UC fraud (?)- what do I do?

[anxiousship]

Hi all
I need advice, I am a total trainwreck and can't get my sh&^ together on how stressed I am now.

I work full-time, single mother, renting, my child is disabled.
I have applied for UC 2 years ago and declared the savings I had which was £10k, was getting UC every month since then. UC would contain of disabled child element, single parent, rent and childcare and deduction for the 10k savings.

UC could see my salary every month through the NIN or wherever they get the information from. I was never contacted by UC for any questions and the only time when I needed to log in is to declare childcare costs ( wraparound care). I live in London and the rent is quite high so is the childcare (around £400 a month), so I was getting around £600 a month despite me working full-time on a "good-ish" job, which was a massive help.

Yesterday I was reading a random article about savings and what classified as savings and I realised that the Young Saver account which I have opened years ago for my child, where I and my ex-husband transfer money monthly) has to be declared too because even though it is a Young Saver it is on my name and I have access to the funds. I have realised that because of that and me not declaring it I have committed a massive fraud as I did not declare my savings in full!

When I opened UC account, it was around £4k in savings in Young Saver, but it grew to over £6k in savings in the last year or so which means that last year or so I should not have been eligible for UC at all due to the £16k threshold, meaning that I unintentionally committed a fraud!

I am sure when I opened the UC account it said that child accounts does not count as savings but I never read the "small prints" that if it is on my name, even if it is a Young Saver it should have been! I am mortified. I think it is only some children's account like trusts which are disregarded, which is not my case ( I know now!).

So in the first year I should have reported around 14k in savings instead of 16k in savings so I would be still eligible for the UC just it would be reduced more according to 14k savings and not 10k savings but in the second year when it would go to 16k over I would not be eligible for it at all and I was getting it!

I had a massive meltdown and panic and I went to my UC account and declared the change in savings backdating it to almost a year ( it is hard, because between 3 accounts I do not know when exactly the threshold went over the 16k) also, between then and now there were times when it would be under the 16k due to outgoings from my current account, but STILL I should have declared it because I had more than 10k in savings which I declared from the beginning.

Again, I feel so guilty and so mortified on what will happen now. As I said, I declared it on my UC account and I also added a message in my journal explaining all I have explained here, that I simply thought that Young Saver is not classified as savings except for now I know it does. I obviously mentioned that I am happy to repay it all back and that it was a genuine (stupidity) mistake and I do apologise.

Some people online said "just go and take out cash" but I did not want to do it because I was planning to buy a little flat on 5% mortgage and I need 14k for that anyway, so I do not want to do anything illegal.

I am ready to give all the overpaid money back and of course my UC account being closed, but will I be prosecuted? will I go to prison? I have no family in the country and who would look after my disabled child if they sent me to prison?

I have called the UC advice line crying but they just said that "mistakes happen" and that I did the right thing on reporting it now and leaving a message in the journal explaining all that and they were empathetic and said that I won't go to prison, but I am totally devastated, I really did not realise that I am a fraudster. Am I?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Please do not beat me too much, I really did not know that I am so bloody stupid.

What is next? I guess they will need my bank statements for two years or so and start investigation? How can I and what do I do to avoid the prosecution ( court and prison) , I will of course pay all I owe back ( I know they take it in installments and pay the fine if needed).

This,

OP, you are not going to prison or anywhere else. Like @sashh says, please calm down and enjoy Christmas.

Are you sure? I never declared my children's savings :/

Some people online said "just go and take out cash" but I did not want to do it because I was planning to buy a little flat on 5% mortgage and I need 14k for that anyway, so I do not want to do anything illegal.

This is the only bit that doesn't make sense - are you planning to use some of the young saver savings for a house?

Hi, no, but I could access the funds at any time if I would want to even though it is Young Saver.
I was just told not to run any dodgy transactions or anything like that, with my savings of just over 10k which I have declared plus my salary when it just comes ( before the rent is taking out) I would be ok.

well, I called lloyds today and clarified because in my head I always thought it is classified as my child's account as I needed to bring their birth certificate and passport when opening and they said " it is a young saver account which can be opened only for children but as you are a legal guardian it is on your name even though we have details that it was opened for your child".

if it would be the case I will probably start believing in God, but I will come with all the bank statements and I will explain all I explained and just hope for the best which in my anxious head would be give every penny back and the penalty in instalments but not being prosecuted.

thanks for that, I have read through it but it looks like it just proves that I am wrong and I made a mistake I just hope I will be not prosecuted, the rules around children's account is unclear :(

too late now as I "come clean" and now I need to bring all the statements but I will of course do that in the future just in case if I will ever be entitled to anything and not banned from it at all for the rest of my life.

thanks again for everyone and their responses, I do appreciate you all taking your time to reply to me especially knowing it is Christmas.
I have been smoking ( I have quit 2 years ago) and stressing all day and I have no idea how I will survive until the 3rd january when I have an appointment at a job centre.
I am so stressed about it and I am so ready to give all of it back in instalments of course. I just hope I won't be prosecuted, I know I said it so many times, but I have no idea what would I do and what would happen to my child. Oh god.

It is not your savings.

Your child is the beneficial owner of that money even though your name is also on the account. You can prove that you don't touch that money and that it is genuinely being saved in your child's name with you only named on the account as your child is under 18. That means it is absolutely categorically NOT your savings and didn't need to be declared.

@anxiousship read this article by a welfare benefits advisor from CAB which explains it very clearly. You didn't need to declare this money and you now need to make very clear to UC that it's not your money and mustn't be counted as such.

Paying the money back is worst case scenario. For real - you’re not getting prosecuted.

The strongest case will be the one where the money has remained untouched. This will add weight to the argument that the trust, holding the money for the kids, is an exclusive and legitimate one.
However, even in cases where the legal owner has dipped into the funds, the case can still be made that it does not change the fact that a trust exists.

This is from the article. I dipped to it once to pay for the therapy report for my chid's health care educational plan. But the statement will show that me and my ex-husband pays into that account monthly for young saver.

I will definitely get this printed just in case, if it could help. Thank you for your time to reply.

thank you, I really hope so. I think I just became an absolutely psycho.

Honestly, I would bet my life on it.

Is it this account from Lloyds?

Because if so, it clearly says that you are saving the money in trust for a named child. That means the money is theirs but that you are a trustee until they are of an age to manage their own savings. It's not your money legally.

I think you'll probably be fine with this. The savings is for your child, if you can show that nothing has been withdrawn and it's clear you are not using the money then it would likely be disregarded. I would stop worrying unnecessarily. Do not spent the money or move it as some are suggesting, that would just look completely suspicious and make things worse, not that I think you have anything to worry about in the first place.

I believe so, mine is called "young saver" but I think it is the same, I have looked at Lloyds website for young saver but nothing popped up, so I assume it is the same thing, yes. ----

I have taken money once as mentioned above, but I will of course try and explain it too. thank you

Ok so you really don't need to worry at all about this.

You've done nothing wrong.

You won't be going to prison.

You won't even need to pay anything back.

Make sure it goes to a decision maker at UC and explain that it's your child's money and you're just a trustee as they are too young to manage savings. It's disregarded as your capital for benefit purposes.

Honestly OP relax chill
have some wine ( lots of wine in fact )
watch die hard or something maybe Jilly Coppers Rivals 😂

you aren’t going to prison
you aren’t going to get a ccj

you are simply going to explain
pay back any overpayment
and carry on with your life

they can’t even put hardened criminals in prison - they are to bloody full

they aren’t going to chuck you in jail a mother with a child for an honest mistake
they are 100 percent used to people making mistakes with savings as it’s complicated

you have more chance of winning the lottery than going to prison because of what is an honest mistake 😂

Op you do need to chill. You've owned up to a genuine mistake. Please enjoy Xmas. A young person's saver needs declaring.. you can access the cash any time hence the account is visible on your Internet banking.
A child's ISA does not need declaring. You cannot access the money and it would not appear on your online banking as is theirs.
It's a simple mistake. You will be ok! :)

thank you all so much, I am very grateful for all your advice and support.
Happy Xmas to you all if you celebrate. I do suffer with anxiety and my brain is not my friend therefore I try to take all your advice in and chill.

Haha, I quit drinking and smoking completely two years ago but the amount of nicotine I had today would probably attribute to those 2 years ( such a fool)!
I wish I would have had some wine instead, but maybe tomorrow ( I was so stressed I did not even do my Xmas food shopping today) but I will try and relax tomorrow.

Come back in a few weeks and update us

if we don’t hear from you we will assume your in prison doing a life sentence with no possibility of parole 😂

have a happy Christmas Day tomorrow and a wonderful new year

With regards to money your ex H is paying in make sure you highlight this isn't your income or payments. And isn't your money.

I have a disabled ds who is now an adult. I manage his money and so we have a joint account for this. But the money paid in is not for me and is grants for him etc. when I had my review I was told it was all discounted as only income from my employment counted. Not even his income is considered as it's my claim.

I've declared everything and even I've been shocked at how much is discounted that goes through my bank because it's not my income.

Even when I sold my car (we got a mobility car for ds) and that went into savings because I was still below threshold it didn't count as income and didn't affect my claim. But I declared it.

I get less than you as only reach the threshold to be able to claim as I get an extra income allowance as a carer. But I know what it's like to always feel like someone is going to say you're cheating system etc.

I'm not sure it helps that the general attitude towards claimants and disability benefits is always so negative.

Have a lovely Christmas and I hope you get it sorted at your review.