Hi Baxi I would not bother with the £1, They will chase the Ex wife, but will not have enough time to do anything else, But i stand corected by an Expert.
If you have agreed to pay Northern Rock £1 and you are not going BR for another month then it won't do any harm to pay them the May and June payment and will keep any pressure off your ex-wife. Once you are declared BR then you won't be able to pay them. Have you agreed any token payments with other creditors? It may strictly be favouritism if you are not paying other creditors but you can explain to the OR the reasons for paying them and the OR should be ok with it.