Have I committed fraud?

Yes, "they" could. I'm "they" btw. Unless OP has over £6k in undeclared assets, nothing is going to happen!

That's the sort of thinking that led to the Child Support Agency SNAFU.

Most maintenance is pretty small amounts and often has to be prised from the fingers of unwilling fathers.

Former friend of mine who claimed benefits back in the days of Incapacity Benefit had two bank accounts. One was for her claim, the other was for monies she obtained from elsewhere including from a sugar daddy. She got caught in the end and done for fraud. They seem to have a way of findng out, I never dobbed her in it but it did affect our friendship, which came to and end as a result of her activities

Maintenance isn't taken into account when it comes to calculating benefits.

But yes, you need to declare all accounts as you could have other sources of income going into those for all they know.

Yep. They really aren't interested in cash gifts every now and then.

Just today we got a £100 cash gift from a charity who is supporting us (they have given every family they support £100 for Christmas) and UC will not care if they see it it in a review appointment (though I've never actually had one).

Another poster who fails to grasp what fraud is.

If the OP acquired title to benefit, or increased the benefit they were paid, by concealing assets or not disclosing earned/unearned income that is fraud.

If they've failed/forgotten to disclose bank accounts handling disregarded income then there's no fraud.

I would say send them the bank statements, without a further statement, just with your claim number and let them tell you what is what.

Absolutely!

I once had a client who was getting 3 x £3k, so £9k a month, from her very rich ex. She was still entitled to UC, and she got a fair old chunk of that as one of the children had a learning disability, got DLA , and mum got carer's allowance + UC.

That's vanishingly rare though, not only had I never come across another case like but neither had any of my colleagues and between us we had over 100 years of welfare rights experience!

what utter bullshit. Child maintenance payments are not included when calculating your Universal Credit award. if you receive child maintenance, it will not reduce or count as income for Universal Credit.

you do have to declare it though as part of your financial transparency.

No, it's not fraud. Benefit fraud is claiming benefits you're not entitled to on purpose. OP has not done this. She has claimed UC which the DWP has calculated she's entitled to - Child Maintenance is disregarded as income for UC and this is the only other income she's in receipt of.

Yes, I agree, with the caveat that if, at any time, the total in the accounts exceeded £6k, there may have been an overpayment of UC.

Even then, I've known them disregard it if it's only for a few days.

The DWP can be surprisingly flexible and pragmatic about this sort of stuff. I once had a client who'd inherited over £20k and she gave her adult kids £7.5k each. As the amount she gave away brought the balance to just below the £6k at which they start deducting some of the benefits, I thought they'd regard it as "intentional deprivation of capital" and treat her as though she still had the money, ie stop her benefits completely because she had over the £16k upper limit.

They bloody didn't though, the investigating officer must have been very sympathetic and understanding. (Client genuinely didn't know about the deprivation rules, and was absolutely shitting herself.)

No you don’t! Here’s an almost direct quote from my review

I see you had a payment of £100 from Mr XYZ on 25/12/24 can you explain what that is please?

Yes, it was a Christmas present from my dad

Ok, thanks.

Theyre looking for regular repeat payments or payments you can’t innocently explain which may be signs of an undeclared job. You won’t get in trouble for having a smal (or large) cash gift every now and again.

If you have to declare your finances, regardless of the reason, then you must declare ALL finances. The bank accounts are yours, and are part of your overall finances, so of course you need to declare them. By not declaring the two bank accounts, you are committing fraud.

Because it shows she hasn’t got any savings which would be the only issue. Her receiving child matenience is a non-issue.

There’s no need for all of these posts jumping on her as she’s not claiming money she’s not entitled to

You know full well you have to declare all bank statements. Maintenance is disregarded provided in having it you don't go over £16k. Someone will now have to investigate all your underhand behaviour. Why do you think the rules that apply to everyone else do not apply to you?

OP's told us "There are no savings, it is all spent every month" so it doesn't appear that the savings limits will affect her UC entitlement.

That would be a very good idea. It will show that you are being transparent about the money.

Initials, full name, combinations of those, account types...all perfectly legal.

The above poster is correct. There is a list of things you are allowed to spend money on without it being deprivation of assets. As mentioned debts, purchase of vehicle, household repairs and essentials such as white goods, basic furniture etc. Google will give youa complete list. Basic winter clothing for you and your children would also count as an esential purchase. as well as bedding.

If you have transferred money from your undeclared account/s to your declared one then this would show up on any bank statement they ask you to produce and would be a giveaway. So its probably better to declare them. I have three bank accounts and they all shw up on a credit search, which UC sometimes decide to do.

It would count if someone kept it, but using a lump sum to pay off debts is an acceptable use of capital under benefit rules.

As is using capital for home improvements or to buy a car, as long as the car is a reasonably priced one and not a high end, luxury job.

My friend attempted suicide because of people like you wanting to see them burn over non fraud of benefits - so yeah shut your f*ing mouth and your laughing.

You have four bank accounts in different names?
How did you do that?

No she hasn't - you're another one who doesn't know what they're talking about. Child Maintenance is disregarded as income when calculating entitlement to UC, so OP hasn't been receiving any more UC than she's entitled to.

The more you dig the deeper the hole you're in.

There isn't a point because it isn't guaranteed income. A lot of men are inconsistent with payments and some can stop paying suddenly.

It was changed to protect children.