Have I committed fraud?

When you're not sure of UC rules, it's best not to post as an expert. You're just going to needlessly worry people.

Please don’t be stressed about this OP, don’t even mention the fact you didn’t realise you had to declare all accounts just give the bank states for all 3 and say this is the account I receive CM for child 1, this one is for child 2, and this is my main bank account. CM won’t affect your claim so you have nothing to worry about in terms of what you’ve claimed. It will be fine.

Sorry to read some of the responses you are getting. It’s stressful enough to deal with these things without that. You have done nothing wrong financially so it seems unlikely this will be a huge deal. The fact you spend every penny means you don’t have savings, which is relevant to your claim. Child maintenance is disregarded as income and it hasn’t accrued as savings.

You should disclose about the other bank accounts. It’s not ideal that you didn’t before, but as nothing is amiss financially I would think it can be sorted without too much of an issue. Surely sometimes people open new accounts after they have made a claim or else remember an old empty post office account and need to disclose that in a review.

Prob try Citizen's Advice over the good frothers of mumsnet. It can be difficult to get an appointment but they might have a drop in sessions depending on where you are. They will give you advice you can be sure of (unlike this thread).

Yes. Because historically the evidence is that men don’t reliably pay child maintenance of their own volition.

No, she hasn't! Where do you get your information from?

@Boxedin2431 I work in UCR, you're fine. Just declare the other bank accounts, upload 4 months of statements for all bank accounts that you have and leave a journal message stating that the money that goes in one account is CM.

Honestly, you're one of the cases we don't mind getting, easy, nothing to hide. You'd be surprised at the amount of people who have tens of thousands in the bank that they don't declare and still claim UC!

Blimey this is all very interesting.

So if I'm a single mum and I receive, lets say, £2000 child maintenance per month from 2 different dads (4K in total), and I spend it all - I can still claim universal credit because 'child maintenance isn't counted as income' ?

wow.

Because it means she doesn’t have any savings which could affect her claim.

So to be clear and addressing the question in the post:

You have not committed fraud.

Fraud can cover a few different offenses, but benefit fraud specifically is claiming benefits you're not entitled to on purpose.

Gifts from family do not count as income either, they ONLY count in your overall savings, which the OP says she doesn't have.

OP you're not going to be in trouble. You should have disclosed, but not disclosing wasn't fraudulent - you didn't intend to gain by not disclosing, you just thought you didn't need to because it wasn't income that needed to be declared.

You may well find that they now check your circumstances more closely, but as long as that's not going to uncover something you're hiding you have nothing to be afraid of - it just means more hassle for you (and them).

Exactly.

CM is discounted because far too many fathers are unreliable and don't consistently pay for their children.

Child maintance is disregarded ao you havent commited fraud. I dont understand why you failed to disclose the accounta though. It looks really weird. You now have the hassle of explaining it all to them.
It will probably turn out alright but you have certainly madw things more complicated for yourself

Because I cannot see how it is fair that someone who has either several children and/or several fathers of children, or an ex who earns loads and therefore is in receipt of significant maintenance should also then receive help from the state, versus someone where perhaps there are two parents not earning loads but just on the threshold where they are not able to claim from the state, and who also cannot afford to have more children as a result.
Seems incredibly unfair to me. Income is income.

Best petition for the child maintenance system to be reformed then, so that women can be sure that they will actually get the money they are entitled to from their children's fathers.

And do a bit of research on what led to child maintenance being discounted from benefits calculations.

If it makes you feel any better the amount you can have in savings, has never gone up with inflation from when it was set at 6k, so I'm sure it all balances itself out somehow and you have nothing to worry about :)

Why didn’t you declare all your accounts when you started claiming? Why is one of them in your Middle name ?

It’s still better to be fully transparent when making financial declarations (at least to government entities).

you declare it, they disregard it and you wouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Yes, I’m aware what this won’t help you now. But it is something to keep in mind (for future endeavours).

good luck!

It would if one/both of them were premiership footballers paying £10k a month in……….

Yeah child maintenance is disregarded. Just be honest about the fact you didn't realise you had to declare that account as it was child maintenance but as you have no savings you should be fine as long as you show them everything from now on. :)

Doesn't sound as if there's anything that she needs to repay.

HNRTT but before you send any statements in or write any statements, it might be helpful to try to speak urgently with a Local Authority or local law centre benefits advisor so you can receive some independent advice and take stock of your situation. Be upfront with them. BTW, I'm not sure it's compelling that you spend any undeclared income every month so I wouldn't lead with this though presumably saving beyond any savings limits might be worse.

Good luck.

It will only make a difference if there is undeclared income on any of them. So long as you can prove it’s only child maintenance going in and not any other regular undeclared payments or savings then you’ll be fine.

god so there is so much shit on here it’s unreal

OP

You will be fine
when you go on UC initially they only ask about the initial bank account that you have the benefits paid into

now on your review they ask about all of them ( that’s why they do them )

so just uploads the stamtements to all the accounts for the last 4 months
they will see the transfers anyway

maintanance ftom your ex is fine
and gifts of money family / friends is also fine as long as you don’t go over 6k in a month it’s not a problem

if you are really worried go over to Reddit on the benefit sub
they are really helpful and they are actually dwp / UC staff that moderate the sub so will give you the correct info which is what I have given you

but honestly it’s really not a problem
relax and enjoy Christmas

Why?