Have I committed fraud?

[Boxedin2431]

I am a single mum to three.

I have a UC review and bank statements are due.
I have three bank accounts and two I have not declared.
The two bank accounts I have not declared get child maintenance paid in from my children’s dads, respectively.
I have not had any other income apart from the maintenance and some help from my dad sometimes.
i transfer money between all three.
Two bank accounts are in my birth name, the third is in my middle name.

Am I in trouble when I declare them?

I only have UC, child benefit into the one I have declared.
i have child maintenance into one bank account and another child maintenance into the other bank account.

Shall I include 6 month statement for all three?

You need to declare all bank accounts

Yeah you need to declare all three as otherwise you are actively choosing to misrepresent your circumstances.

Flip.question, why wouldnt you declare them all? If ots because you think you'll get less, then that's also your answer.

Yes, this is benefit fraud and hopefully they throw the book at you for it.

Yes, given they want to know about your financial situation, not providing information on two thirds of your accounts isn't great.

I thought that child maintenance was disregarded.
Will I get into trouble for this? There are no savings, every penny is spent every month.

What was your reasoning when deciding not to declare all your bank accounts?

Think about it, it’s fairly clear to everyone else… including the benefits office.

I spend every penny every month, doesn't make me entitled to benefits 😂

Yes - you deliberately hid 2/3 of your bank accounts.

It won’t make much difference, you’ll be fine they will just update the details.

What will happen do you think? It is child maintenance paid every month, the same amount, from my children’s dad.

So why haven’t you declared them if you are supposed to?

Child maintenance isn't included as income for UC. That was binned off ages ago

Just declare them.

The point is you had access to the accounts.. So they are classed as your accounts and your money.

It is disregarded I think. However that begs the question if why did you hide it in the first place?

Yes. You have committed benefit fraud.

You are looking at sanctions, a repayment schedule and possibly a criminal investigation.

Come clean to tell them that as it does not affect your UC you did not know you had to declare it. Honesty isthmus better option.

Why didn’t you declare all three bank accounts when you started to claim?

CM is disregarded but accounts still should be declared especially if total savings go over 6k.

Behave, you daft sod😂

OP, child maintenance isn't included in benefit entitlement, don't worry. Hasn't been for years.

Ots disregarded to work out entitlement to IC, but I don't think it is if ultimately, all together, you have more than £16k in the accounts.

Nobody can tell you what will happen - the issue isn’t that it’s only child maintenance it’s that you deliberately chose not to declare it.

It is, but you still need to declare the income. You could for example have a very generous ex who gives you 100k a year. It's the non disclosure not the money itself that's the issue.

It is disregarded though.

There are no savings, it is all spent every month.
I am sick with worry and cannot wait to get this all above board.

Should I write a statement to put with the bank statements?

They might disregard the chikd maintenence, I'm not sure. But I do know you have to give all your bank accounts so they can look into them.