Reasonable Living Expenses: Public Consultation 2021

The ISI is required by section 23 of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 (hereafter ‘2012 Act’) to prepare and issue guidelines as to what constitutes a reasonable standard of living and reasonable living expenses (RLEs). The guidelines are intended to help Approved Intermediaries (AIs) and Personal Insolvency Practitioners (PIPs) in assessing, for relevant provisions of the 2012 Act, what may be considered ‘reasonable’ in the context of a standard of living and living expenses.

The Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice (VPSJ) publish an annual report setting out the Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) for households in Ireland and their research forms the basis for the ISI RLE calculations. In 2020, the VPSJ published the outcomes of an extensive project to review and rebase the MESL figures. This entailed examining the composition of the MESL baskets for each household type and making changes where necessary.

The purpose of this consultation which ran to Tuesday, 24 August 2021 was to:

• inform all stakeholders of changes following the VPSJ’s review and rebase project and the 2021 annual update
• obtain submissions on the composition of RLE set costs figures and feedback on the approach to practical implementation of changes to set costs
• consider some additional items allowed for in the MESL figures but not previously included in the ISI figures

Access the public consultation paper

Access the post consultation report which provides an overview of salient points in the feedback received and the ISI response

Access the Reasonable Living Expenses figures to be effective from Friday, 29 April

A total of seven responses to the consultation paper were received by the ISI. Respondents and their submissions are listed in alphabetical order below:

• Association of Personal Insolvency Practitioners (APIP)

• Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI)

• Central Bank of Ireland

• Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation (IMHO)

• Mc Cambridge Duffy

• Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS)

• The Revenue Commissioners