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?

Haha in my little scenario I completely forgot about the allowed savings 😅

Ahhh but that's not what I said is it, I didn't say someone with multi millions in the bank, I said someone could receive a million every month for child maintenence ( which they could )

If they spent all of that million every month or even saved it in an iSA for their child, then as long as they didn't have over the allowed savings, they could spend/save that 1 million every month and still be entitled to universal credit

They disregard any amount of maintenence each month

I know but realistically no one could spend that and isa’s have fairly low limits. You can’t just chuck millions in 🤣 anyway I’m going to stop arguing about this impossible scenario 😅

😅 To be fair we are both right, technically someone is legally allowed to receive a million pound a month and as long as they spent it they'd be entitled to UC the next month

But realistically someone would struggle to spend 1 million a month and if I was receiving 1 million a month maintence I wouldn't be claiming UC 😅

You will be fine. Child maintenance is disregarded.

Ok, it might look like you're trying to hide something but it's not like you're working a side job and raking money in.

The money from your dad, that's fine too.

As forcthe person saying "I hope they throw the book at you".... get a grip. Get your facts right first, you are wrong. The OP has done nothing wrong. There is no book to throw!

My daughter is a single mum and claims universal credit top up to her wages and help with her rent.
She has 3 accounts, her main one, a separate one for maintenance and another old one she didn't close.
During a review, they were aware of the other accounts and asked for statements, which she provided.
They were fine with the maintenance as she declares it and other accounts had zero transactions.
They were just looking for savings.
You'll be fine

For fuck's sake, a 21 page thread for a simple google search.

I agree and to be fair you are asked for details of all bank accounts when you apply.

Suspect lots of repliers are just putting the boot into someone getting both UC and CM, like it's a picnic being a single parent on a low income.

OP, I wish you all the very best. Don't be so anxious - this is very easily sorted.

@Boxedin2431 breathe.

I wouldn’t close any, it sounds like this works for you on an organisational level, that’s fine.

Just disclose them to UC now, the normal amount of statements. It sounds like they won’t change the financial conclusion, you could say that because that income isn’t included into the calculations you didn’t think it was necessary to include them. It was, but given it’s not going to change the financial decision I suspect you’ll be fine. They’ll probably just tell you off.

Either way, just let them know and you can sleep easy again .

I just want to post and say that I have some money in an account that the dwp did know that I got - it was a back payment. I put it aside in a zopa account - but that's not a bank account, you can get a bank account with them but I just had an app with savings pots and there was nowhere for me add it on formally via a change of circumstances

I sent a message through my journal and they responded to me saying - any savings under 6k are disregarded for Universal credit purposes

Yes they might ask why you didn't tell them sooner - but I would be very surprised if there's a huge issue over this

The issue would be if you had over 6k in savings and didn't tell them - that's benefit fraud. Even at that - there are people who have made mistakes and didn't declare savings and they've had a penalty and paid back an overpayment

They are not going to drag you through court for not declaring two bank accounts when you have savings of less than 6k

You know the answer to your question. You didn't declare them because you thought you'd get less UC. Now you have a review you're getting nervous that you'll be found out. And it seems you did it needlessly as it doesn't count. Any fallout is on you.

That's not the case. The OP has made it clear that the money in the other accounts is spent. As long as she doesn't have 6k in savings she's entitled to the full amount of UC every month - there's nothing to find out. Plenty of people make mistakes. The person doing the review will only be concerned that they don't have savings that they haven't declared

See when someone is worried and under stress - don't make them feel worse

I don't think you really need to ask this question; I'm sure you know what the answer is!

That's not the case. There comes a point where the dwp could view a million pounds - even if it were child maintenance as capital. And spending a million pounds to be able to claim benefits - would be seen as deprivation of capital

This isn't fraud

Nonsense

Your posts seem to smack of wanting to catch someone out. It's completely fine to receive money from friends or family - the only issue would be if it were over 6k at the one time.

This isn't the reason she's having a review. Reviews are taking place because during covid dwp staff weren't able to do checks and they are now resuming. Lots of people are being checked just now - randomly

Did you read the OP? She didn't declare them because the money in them is disregarded for UC.
You, like a few others, are just making up motives for OP when she has stated her reasons why.
I hope you never go on a jury.

Op - go over to reddit. They have dwp staff on there and boards for issues exactly like this.

There have been times when I was on UC where I have worried myself sick over the tiniest thing. If someone is saying that they are worried sick - telling them they are going to be criminally investigated isn't helpful - and you must know this if you are making these kind of posts.

There were times in my life around 8 years ago where I was working a zero hours job and as a single person with no kids I got no in work allowance and at that point - for every pound I earned my UC was reduced by 67p.

I was struggling and sometimes my mum gave me money to help me out - I didn't need to declare it. It's not earned income

I've been through a compliance interview. I was reported as part of a wider campaign of harassment. I wasn't committing fraud - the officer saw that.

I know that some people really don't like people on benefits - but when someone is stressed - please don't post saying they are going to be put through a criminal investigation for not declaring two bank accounts.

That could tip someone very vulnerable over the edge. There are some very strange attitudes to people on benefits - and it's unfair - anyone could end up in the situation where they might need to claim themselves.

Send them the statements for all three accounts in the lead up to your review. Child maintenance doesn't effect your payment calculations, so if the other two accounts are only used for that and you have no savings you have not committed fraud.
If you do not send all three statements before the review they will notice any transactions between the undisclosed accounts and the one you have disclosed. This might then cause further investigation and delays. In my experience, during the time that you are under review you sit with a different team to usual and it can cause problems with any queries / childcare payments etc. during that time.

I had this with a PayPal account - they noticed I had paid for something using PayPal and asked me to send 6 months worth of PayPal statements, causing a delay.

What is it then? Having Bank accounts in a different name and failing to declare them seems to me like benefit fraud.

That's not what it says in the original post unless I have missed something. As far as I'm aware one declares everything and the DWP decides whether they are disregarded or not.

One of them is in a middle name and the other isn't. I contacted the dwp at the weekend as I said earlier because I have some money put aside in a savings app - it's not a bank account so I couldn't declare it through my journal. They just said we only need to know about savings over 6k.

The only reason the OP is being asked to show the bank accounts is because she's being reviewed - nothing in the OPs bank accounts will affect her entitlement to UC. Particularly as most of it is child maintenance which is disregarded

If she were getting more UC because she was hiding savings that would be fraud - she isn't. People can make mistakes you know.