What happens at an IVA annual review?

The annual review is how your IVA keeps up with your life. Your payment was set from a snapshot of your finances when the IVA started, and the review checks that snapshot every year. It can push your payment up if you are better off, bring it down if you are worse off, and it is a condition of your IVA that you take part.

The rules below are the standard terms for protocol IVAs approved from 1 July 2025. Older IVAs and bespoke IVAs may differ, so check your own proposal.

When does the annual review happen?

On or just before each anniversary of the date your IVA started. Your supervisor will write to you asking for information, usually with a form to complete and a date to return it by.

The standard terms describe the review as “the primary tool” for reassuring your creditors that your IVA can be sustained and is still appropriate. That cuts both ways: it is where extra income is shared with creditors, and it is where a budget that no longer works can be fixed.

What evidence will you need?

The standard terms say you must provide any information the supervisor needs, including copies of P60s, payslips, bank statements and other evidence of income and spending. In practice, have these ready:

• your P60 for the last tax year, and your most recent payslips
• bank statements for every account you use, for the period your supervisor asks for
• benefit award letters, including Universal Credit statements, child benefit and any disability benefits
• your partner’s contribution to household costs, if you live together
• rent or mortgage statements, and your current council tax bill
• energy, water, phone and broadband bills, especially if they have gone up
• childcare, travel and other regular costs that have changed
• if you are self-employed, your latest accounts or tax return
• anything that has changed in your household, such as a new baby, a child leaving home or a new job

Our documents checklist covers the same ground in more detail. Send copies, keep the originals, and keep a note of what you sent and when.

What happens if your income has gone up?

Your payment goes up by half of any increase in your disposable income, starting one month after the review. You keep the other half.

“Disposable income” means what is left after your essential household costs. So the review looks at your spending as well as your pay, including whether costs such as rent, mortgage, utilities and food have gone up or down. If your rent, energy or childcare has risen, that reduces the increase, or can cancel it out altogether. The budget is measured against the Standard Financial Statement spending guidelines, which are updated each April.

Between reviews, extra money has its own rules. Overtime or a bonus worth more than 10% of your normal take-home pay must be declared within 14 days, and windfalls over £500 must be reported. See pay rises, bonuses and windfalls.

What happens if your income has gone down or your costs have risen?

Tell your supervisor, and send the evidence. Under the standard terms, your supervisor can reduce your payment by 20% or less in total over the IVA without going back to creditors. A reduction of more than 20% from the original proposal, or from the last change creditors agreed, needs creditors to vote on a variation. In the first two years, a reduction variation should only be proposed if the change in your circumstances could not reasonably have been foreseen at the start.

If the drop is temporary, a payment break may help instead. See what if you cannot afford your IVA payments? for how breaks and reductions work.

The standard terms also say that if the review shows your IVA is no longer sustainable, it may be ended. If that is where things are heading, ask your supervisor what the options are before anything is decided, and get independent advice.

What happens if you do not take part?

Failing to do something the supervisor reasonably asks for the purposes of your IVA is also a breach. The supervisor sends a notice of breach giving you one month to put it right, and if you do not, they must issue a certificate of termination. The key facts document puts it simply: your IVA may be cancelled if you fail to co-operate with reasonable requests for information.

If your IVA is terminated, creditors can chase you again for what is left, plus the interest and charges that were frozen, and you get no refund of what you have paid. See what happens if an IVA fails.

What else should you get each year?

The law requires your supervisor to send you and your creditors a report covering each 12 months of the IVA, within two months of the end of that period. It must include, or come with, a summary of the money received and paid out.

Compare it with the fee and dividend schedule in your proposal. If the fees taken are higher than forecast, or creditors have received less than expected, ask your supervisor to explain in writing.

How can you prepare for your review?

• Put the anniversary date of your IVA in your calendar, with a reminder a month before.
• Keep a folder, paper or digital, for payslips, benefit letters and bills as they arrive through the year.
• Note any change as it happens: a pay rise, a new job, a rent increase, a new child. You should already have told your supervisor about a pay rise or new job at the time.
• Check your spending against three months of bank statements, not memory. A budget planner can help.
• Reply by the deadline, even if something is missing, and say what is outstanding.

What to do next

1. Find your IVA proposal and check which terms apply to you and when your anniversary falls.
2. Start gathering evidence now, so the review is not a scramble.
3. If the review shows your IVA is no longer affordable, speak to your supervisor straight away and get a free, impartial second opinion from MoneyHelper, StepChange, Citizens Advice or National Debtline. See where to get free debt advice.
4. If you are wondering whether a different route would suit you better now, compare an IVA with a debt management plan, or go back to IVAs explained.