My daughter is under investigation for fraud with universal credit. Can anyone help?

[Est1974]

My daughter went to uni last year, realised it wasn’t the right course and dropped out by the end of October to reapply for this year. I’d paid into a child trust fund her whole life that she closed to pay her living expenses to top up the loan - about 7.5k in total. She signed on when she got back and started looking for work. She declared the money appropriately and her uc was trimmed in line with it being over 6k. She got a couple of uc payments. She then got a Christmas shop job that lasted 6 weeks. Uc stopped during this period. I charged a little bit for food but she saved the rest and declared it properly each month. She applied for hundreds of jobs but didn’t get one until the May. She lived like a hermit, saved the uc and declared it every month as her savings went up. The May to September job paid really well and she saved almost all of it. She got no uc during either of the periods of paid employment. She was awarded two scholarships for women in engineering for her new university course. She is now in the new uni with a little war chest of nearly 18k.

Universal Credit are now gunning for her and want 12 months worth of bank statements and are accusing her of fraud. She got no money while she was working and at the time she got the second job she’d only amassed about 8k - well under the 16k limit which she declared properly at every stage and the uc she received between January and may went down accordingly as she saved it. The jump from 8-14 was during her summer job during which she wasn’t claiming and the other 4k is from the women in engineering scholarships. She wasn’t claiming while she got these earnings.

Shes on her own at uni in her first week, full of freshers flu and petrified. What will happen?

She’s not being “done” for fraud, she’s been flagged by an imperfect system and if she had declared everything correctly and time when it comes to the “personal” review of her bank statements she should be fine. She has records of every declaration etc.

Overkill. They don’t want this, they want the statements. It’s really common for UC to ask for bank statements when doing a standard review. That’s how the system works. They will not be remotely interested in reading a binder full of information they already know. If anything that will make the process harder for her. They want bank statements you give them bank statements, that’s all.

Sorry you are mistaken. You can spend UC however you wish .

This. CAB will just tell her to send in the statements

I’m happy to be corrected, I thought it was help for cost of living.

Just show them thd bank statements. If there are any anomalies she can make an appointment to see CAB.

Her student union might be able to help? Or Citizens Advice Bureau?

hi all - many thanks for all your help on this. For what it’s worth she did provide the 3 months of bank statements and will now provide the 12 (as I said earlier, she’s genuinely really ill today with a freshers flu thing and not in a fit state to do much). I don’t remember the wording of the second letter but I could see why she was disturbed by it when she read it out. I was mainly hoping that someone could reassure me that this will go away quickly as she’s excellent at catastrophising and I don’t want her to keep focusing on this rather than settling in to uni life. Even before she got ill she was spiralling a bit and not leaving her room. Lots of people have helped me there and I’m grateful.

No. She doesn’t. Just provide the bank statements.

It's up to them to prove their case as they are making the accusations. However it sounds as if she has done everything above board as long as she has got a paper trail.

My son is on UC. They recently seemingly randomly asked for bank statements. He sent them. Nothing has happened.

Just show the bank statement aslong as she declared everything she should of she will be fine

I’m sure all will be well if a full explanation is provided. There may be a free representation unit at the Uni…hoping it will be completely unnecessary if your DD replies with her evidence and a good cover letter with explanation.

Congrats to her on the new course 🌻

It would help to include a breakdown of statements related to the claim periods - something like

Date of enrolment at University of Z 15-09-2025
Statement 1 30-09-2025 - Balance £xxxx.xx
Date of leaving University of Z 25-10-2025.
Leaving document attached.

Statement 2 31-10-2025 - Balance £xxxx.xx
Settling of tuition (date) £xxxx.xx

Date opened UC claim dd-mmm-yyyy
Account balance on this date £xxxx.xx
First payment (date and amount)

Started employment at FoodCo 04-12-2025
Notified to UC (date)
Payment 2 (date and amount including deduction of xx for savings)
Payment NIL (date)

Statement 3 30-11-2025 - Balance £xxxx.xx
Statement 4 31-12-2025 - Balance £xxxx.xx

Date UC claim.
NIL earnings

...and so on. That will show the circumstances really clearly and that there is no overpayment or fraud.

Irritating, not helped by the dire warnings and tone of their communications, but ultimately she's done nothing wrong, sounds like she hasn't made any mistakes (and neither have they) - and making it really clear, rather than hoping that they sit down and do exactly the same, means that it'll get sorted quickly and she can get on with enjoying her course.

I'm finding it really annoying that your daughter was able to just save her Universal Credit. She didn't need it, seeing as she was living with you and was working, but she claimed it anyway, which I think is really shabby. UC is meant to be used for people who actually need it, as in people who need to feed their kids and elderly people on low fixed incomes. It's not meant for young healthy people who have a home provided by their parents and who are fit to work. She took that money from someone whose need was far greater. I'm sure that she could have, and would have, worked full time that whole year if she didn't claim UC. There are always jobs, but many students don't want to work at McDonald's or do cleaning. She should have funded her uni studies with loans and work, like everyone else, instead of scrounging off the state as a healthy young person.

Having said that, it sounds like she was totally transparent and they gave her UC anyway, so she hasn't done anything legally wrong, just morally.

That's if you're sure that she's telling you the truth. I find it very odd that UC would be given to a fit young person whose housing, bills, and most food is provided for them.

I think I know more about it than you do, having just been through the whole process and ChatGPT was completely accurate with its advice. I’m sure you still use a blackberry and Filofax but some of us are moving with the times.

Exactly this. Understand it might be a shock but you've gone from 0 to 100 here. Just provide the bank details and go from there.

Please go back and read my OP carefully and a touch more slowly. I can see the jist of your point and empathise with your point of view. But much of it isn’t based on what she actually did or what actually happened. She claimed uc because she was looking for work and I can assure you she was earnest in that endeavour and eventually secured it. She claimed nothing while working.

I have no reason to believe my daughter hasn’t been telling me the truth.

For what it’s worth her summer job was daily and deep cleaning in an elderly care home with literally everything that involves.

Not as odd as a person who didn't read the post properly where it made it perfectly clear that she received no UC money when she was working, saved her wages from those periods, declared those savings when she wasn't (and her UC payment was adjusted to take account of those savings) and that it is intended for people outside your personal preferred eligibility criteria.

I read and understood it all. As I said, I'm surprised that someone who has their housing, bills, and food provided for them needs UC. I was in her position as a student, and not working all the time, but you use your money from the periods you are working for transport, discretionary spends, etc. Seeing as the parent(s) has all other living expenses covered.

I didn’t want to write this - as I know the op was worried about her dd, who whilst technically and legally hasn’t done anything wrong, so she will be fine - but I do agree with it. Doing this isn’t morally right. It just isn’t. She had no need for it. I really disagree with the mindset of an 18 year old who is living at home with no costs, that the first thing they do is claim UC, then start looking for a job. Sure, she is ‘entitled’ to it, as in she is within the rules to claim it, but it’s not on.

I read and understood it all. When I was at uni, you used the money you earned when working during the periods where you didn't work, seeing as the parents had almost everything covered when you lived at home. (Housing, utilities, bills.) I'm sorry, but her situation, having all her living expenses covered, doesn't begin to compare to people who are in actual need - i.e. those who don't have a parental home.

No, it's not, and it's claimees like OP's daughter that give benefits recipients a bad name. I fully support the welfare state; I think it's essential for people who are in need: for people who'd be in deep poverty otherwise, for people with children, for people who can't work, for elderly people to prevent them being in poverty. But seeing a healthy young person socking it away whose housing, heating, water, council tax, and most food is supplied by their mummy is maddening.