Below are the pre-agreed expenditure guidelines. There is also a template for you to use here. All figures are “up to”, and broadly represent figures which creditors will simply accept at face value. Not all households will spend the amount that they are “allowed” within a guideline. Some will spend more. The important thing here is to calculate a true reflection of what your household needs to spend each month in order to get by and keep a little aside for those emergencies that have a habit of popping up when you least expect them. The amount allowed in the guidelines for emergencies is totally inadequate for most emergencies that you can envisage so creditors acknowledge that the guidelines themselves need to be viewed with a degree of flexibility.

Where your expenditure exceeds the guideline by some margin, there will be a reason. Don’t worry about this as all we need to do is explain the reason for the expenditure to be accepted. For example, if you drive a considerable distance to work, it is unlikely that the fuel allowance will be sufficient.