Will I be charged with fraud...really scared...HELP!!

[jane28]

I have a five year old child with a man...he has never paid a penny to me for her..neither has he seen her since the day she was born. I stupidly told Income Support I didnt know who the father was as he never wanted anything to do with the child and told me to abort her...then claimed she wasnt his..My question is...If I now give his name so I can claim Child Support Main from him..will i get into trouble for not giving his name in the first place? Im really frightened that I will get into trouble for not saying..maybe end up being prosecuted...I dont want to risk this..as my daughter will have no where to go if i am jailed for it..please help..

I doubt they will be interested Jane, you could have discovered any number of ways who he is since claiming. I wouldn't be worried about this - some women ate too scared to name a father if he is likely to cause them more probs.

Why would you get into trouble? The only thing I'll say is don't hold your breath about getting any maintenance. The CSA are shite and are, by all accounts, about to make it even harder to apply.

I agree. I have a 14 year old and despite me ringing them and giving his address, it going to court three times etc I am still yet to get a penny so don't hold your breath!

Thanks for replying. @fuckity Im thinking i'll get into serious trouble because when i put the claim in i told them i dont know who the father is which i did...he has said to me that i will get into really bad trouble for lying to them.Im just really frightened...I wouldnt bother with the csa only that I am really struggling at the moment and I dont see why he shouldn't be made to help towards the childs upbringing. @ wannabe...I thought that the CSA were a good thing and they would force the absent parent to pay.?

Unfortunately they can't force them to pay, especially if the non resident parent doesn't really want to. My ex knows every trick in the book, quits his job each and every time they track him down. The fact is, even if you'd said 'yes, his name is x, he lives here, here's his phone number etc' it would have made no difference to your claim for income support at all. So don't worry.

I wouldn't worry - but to cover yourself, you could tell the income support people at the same time that you are now in contact with the dad. You could imply that he was some very casual aquantance and that when you said you didn't know who he was what you actually meant was that you didn't know his contact details (or even his full name, maybe) and that now he has got in touch so you are able to give them his contact details. Once you've done that voluntarily I can't see how they could possibly cause you any trouble for not having told them sooner.

I'm also pretty sure that they don't take money off income support any more from whatever you get from the CSA, so unless this was years ago that you claimed, you probably haven't defrauded them of any money anyway.

Maintenence isn't taken off income support, no. But they won't backdate a claim for maintenence anyway, so OP please don't worry. You're not in any trouble at all.

I didnt think they would backdate it...just thought that even 30 a week would be some help...but he is probably not gonna pay anyway as he always said from day one that he would get his accountant to make it look like he has no money to give...That is what im worried about i had to give up work whilst i was pregnant and claim as i was so sick...so it was 5 yrs ago and things were different then..i remember someone saying it was against the law with holding the fathers name and i would get into serious trouble...maybe its more trouble than its worth then...just i dont think its right that he pays for one child that was conceived through a one night stand and not mine that was not a one nighter :O( But thankyou for all your replies x

If he really was confident that his accountant is so good that he wouldn't have to pay anything, he wouldn't be putting pressure on you not to apply. Applying is free and you've nothing to lose.

Yes the CSA aren't always successful, but if the alternative is definitely getting nothing, you should apply.

Do you have a good lone parent advisor? Explain you didn' let them know the father's name before as you felt scared he would make life difficult for you.

Child maintenance isn't taken off your income support anyway so it's not like not telling them has caused you to gain extra benefits, it's you and your dc that have been missing out by you not claiming anything from him earlier!

CSA aren't that great TBH. I would still get in contact with them. He obviously doesn't want them involved or he wouldn't be putting pressure on you!