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IVA monthly payments: how the figure is set

The payment is not a percentage of your debt. It is your surplus, evidenced line by line.

Written by The My Debt Cleared editorial teamLast reviewed 23 August 2026Jurisdiction England, Wales & Northern IrelandEditorial policy
An IVA payment is set from an income and expenditure assessment: your household income minus reasonable living costs, benchmarked against recognised spending guidelines. The surplus becomes the contribution, usually for 60 months, or 72 months where a homeowner’s equity terms apply. It is reviewed annually and can move down as well as up.

The assessment

Everything starts from the budget: wages, benefits, pension and other income on one side; rent or mortgage, utilities, food, transport, insurance, dependants and the rest on the other. The gap is the contribution. Understating costs to look good is self-defeating — an unaffordable IVA fails, and missed payments have real consequences. On completion of all payments, the end-of-IVA process takes over; the self-employed version of the assessment is covered separately. The assessment is step three of applying for an IVA.

When the figure changes

The annual review re-runs the assessment. Pay rises can increase the contribution; genuine cost increases can reduce it; a serious change mid-year justifies contacting your supervisor rather than waiting. Extra income like overtime and bonuses is typically shareable under your terms — windfalls and extra income explains the principle.

To see what any given payment adds up to across the term, the IVA calculator does the arithmetic without the marketing.

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