DRO and acceptable monthly expenses.

[Nellnor]

Hi all, so I am a single mum of 3 children.
Another also at uni and home in the holidays.

I fled domestic abuse last year and have wracked up some debt in that time and had a little bit from before I fled as well due to pressure from my ex partner
Starting from scratch was so tough financially and I had to take a very expensive private rented house as the council couldn't house me.

I'm considering a DRO. I have around 20k of debt.
My rent is £1625 a month.

I have 2 questions for anyone who recently applied.

What is the current general cap for things like food shopping, petrol etc?
My food bill is high due to having children with additional needs.
Also will child DLA and UC child disability element be classed as income for the DRO?

Thanks

Hi OP, I have worked in this area rather than had one myself but there isn’t a general cap really. It has to be “reasonable” for your situation, your household size etc.

DLA should not be counted as income for DRO but you do have to list it on the application, it should be disregarded, same with the UC.

You're probably best looking on the DRO of the debt free wannabe section of the Moneysavingexpert Forum.

Your budget should be fairly generous because you need to be able to live without credit so include annual and irregular costs.

They will help you create a budget that will allow you to cover all necessary costs including emergency fund, car running costs etc.

All benefits are listed as income. There are currently 2 ways to create the budget. Your adviser may offset, or they could ask for your true outgoings including your grocery spends, travel etc as it is expected the DLA would be covering those additional higher costs.

The budget just needs to be accurate, as it all gets verified with bank statements to check you're eligible.

https://medium.com/adviser/insolvency-options-and-the-treatment-of-disability-benefits-ca94f9d8f12e