Windfalls After an IVA: Completion, Earlier Entitlement and Your Terms

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Whether you can keep money received after an IVA depends on when the entitlement arose, what the approved terms cover and whether the arrangement has formally completed. The date money reaches your bank account is not always decisive.

This article is here to help you understand:

How windfall and asset clauses work.
Why making the last payment differs from receiving a completion certificate.
When an earlier asset or claim may still be relevant after completion.

From July to September 2023, the Gazette reported that there was a total of 13,965 Individual Voluntary Arrangements.¹ This statistic highlights the importance of understanding their implications, especially regarding windfall sums.

Check your proposal, modifications and completion documents. The examples below distinguish current protocol terms from older or bespoke arrangements.

Let’s dive in.

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What does the Clause state?

An IVA may capture certain assets acquired during the arrangement, such as an inheritance or lottery win. Extra wages, overtime and bonuses may have separate contribution rules.

Under the 2025 England and Wales protocol, the definition of after-acquired assets generally concerns assets, windfalls or inheritances worth more than £500, excluding specified assets. The amount payable is governed by the agreed terms, not a universal rule that every unexpected receipt is taken in full.

An IVA is supervised by a licensed insolvency practitioner under insolvency law. The FCA does not individually approve each IVA windfall clause.

The proposal and any creditor modifications establish what must be contributed. Ask the supervisor to identify the clause and calculation relied on.

Report a relevant receipt or entitlement promptly while the IVA is in force, and do not spend or transfer disputed funds before the position is clarified.

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Does It Apply After Completing An IVA?

Making the final scheduled payment does not by itself complete an IVA. Outstanding obligations and the formal completion process must also be addressed.

The 2025 protocol standard terms provide for a completion certificate after compliance with all requirements and expressly bring the arrangement’s asset trust to an end when the certificate is issued.

Older and bespoke terms may differ. In Green v Wright [2017] EWCA Civ 111, the court held that a trust under the particular IVA terms continued after completion for existing PPI claims.

That case does not mean every new windfall after every completed IVA belongs to creditors. It shows why the source of the asset, when the right arose and the actual wording matter.

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Are there any Legal Repercussions for Not Paying It?

There can still be a dispute about an undisclosed asset, an entitlement arising during the IVA, a surviving trust under older terms or obligations that were not fulfilled. A completion certificate is not a safe basis for assuming every later receipt is beyond question.

To know more about the IVA completion, please click here.

Will You Be Able to Keep the Money Afterward?

Often a genuinely new entitlement arising only after formal completion can be kept, but first check whether it is connected to an earlier asset or right covered by the IVA.

For example, an inheritance may need to be assessed by reference to the date the person died, rather than the later payment date. Keep the probate and IVA documents and ask the supervisor for a written explanation; obtain independent legal advice if the position is disputed.

Do not apply a £500 threshold without checking the relevant clause. The 2025 protocol’s definition excludes after-acquired assets worth £500 or less, but income rules, pre-existing assets and modified terms can be different. See the standard terms.