the Trustee may be looking to have it back, since you have already had the expenses accounted for in your monthly allowance.

If the expenses are not included in your allowable amount each month then you have to find that money and wait for them to be repaid. Perhaps there is a difference in what your allowance is and what you actually spent, so if it was more, there might be room for negotiation of the difference to be repaid in that case.

I know my budget was so tight I could not have funded expenses to do my job and wait for rebate.

I hope you get it sorted out soon.

hi thanks yes there is an amount for expenses that i hadnt noticed but certainly falls short of the actual amount my biggest problem is getting any response from them!

That's hinting towards what I thought and previously explained the issue might be gavriel.

I'm sure your continued persistence will pay off and things will get resolved fairly.