Universal Credit review Help

[Mumof3xo]

Hi there. I am due a universal credit review. I had no idea what this was about so have been googling but now I'm worried I'm doing something wrong and going to get into trouble! I have extreme anxiety and it's making me feel sick even though I thought what I was doing was okay I'm scared it isn't and I'm going to get into trouble/have my money stopped.
So basically me and my ex partner separated about 8 years ago. He hasn't lived with me at all in them 8 years! We are really good friends we just don't work as a couple, so co-parenting with him is easy peasy. I moved into a house 3 years ago where the rent was more than what I got from universal credit as housing allowance. My Universal credit gets paid the 17th of each month and my rent is due the 7th. I'm really bad with money so I asked my ex if he can keep hold of half the child maintenance payments until rents due so I don't spend it. He gives me between 500-600 a month depending on what he's worked. That's the first thing I think am I going to get into trouble for? I'm scared this is classed as spousal maintenance which I didn't even know was a thing!!!
The second thing is he send me additional money throughout the month. If we're in the shop and the kids want something they ring dad and dad sends me the extra money, if they want Robux Dad sends extra money.
Sometimes I'll conversate with him and say Im broke and he will send me £40 and tell me to buy me and the kids a takeaway which I do.
If I book something for the kids he sends me half outside of child maintenance.
So when I send my bank statements they're going to see two separate large payments and then additional small payments. And even though I know in my heart he doesn't live here. We're not together. I'm scared I've unknowingly been doing something wrong
Please help me

I remember the anxiety of those meetings! Always worried I’d done something wrong and be asked to pay back my UC. But, without exception, they always went absolutely fine and it was just my brain playing tricks on me. So you have my sympathy, anxiety is a horrible thing.

If you have child maintenance payments coming in, they won’t count towards your UC entitlement. It will be easy enough to show they’re coming from your ex. I promise the DWP aren’t trying to catch you out. Once I got called in, worked myself up almost to tears with anxiety, and was just told about some extra support on offer :)

Good luck, OP. Deep breaths. You’re not doing anything wrong.

Thank you so much for your reply. But what about the additional payments he sends me during the months 😭 it's horrible isn't it. It's like when you're driving past a police car and you know you've done nothing wrong but you get scared anyway and try to look innocent 🤣 anxiety is a funny little thing.

I had one and it was fine. As long as the payments you recover are what you stated you receive ( you would have declared CM) it’s ok.

My ds his his grant payments for his swimming paid into my account and they were fine with it because we have evidence of the payments and what they are for.

But I totally get the anxiety!

You know sometimes it's something silly though like a toy in a shop for 15 be he will send 30 and tell them they can have 15 each so how do I prove stuff as random as that
It's horrible the anxiety I'm feeling is crazy!

Please don't worry. Explain what you have said here. Going forward your ex could maybe label the payments as 'kids money's or something similar. Your ex sounds like a supportive one which is nice.

As long as they’re coming from your ex’s bank account (and good idea from PP that he adds the reference “kids’ money”) you’ll be fine.

I try to think of my anxiety as a companion who just wants to keep me really safe. A terrible, over-thinking, stressed companion but one who has my best interests at heart 😁 Sometimes I even talk out loud to it, “thank you for your input, but I’ve got this.” Mostly that even works, but I still get horrible feelings in my body which are very uncomfortable at times.

I totally hear you on the police car thing!!

You can just tell them the other payments were for 'the children's expenses'. He's allowed to fund his children's lives via you as presumably they are too young for him to give them money directly. You and him aren't together and you've not done anything wrong. Please don't panic.

I am currently part way through my second review in 12 months. Just like you I've had terrible anxiety over it, even though my claim is straight forward, even though I have nothing to hide and even though I've done it once before and it went fine. I am feeling physically sick waiting for it to be completed. The lady I dealt with last time was lovely, the whole process took 5 days start to finish and 10 mins after my phone interview my journal was updated. This time around has been completely different experience. Journal messages not replied to. A request to move interview time due to a work commitment ignored. Phone call didn't come on time, I chased it up and they called 45 mins later. This left me feeling very heightened during the call. Still no update since the interview. Not sure if the reviews have been outsourced but has been a horrible experience this time around. I know people will say if you have nothing to hide it's nothing to worry about. But if you suffer with anxiety it's awful. I also know if you rely on government top ups you have to jump through their hoops, but I work full time and have 1 child so surely they have bigger fish to fry. In your case I would say just be completely honest. They can see your bank accounts anyway so you can prove it's payments from your ex for your children. Good luck.

How did u get on op

It's nothing to worry about. On a side note, he sounds like a wonderful father.