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?

Yes, she has. She hasn’t declared all her income and accounts which she is required to do!

You’ll have to pay it back

Hey op, Take what people are saying with a pinch of salt. People on here love to bash others.

I also get UC into one account and maintenance into another (that I’ve never declared as such) I’ve had 2 reviews in the past 18 months and both times they’ve just asked what that account is (that I transfer from into my main account every month) and I tell them and they ask for 3 months statements and it’s absolutely no issue at all. Maintenance isn’t counted as income, as long as it’s from child’s dads and he would confirm if ever asked you’ve nothing to worry about about ☺️ all they want to see is that you don’t have a stash of money somewhere, I also had to provide PayPal statements the first time for the same thing. Try not to stress yourself

I think you're right (in that she's done nothing wrong), but I wonder if threads like this encourage people to take bad advice. It would have been better if OP had take the 30s to google the issue before coming here. I'd trust gov.uk or CAB over BenefitSeether420 on mumsnet!

I am sure - she doesn’t need to declare her maintenance but she does need to declare the income she’s receiving from her own father!

OP, you have not answered the question numerous posters have asked about why one of the bank accounts is opened in your middle name.

If it looks odd to us, it will look odd to the DWP. You'd be wise to have an answer which explains why it was not meant to hide that account.

I missed it the first time. Thanks.

Small, infrequent cash gifts are disregarded but if it was thousands of pounds, she would have to declare that too.

They aren't going to be interested in the odd £50 here or there.

Fucksake. No she will not. Maintenance is disregarded.

I accidentally did this on my first review because I genuinely forgot the account and he wasn't paying into it anyway it was an empty account so I switched his "payments" into my main account and closed it they knew about the account from when I claimed UC I just forgot until he was forced to pay (the month after the review) loads of people have dormant accounts

For people snarking about it being a disregarded income blame the paying parents it used to be taken into account and "docked" from your benefit but paying parents were refusing to pay and because there was a presumption of payment children were going without and suffering so it was changed to protect children

You have to declare them anyway though, that’s the issue. It might not count but the fact that OP hasn’t been honest is what’s going to be the issue.

UC can also decide that spending cash gifts and not declaring is a way of hiding income and keeping your benefits when you shouldn’t (of course that all depends on the amounts OP is receiving).

I'm surprised she was able to do this. It's been a while since I opened an account, but I remember them being pretty strict on ID, maybe as part of anti money laundering regulation.

Maintenance might be disregarded but she is also receiving money from her own father which she hasn’t declared.

It may not impact her claim but she’s supposed to declare all cash gifts.

Oh, I totally agree with you!
I misinterpreted your response to the other post.

As long as it isn't large amounts, I can't imagine UC making a fuss over it.

If we're talking thousands of pounds etc then of course, that's different.

Everybody gets a review at some point. It is not fraud. Maintenance is disregarded. This is such a non issue and all the “experts” on here who haven’t done 2 minutes basic research are spreading misinformation.

Reported. Dont be a cow

2 undeclared bank accounts, one in a different name?
Yeah, right

This is complete and utter bullshit! No DWP can't see your accounts, CM is disregarded, and she has not defrauded anyone. Stop making shit up to wind people up.

She will have to pay back any of the money she hasn’t told them about that isn’t disregarded

her husband and her are married and she’s calling it child maintenance which is incorrect

and don’t be so rude

I wondered that too

😂😂

@Boxedin2431 if you're still reading, please ignore those salivating over you possibly getting into trouble. They need to step away from the Daily Mail. As you say, CM is disregarded for UC. I'm sure it will all be fine.

Where did you make that up from? She is a single mum of 3 in receipt of maintenance. She has done nothing wrong here, however desperate some of you are to make that so.

No, you can't simply declare money from your married partner as child maintenance for Universal Credit (UC) to avoid it affecting your claim
, as UC treats married couples living together as a single household, and your partner's income is considered; however, genuine child maintenance from the other parent (not your spouse) is disregarded and doesn't reduce UC, but money your partner gives you is generally seen as household income or income for the couple, which does affect your UC calculation unless you're genuinely separated.

It also depends how quickly it’s being spent. If her dad (for example) sends her 10k and she spends it right away, that’ll be looked at very differently to the odd £50 here and there being kept for birthdays.