Advise please??????

[Bluesycat]

Hello, I've been very stupid & not informed the income support when my ex started to give me £25 a week maintenance money since last June.
The csa will try to claim it back from him from then as that is when they first tried to contact him, so obviously I need to sort it all out & tell them that he has been giving me this amount.
I'm now scared & panicking, I know I'll have to pay the money back that I owe them, but what will happen? Have I committed a criminal offence, will they stop my income support benefit?

I think if you contact them and tell them yourself rather than them finding out you will be ok.

I am sure they wouldnt go to the trouble of criminal proceedings in what effectively is a mistake on your part which you are owning up to. As for stopping income support I really dont think so, as this would affect your DCs, it will be bad enough for you paying the money back if you are on a right budget.

I think they are understanding if you are honest.

Good luck.

Thanks, I appreciate your reply.
I think it's going to be around £360 that I owe if I'm only allowed to keep £10 of the maintenance, have written them a letter so will see what happens now.

They will take the money back from you, however it won't be at £25 per week. The good thing is though you are allowed to keep the first £10 of the maintenance, the rest gets deducted from your Income Support. Once you declare this, they will calculate the overpayment and begin making deductions (should be less than £10 per week, usually around £6).

If you leave IS to start work, a portion of your maintenance up to £1000 will be paid back to you. This is called the Child Maintenance Bonus.

Don't worry, you will not get into trouble as long as you tell them now. I know this because I work for JCP.

bluesycat has your ex got evidence of this money he gave you ? with the csa how it is at the moment they will probably take a couple of years to sort out any maintenance with him and he might not even begrudge paying out again what he has already paid out.

KatieScarlett the child maintenance bonus is only for those on the old csa system, the people on the new system wont get that as they get the £10 per week which those on the old system dont get, I would have thought you would know that if you work for the JCP, im not being pedant but it wouldnt be the first time someone from the JCP has given out the wrong advice

Sorry, you are right of course.