Hi
Thank you for taking my points as meant and it looks like you are organising your self.
It seems the worse option as always is you spending time away. Can i suggest those payments that may be commitments whilst you are away you organise now they are terminated before sentencing or at least get someone you trust and make sure they have the authority to do so on your behalf.
One important safeguard I would advise you have a sheet of paper with the address's and bill references in your possessions when you go for sentencing. Then if you are sent away you have the information yourself to write to those relevant business.
I was in rental prior to sentencing and actually moved everything into storage, took meter readings the works just incase. I still got billed a £1000 ish to sort things out as the rental agency knew I could not appeal against them.
finally ask your solicitor what they think about you going away and if they say you will, cancel all direct debits / standing orders and call them to explain your circumstances ( not the actual offence) and I am sure they will work with you.
As when I was in the military, plan for the worse and hope for the best.
Keep in touch and good luck

Society suggests I must let go of all my expectations but I disagree, as whilst I have a voice, I have hope.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope is for tomorrow else what is left if you remove a mans hope.
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This forum supports these words, thank you Unlock and your contributors.

I was surprised about LegalAid too. My take-home each month was around £1,700. I didn't/don't have any savings at all.

As for bills. I've got everything down to the lowest they possibly could. Internet is down to £10pm through BT Basic which is open to anyone on benefits/low income. Which is pretty incredible considering the basic line rental for just a phone should be £20 not taking into account broadband.

My mobile contract thankfully runs out next month (I've got enough to cover it) so I'm just going to opt for a pay as you go set up.

I don't smoke. I used to drink but since this has all happened I haven't touched a drop in nearly a year now.  I don't drive or anything so ALL my outgoings are:

Rent (private landlord) - I've got a pretty great relationship with my landlord and have been nothing but an ideal tenant for over 3yrs (no hassle, rent always paid on time etc.) I was thinking about approaching him to see about a potential reduction in rent. Even if it is short term)
Council Tax (although I know this will be reduced, just not sure how much)
Phone/Internet - This is down to £10pm
Mobile - I'll rarely top it up as I never use data when I'm at home anyway and GiffGaff offer £6 top ups so not a drastic amount.
Gas - I have quite a lot on my account so I have set up a payment holiday on it so they don't charge me for around 5 months until my credit is used up
Electric - This is just a key meter so I top it up when I need it. On average I spent just shy of £20pm on it
Food - This goes without saying

The writing was on the wall for my job given the nature of the crime so before I was let go I did stock up on a lot of food that lasts. Like tinned stuff so I'd at least have something in the house.

My solicitor has already been paid up - They request upfront before any work is carried out so there's no debt there to worry about.

I don't have any other debts or anything outstanding aside from the bank loan. Which at present I still have around £3,000 of it left. Currently I have moved that into another account and set up a direct debit for each month for the loan to be paid back. So essentially the loan is paying itself back. At this rate it'll cover itself for just shy of 2 years - Hopefully by that point I might have a bit more income coming in so it'll ease me a bit.

I still don't know what is going to happen in terms of a custodial sentence or whatever which I'll find out next month at my sentencing. So it is a little bit up in the air for now.

I'm under no illusion at the mountain before me not just from this financial point of view but from a life point of view with my conviction etc.

It's a really tough time, i lost my job too when i was sentenced and was on job seekers allowance for a couple of months and i didn't qualify for any other benefits as i owned most of my property, but that didn't change the fact i had little to no money in my account.
I had to sell everything of value, music equipment, memorabilia i had collected over the years and other odds and ends which could have netted me even a tenner.
That money, although not very much in the grand scheme of things, helped me to keep my head above water for a couple of months and I went through countless rejections for jobs..solely based on my conviction because my CV is quite good for most blue collar type work.

It is going to be difficult but you must stay focused and be persistent, even relentless in your search for work because it is not fun living on benefits.  Be prepared to do any kind of work because people in our boat aren't really in a position to be picky.

Hi Khafka

I'd agree with JASB in getting some advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau, they really are experts in all things related to benefits and debt. They'll be able to ensure that you're claiming everything that you're entitled to claim and will also be able to give you advice around budgeting and ways of lowering your outgoings.

As many people on theForum will tell you, if you do receive a conviction then it may take a while to get back into work so getting good advice now will certainly stand you in good stead and hopefully avoid your financial situation getting a lot worse. 

Good luck.

Debs 

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Hi
As you have not mentioned savings or your monetary worth not being over 30k, I am surprised you did not get legal aid? At the time of my offence I was analysed and estimated to be higher than 30k and still got legal aid.
Could be worth having the legal aid application (that I assume was rejected) reviewed.

Regard loan, use the remaining (after solicitor bill) to reduce balance as you will only spend it on other things.
Not that I have done the following and know all the pros and cons but look at applying for bankruptcy. Your credit rating will get a hit from your offence along with insurance etc so is there further loss.
You could also look at getting a reduced payment agreement back to the solicitors. Talk to citizen advice or some other debt assistance organisation about that.
I did contest my legal aid bill - another story - and I agreed to repay the bill at a figure I suggested whilst I challenged it - £20 a month. If interest becomes apparent I will write about that to highlight errors solicitors make and do not accept when proved they have entered incorrect legal aid applications.

Have a serious look at what you are spending money on and that includes: mobile phone charges, internet charges, do you have sky or whatever, do you smoke or drink.
Do look at your assets whatever they are with a view of selling them. I say this only if the money coming in is a true worth of the item. You can always get a cheaper car for example (if you have a car).

I can hear you or others yelling but you have to be open minded and realistic.Believe that many people will say it is your fault as you committed and financial penalties are a consequence of the offence. 
I wish you luck and await yours and other response.
Keep positive

Society suggests I must let go of all my expectations but I disagree, as whilst I have a voice, I have hope.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope is for tomorrow else what is left if you remove a mans hope.
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This forum supports these words, thank you Unlock and your contributors.

Hi folks,

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions/tips/ideas etc.

As a result of my conviction I lost my job, as most people do.

One of the first things I did was sign up for Universal Credit.

I got my first UC award announcement today to let me know how much I'm getting which is a whopping £0.00 this month due to my final payments from my old job as its means tested. Which is fine. I've budgeted for that.

They did say moving forward moving my monthly allowance is: £642.82

Stripping everything back to bare necessities my outgoings would be: £680 (not taking into account food. This is just = Rent + Gas + Electric + Council Tax Reduction + Internet)

Ideally I obviously want to get back into employment as soon as possible but I haven't been sentenced yet so I don't feel there is much point in job hunting in the off-chance I do end up with a custodial sentence.

I'm sure I can figure something out but my biggest outgoing which I didn't factor into that cost was a loan repayment which I took out to pay my solicitor as I wasn't eligible for LegalAid at the time. My solicitor estimated my total legal costs to be around £3,000 which, regardless of LegalAid's thoughts - I really couldn't afford in a big lump sum and my solicitor wouldn't take any payment plan so I was royally stuck so I took out a £5,000 (3yr payable) loan with my bank just to give me a bit of wiggle room should the cost rise a bit.

My loan repayments are around £170pm which obviously takes my full outgoings to £850pm, again, without factoring in any food costs. So that leaves me with a deficit of around -£210 in the red every month.

I haven't spoken to my bank yet as I was just made aware of the rather low payment abut 2 hours ago when I got the email.

I'm just wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation/ideas etc.