Thought I would start a thread for discussions on the CCCS guidelines as there are a couple of threads kicking about and many questions that come up on these.
Below I have copied one of my answers from an earlier thread. This thread is here to give you the opportunity to put forward any suggestions for the next annual review of our guidelines. I will feed these suggestions back for you all, if you do have any criticism of the current guidelines please try and make this constructive and could you also let me have any comments about what you feel works well and I will pass these on.
The guidelines are combination of a review of the retail price index, a review of the last several months CCCS client budget figures and an alignment/check with the BBA/MAT guideline figures to make sure that we are not quoting below these figures, it is a very detailed process we go through every year.
They are just "guidelines" and to be used as that. If there is a reason why expenditure is higher then you just need to explain this to your IP/ DMP provider. For example having to buy nappies or having special diary requirements.
There does have to be some type of guideline when working towards a budget or you could have the extremes of someone spending nowhere near enough and someone overspending. I have spoken to a very wide variety of clients, some people who receiving income support and spending under the guideline and then people who have not experienced financial difficulties in the past so have never had to budget and may be spending much more.
If there have been changes to someone's life i.e. made redundant, then costs do have to reduce in the budget as there will be no way of supporting overspending on a such a low income. For example a single person claiming job seekers allowance receives £64 per week and if they are spending the top end of the guidelines (£195) or over, this would leave them with only £19 per week to pay for gas, electric, transport, clothes and all other essential items. Something has got to give or the budget would not be sustainable and their situation could become worse.
Our guidelines are accepted by all creditors, courts and insolvency service (OR's). If the figures are higher for a particular reason make sure your IP/DMP provider notes this on your budget to highlight the reason for this with a meaningful comment (special dietary requirements etc)
I've noted the points that have been raised so far.
CCCS is a registered charity. We take great pride in offering first class help and advice, but we only offer this where we have been able to fully explore and understand your circumstances with you. We want to help you understand these choices and their possible implications but not make them for you.
plasticdaft wrote:
Well done for giving us the option to put forward our thoughts on the guidelines. Can you confirm that the guidelines actually change every year??
Paul
Thanks for your reply,
They are reviewed every year; last time they were reviewed there was no change to the figures. I’m just finding out when the next review will be for you all.
CCCS is a registered charity. We take great pride in offering first class help and advice, but we only offer this where we have been able to fully explore and understand your circumstances with you. We want to help you understand these choices and their possible implications but not make them for you.
How is it decided upon whether any allowances should be changed? I have been on my trust deed for almost 2 years and can safely say that the prices of nothing at all have gone down during that time! My car fuel bill is up 20% and lets just say £75 of groceries doesnt look as much in the trolley nowadays!!
Thanks for finding out when the next review will be.
Paul
Discharged today the 8th feb 2012. View is much brighter now.
Continuing to rebuild our credit worthiness.
plasticdaft wrote:
How is it decided upon whether any allowances should be changed? I have been on my trust deed for almost 2 years and can safely say that the prices of nothing at all have gone down during that time! My car fuel bill is up 20% and lets just say £75 of groceries doesnt look as much in the trolley nowadays!!
Thanks for finding out when the next review will be.
Paul
The guidelines are worked out as mentioned in my earlier post, if costs have gone up then this would be reflected I’m sure in the next review.
Sarah
CCCS is a registered charity. We take great pride in offering first class help and advice, but we only offer this where we have been able to fully explore and understand your circumstances with you. We want to help you understand these choices and their possible implications but not make them for you.
My main concern is in the area of petrol which takes no accounts of individual journeys to and from work or for domestic reasons. Can we have a figure per mile based on a cc banding over a range of cars please. I will happily reasearch this for CCCS if this would be of use - let me know please.
The next review is due to be published in September. It will be based on actual budgets collated during the 9 months prior to May 2010. These will be analysed to identify the proportion of clients inside or outside the guidelines by expense category. If many clients are struggling to remain within individual guidelines this will highlight where changes need to be made and these will be communicated in September.
Concerning last year, the RPI was negative for a large part of 2009. Also, clothing costs reduced significantly during this time.
Petrol is always very tricky. It can fluctuate in price so much (as we're seeing now) that it's hard to keep track of. We put in a figure of £130 per month per vehicle to cover both petrol and parking. If clients are not coping with this we will pull the numbers when we do the review to see what % are above or below this amount. We could go to fixed pence per mile but then we'd have to do it for a range of engine sizes and would probably get more calls to change it every time petrol prices went up and then what would happen when prices went down? People may not also be sure how many miles they do each month.
Overall the budget works for both DMP and IVA clients. Within CCCSVA they have not had a single client fail their IVA because they said they could not manage on the budget we had set for them.
CCCS is a registered charity. We take great pride in offering first class help and advice, but we only offer this where we have been able to fully explore and understand your circumstances with you. We want to help you understand these choices and their possible implications but not make them for you.
Thank you to the CCCS Councilor for joining the forum & for posting.
I do agree with Skippy I have not seen anything go down - everything is going up & it does not seem to stop.
I cant remember what year the guide lines we had to work off - but they seemed very frugal & hard to cope with for a family.
But I am glad you are working on getting them updated.
Final IVA payment made in April 2013, never ever thought we could do it or get through it but we did! X
An IVA.co.uk Mentor is someone sharing from their experiences of dealing with debt
Who the heck has money to buy clothes?? The only clothes bought in this house are for sons school,and for son. I cant remember the last item of clothing I bought myself!!!
I know we dont get to see the guidelines but come september I would love Sarah to come on and post what things have gone up and by what %???
Paul
Discharged today the 8th feb 2012. View is much brighter now.
Continuing to rebuild our credit worthiness.
I also think that the vehicle spares and servicing allowance it very low - I would struggle to get my car serviced and MOT'd even if nothing went wrong.
I'll dig my heels in about petrol and say that people should be allowed to spend what they actually spend. It is ludicrous to expect people to cut their petrol expenditure in line with your guidelines - which at least one of the creditors representatives has been doing of late.
If there was better practice and trust between IP firms and creditors there would be no need for all of this nonsense - I worked happily for over 10 years running my IVA portfolios without the need to use any "guidelines" and 95% of my clients have delivered at least the returns to creditors they originally pledged, and in a number of cases far more.
I will personally be monitoring the attitude of voters with regard to petrol allowances from now on.
I dont buy clothes or shoes for myself or my hubby - we just get the boys things when they need them & even then its frugal!
The only time I buy clothes for myself is when I get vouchers for my birthday or xmas & even then I have become that frugal I wait for the sales & find them hard to spend!
Hubby needs new shoes soon & a new coat, I need new trainers & a coat too! But we dont look in places like we used to - tescos, asda & sainsburys now!
Our care mot & service is a worry each year (35pm to save) We have a wheel arch thats rusting away & drivers door wont open with out opening the window - god knows if the door is gona fail the mot due to safety.
There are some days i wish we didnt have a car but hubby needs it for work & for his health to get to work.
Final IVA payment made in April 2013, never ever thought we could do it or get through it but we did! X
An IVA.co.uk Mentor is someone sharing from their experiences of dealing with debt
I don't buy many clothes for myself but have to clothe my daughter for school as they are required to wear a very smart uniform which can only be bought at one stockist. She is going into 6th form and the uniform is then a business suit and will need at least 2 or 3.
Petrol/Diesel I do agree it's very hard to cut back on x
IVA final payment left the bank on the 26th January 2013...looking forward to a debt free future.
