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?

It is disregarded as income. You still have to declare the accounts. The balance of said accounts could affect your entitlement.

I don't think she has to declare maintenance.

All accounts in your name need to be declared. Child maintenance is disregarded from income BUT if you save it up that's still capital.
You need to declare all bank accounts. If the money was going into child savings and not touched that capital might also have been disregarded. Ultimately if you have capital(savings) between £6000 and £16,000 you'd be entitled to less UC. If you have over £16,000 you won't be entitled at all. So if the money you have that UC weren't aware of affects how much you should've received then you'll need to repay and could face additional penalties

Why is one of them in a middle name?

You get asked about bank accounts when you sign up, prepare for them to request further back statements to check things through.

It doesn’t matter, you still chose to hide a big chunk of your monthly income.

Child maintenance is disregarded as income but you still have to declare the accounts it is paid into and declare all accounts.

You only commit fraud by not declaring income and so receiving benefits that you are not entitled to. DWP may think you have not declared the accounts to try to hide additional income that counts toward entitlement and ask for statements going back longer but it will all be sorted as long as that is not the case.

Just declare the accounts and provide statements for all accounts. DWP will be able to see that you do not have additional income which affects your entitlement to receive UC.

Shall I include a years worth of bank statements for each account? And a statement clarifying everything?

So you have one account DWP know about, and a second account for child maintenance.

What's in the third account and why is it in a different name? That looks distinctly odd to me.

I wouldn't worry OP.
Maintenance is definitely disregarded.
Just make a not on the bank statement and state child Maintenance
Try and get kids dad to put it in the reference from now, makes things easier to track

I have one account for UC and Child Benefit.
I have one account for child maintenance from one dad.
I have another account for child maintenance for the other dad.

And what's your reason for having three bank accounts, two of which aren't in your "real" name? Sorry OP, it smacks of you wanting to hide money.

You need to speak to your case worker or an advisor. I suspect they’ll want to see all your accounts for the entire time you’ve been claiming. They’ll also want to know why you chose to hide so much information from them.

Yes, people make mistakes all the time. You have had no money that you were not entitled to. Just tell the truth with a covering letter.

Just send the number of statements they have asked for, for each account.

It would only be fraud if you had a secret account you hadn't declared due to savings over 6k.

CM is disregarded and you aren't saving it so they aren't going to do anything about it.

Yeah, why though?

Why does it matter?

No you haven't committed fraud in any way shape or form.
They will just update your details.
Don't listen to people spouting about sanctions etc. Uc are pretty understanding and helpful.

Universal Credit claimants do not have to declare if they are receiving any child maintenance as it does not affect their Universal Credit claim

Honestly, you have nothing to worry about (as long as you don’t have vast amounts of hidden savings in any of your accounts). I declared accounts I hadn’t previously in my review and they were fine with it, just asked for statements. I get £1,200 pcm in child maintenance which isn’t included as income for UC. The review person asked what the sum was, I told them and that was the end of it.

Many people who don’t get UC tops ups have to spend every penny of their earned income every month just to keep their heads above water. I’m not sure why you think spending it all is relevant?

You need to declare all the accounts but as it’s child maintenance it won’t make a difference. so imo isn’t fraud as you aren’t gaining anything from it, there’s no extra money paid.

It disregared but you do need to declare it. I had to give details of my PayPal account too which i hadn't realised until my review. I only use it to pay for things and dont have money going into it though. So whilst the review lady did "tell me off" it didnt actually matter.

If you're deliberately spending all the money so that you have no savings and hiding bank accounts then maybe consider working full time and getting off benefits. They will catch up with you, three bank accounts without good reason is suspicious in itself.