Dwp compliance interview

[Octopus3001]

Hi I got a letter stating I need to have a compliance interview with dwp. I rang the number on the letter to ask what it was about and told it was just to check I'm still eligible for the benefits I receive ect. My boyfriend and I have 2 kids and he pays child maintenance which is a considerable amount. I can understand how this would look questionable and look like rent rather than CM. But he still lives with his parents.

I suffer terribly with anxiety and obviously this has set it off even more so. After a long discussion we have decided it would be best if he moved in, due to my health. This letter come after me being in hospital for two weeks. 8 admissions since January.

If he moves in and i cancel all my benefits, would I still have this interview? Would it look even more suspicious and warrant further investigation?

Thanks so much for your help in advance!

It's not utter rubbish though, is it? I get the feeling that CMS has never been involved in the OP's case, because they have not split up. They are partners. The father of her children gives her money, and they are still a couple. That is the issue here. If the OP has declared the money she receives, then she will be fine.

You don’t need to declare money you get as CM.

They are a couple: no matter what you call it, in this instance it's not child maintenance. If my husband goes and lives with his parents for awhile, does that mean I can go to the DWP and claim as a single parent, even though DH is giving me money? Of course not. This is basically what the OP is doing.

Well we don’t know the full circumstances because people have started frothing at the mouth and shouting benefit fraud. People are assuming a lot.

It does not sound to me like he pays for anything other than one CM payment per month. Maybe he’s shit with money and the OP hasn’t felt able to live with him because of it?

When people are investigated to see if they live in a couple, they look for things like whether there is a Sky TV package in a name different to the other bills etc.

On Mumsnet people do an awful lot of assuming. Compliance interviews are extremely common just to make sure that nothing has been overlooked by the claimant. If they had any evidence of actual fraud, there would have been a letter stating interview under caution.

MondaysChild7 it's a large enough amount that the op is worried that DWP will confuse it with a rental payment.

@MondaysChild7 so it’s ok for someone to feel their own partner is ‘shit with money’ so ask others to pay for them whilst they pretend to be single parents? Outrageous.
i know so many people who arrange their lives so that they can claim benefits they would not be entitled to. And it’s exactly this. They pretend to live apart so that they get public funding.
meanwhile those in need are sanctioned and vilified when they are desperate. And the dishonest behaviour fuels the public perception of ‘benefit scroungers’. It’s an awful mess.

@MondaysChild7 he was deemed adult enough to have children with and still be a partner.
They are screwing the system.
I know it
You know it they know it
Everyone on this thread knows it

Should my husband pay me child maintenance then as I've not seen him since august!!

Are only Tory voters against benefit fraud?

Yes he should be. Get onto it!

I think that where OP speaks of rent she means board and lodgings from her boyfriend rather than paying for the rent on the house she lives. She's worried that DWP will see a regular large sum from her boyfriend in her account and they will consider it his contribution to joint living costs rather than maintenance for their children.

That will depend on various things if for example the amount is £750 and the boyfriends take home is over £3k then it's reasonable for that to be maintenance at a fair amount however if paying the same amount on a take home of say £1,250 then it's less likely to be believed (me and my husband are stuck in different countries so can I claim?)

Just to add I think, having worked for DWP, OP is on a sticky wicket. If she has been reported then they may well have observed the comings and goings at the house before inviting for interview so she should be truthful in whatever she tells them.

Is it child maintenance if they are a couple in a relationship?

@Heavenknows22 No it's scamming the system for financial gain.

If people can live together as a family unit, then they should. Usually the DWP will encourage you to do this if it would be appropriate. Although life and relationships aren’t black and white.

My CM payment could be confused with rent too because my ex-dp is a high earner.

@Xaviera But he is not her EX
They are scamming the system

I think this would look extremely suspicious. So you’re all happy living apart until benefits start asking questions, then suddenly you decide it’s time to live together?

This is incorrect.
Please ignore it OP.

If you want more information about living together as a married couple then ADM Chapter E4: Universal Credit – Living together as a married couple assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/661551/adme4.pdf has all the info.

If people can live together as a family unit, then they should. Usually the DWP will encourage you to do this if it would be appropriate

The DWP have absolutely no say in how people conduct their relationships, that would be madness. All the DWP are concerned about is claimants meeting criteria. Encouraging people to live together is way beyond their remit.

So if my DH lives at his parents, but pays CM to the value of all my bills I can claim UC because we dont live together and I have classed his money as CM? Whoop whoop, I'm quids in then!

I hardly see him now anyway, wouldnt be hard to live apart and really sell that scam!

If you genuinely are no longer living together as a married couple then yes.
See the guidance I linked above.

I agree but years ago, they did ask me about whether it would be appropriate in my situation years ago (it wasn’t because my boyfriend wasn’t the father of my children and he was shortly to leave the country)

You'd have to show the CM was indeed all CM and not spousal maintenance as that would be deducted £ for £.

It's not about the amount as such but about whether it's proportionate to his income so if for example he's giving the op 80% of his income they are not going to believe the claim is genuine as he isn't leaving himself enough to support himself.