Today myself and Melanie met Steve Nicholson,finanace director for the CCCS[Consumer Credit Counselling Services] and CEO for the CCCS Voluntary Arrangements.We also met the resident IP for the VA’s,Jackie Westerman at the CCCS’s headquarters in Leeds.
Steve had kindly invited us both some weeks ago and agreed to be interviewed and filmed for the IVA.co.uk TV page.
It would be fair to say that the CCCS had taken a bit of a bashing on the forum over the last year so I was looking forward to giving Steve the chance to answer some of those critics and to explain the inner workings of the CCCS in a positive and informative way.
He didn’t disappoint !!
You will be able to see the interview in full in a few days time but for me the VA operation seemed really polished.Jackie and her team have a clear structure and process for compiling,proposing and supervising VAs and anybody contemplating an IVA with the CCCS has nothing to worry about.
Steve spoke strongly about best advice and about being ethical,two things that I consider to be paramount for any debt solution.
The much debated guidelines are exactly that,guidelines.If you feel that the allowance is genuinely not enough then you must ensure that your IP puts down your expenditure figure with a note in the proposal explaining the need for the higher figure.The amounts for the guidelines are from expenditure levels of actual CCCCS client in DMPs and are due to be updated soon.
A very interesting,informative and enjoyable day,my thanks to Steve and Jackie for their time and for making us both feel very welcome.

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