Benefit fraud

[namechange221122]

My soon to be ex h, who I still get on with, admitted to me yesterday that he has committed benefit fraud. He is panicking that he will be discovered which is why he confided in me. We have a child together and I am so disappointed in him as he is usually law abiding. My thoughts are now out of control and I am concerned he will be prosecuted if discovered and put in jail and the impact that will have on our child. What a horrendous role model, it’s so upsetting. He has a low income and lives off his savings. Since he separated his income has been below the level but he does not qualify on a capital basis and lied about the sum he had in savings. I’m mainly angry but beside myself with worry.

Sorry that should say since we separated.

Has he been caught out or has done it and is now panicking he will get caught?

He should call and report a change of situation and put in his savings.

He is now panicking he will get caught. However, they have contacted him asking for more documents. Our separation was around the time of the first lockdown and he has been told they are catching up on a backlog.

Do you know what he is claiming? Not all benefits take savings into account.

Whether he would be prosecuted depends on the amount fraudulently claimed and the circumstances around the claim.

He might just be asked to reimburse the sum given and have his uc revoked.

He is claiming universal credit to top up his self employed income. His savings were £24k but have gone down to £19k since making the claim. He told him at the time it was under the threshold so I guess he must have said under £16k. He has been doing so since March 2021.

I have suggested he offers to pay it back and say he didn’t realise at the time but he is worried they could prosecute anyway.

Highly unlikely to prosecute if he tells them he'll pay it back in full. It's very expensive for them to prosecute, they'll just want to be made whole again.

Prosecution normally only applies where the only they can show intent to deceive, and the amount fraudulently claimed is above a certain level (either £3K or £5K, I can't recall). Even where someone is prosecuted, a custodial sentence is very rare.

So he's only got 3k more in savings than he's allowed. He could just withdraw that tomorrow.