We have on a number of occasions entered into discussions with the OR relating to IPA's
This is usually because greater understanding of costs and why they are necessary is needed rather than arguing that one needs extra costs for things.
If the reasoning is there then the OR's are reasonable and open to discussion. If they are unreasonable - I recently met a family of 3 that needed £800 per month for food - they you will not get anywhere
There was someone on this board who queried their IPA with the OR a few months ago. They had entered their gas/electric in their I&E as quite a high amount. When they queried the IPA amount they should be paying the OR broke this down and had reduced their gas/elec by a significant amount. They provided the OR with a few recent bills and the OR had no choice but to agree with the original amount they had put down.
If you are querying things like utility bills, travel costs then there shouldn't be a problem even if the OR thinks they are too high as you have the receipts/bills to prove how much you pay. If it is things like food/telephone/clothes then there isn't going to be much chance of getting these reduced as the guideline amounts are pretty reasonable.
As getting out of debt says it can be difficult to provide an argument on some expenses but here are some that have been successfull in the past.
Food - Sometimes if a doctor specifies a specific diet for a condition then a higher food allowance may be allowed telephone - some reemote areas dont have a landline and it cold be argued that if a mobile needs to be used for all calls then a higher allowance could be allowed. clothes - specialist work clothes or if you are of a size that requires specialist clothes made.
obviously these would only work for a small proportion of the population but gives an idea of why you could depart from the official figures
We had £20 per month surplus, but the OR sent us an IPA for £50 per month so we questioned the figures they had used and we had to send bills and receipts in to prove our expenditure, turns out the OR was disallowing optician costs and household insurance, but these are allowable and legitimate expenses, so we did not get an IPA in the end
has anyone appealed against an ipa
Posted - 16 October 2009 : 19:07:47
