www.iva.co.uk

My husband works 3 days one week and 4 the next week and this is the pattern of work for him over a year. His IVA is set up so that he has to pay 50% of any additional income so one week his pay is £349 and the next week it is £400. Payplan are adding up his pay over thirteen weeks and reaching an average of £359 and are saying that any amount over this he has to pay half to them. This means that on the week he gets £400, they say he should pay £20. This is his normal pay and not additional income, surely they can't do this. We have tried to get through to them that this is normal pay but they take no notice. Could someone please tell me if I am right in what I say and if so, what do I have to do to get through to Payplan?

Your husband's average pay over 13 weeks in my eyes is £376 per week and therefore they should only be taking 50% of any additional earnings your husband makes over this period - whereby he will earn £4,894 if there are 6 weeks at the lower figure and 7 weeks at the higher.

If they then are going to say that he has to pay £12 for every week he works 4 days, they have to refund the same amount back for the weeks he earns less.

It appears that they have not understood the basis of his wages at all, and you are right to challenge them. Try and speak to the IP personally who I am sure will agree with you.

Thankyou so much for your advice Melanie. Would you mind if I printed this off and sent it to Payplan?

Not at all - now I have amended my typing errors!

Thanks Melanie, we might get sorted out now. Perhaps if we'd come to you with our IVA proposition we wouldn't be in this struggling situation we are in now.

I'm sure this is just a minor misunderstanding and that you will get it sorted out shortly. These things happen in all offices occasionally, but do let us know how you get on.